What's driving the push for this reckless extravagance? One driver, the CMA representative suggested, was that it will provide a boost to tourism. Tourism! Are they seriously suggesting that people will be queuing up to ride the tram in order to view the iconic sights of Northbourne Avenue – the splendour of Fenner Hall, perhaps, or the faded glory of Havelock House?

Well, these gullible punters will get plenty of photo opportunities given the development of the tramway requires the decimation of trees on Northbourne Avenue, which would otherwise have obscured their view. I can only imagine what the real drivers are behind the introduction of a 19th century mode of transport to Canberra.

I suspect rose-tinted nostalgia for the good old days when everyone was happy and beer was tuppence a pint is one. Or maybe it's the misguided assumption that light rail is somehow "green". I mean, it's electric, so it must be. Conveniently forgetting the smoke-belching power stations providing the electricity.

Lee Welling, Nicholls

Unlike the Federal Parliament, the ACT Legislative Assembly has an ethics adviser. What are community expectations of an ethics adviser to members of the ACT Legislative Assembly?

Assume the relevant ACT authority determines that ACT parliamentarians are to have no entitlement to spouse travel. Assume also that an ACT parliamentarian is to undertake travel as a member, but funded by an external body with no such restriction. Assume the parliamentarian seeks advice whether acceptance of externally funded spouse travel would be ethical. What would the community expect of an ethics adviser?

Would the community expect an ethics adviser to advise the parliamentarian that, as the travel will be as a member, the proper ethical conduct would be to respect the principle established by the relevant ACT authority (ie: no spouse travel).

Or would the community expect the ethics adviser to provide technical advice on possible loopholes which might arguably enable the parliamentarian to accept externally funded spouse travel notwithstanding the no-spouse-travel principle established by the relevant ACT authority? Food for thought.

Ernst Willheim, Forrest

Thank you for the article on Angel Gown Australia ("Honouring the lives of our little angels", August 7, p3). I have had the privilege of meeting Fiona Kirk, who runs this admirable charity for parents who have lost infants.

Meanwhile, every year in Australia there are 100,000 deliberate abortions, a significant proportion of which are done at a stage when the infant is potentially viable, a procedure which is, quite simply, infanticide. The passing of these infants is not marked by love or donated garments: they are simply left to die (or worse), while in the ward next door infants of similar prematurity are being nurtured.

A shameful silence hangs over this subject, which is surely a blight on our so-called civilised society.

Dr Alan N.Cowan, Yarralumla

Professor Andrew Blakers (Letters, August 6) forgot to mention that on a frosty, foggy morning, reverse-cycle airconditioning is all but useless for heating in Canberra.

The reason for this is that the evaporator coils outside will be fully covered with ice after just a few minutes and the airconditioner then has to go through a lengthy de-ice cycle.

The de-ice cycle uses just as much power as the normal running cycle but it blows cold air inside the house. Reverse cycle airconditioning works well in places where the relative humidity is very low in winter and where the usual minimum temperature does not fall below

4degrees. I'm sure that I was one of many that trusted the salesman and only found out why it performed so poorly in winter after talking to an airconditioning engineer.

David Fuller, Duffy

I share the concerns expressed by Patrick Jones (Letters, July 31) and Michael Jordan (Letters, August 3) about the legality of bike riders not having to wear high viz/reflective clothing when riding on ACT roads.

Such an obvious omission in the road rules is strange when significant sums are being spent constructing on-road bike lanes. There is also an active campaign being run to get more people to use bikes as a preferred method of transport, thus increasing the chances of collisions between heavy, fast-moving cars and slow, light-weight bikes.

If the bike riders were employees of an enterprise undertaking a work task, then their employer would be in serious trouble under ACT Work Health and Safety legislation in the event of an accident (not to mention being publicly abused by all and sundry) for failing to provide adequate training, and failing to provide personal protective equipment plus ensure that it was worn.

The situation is a good example of the double standards run by all state governments in treating accidents and risks at work in a different manner to those in the general community.

Peter Middleton, Stirling

Maurice Falcetta, a lawyer for developer Michael Koundouris, was quoted in your article "Developer in third dispute with owners" (August 4, p5) as stating that: "Builders are entitled to rely upon advice given to them by architects, engineers, other consultants and specialist contractors."

As an A-class builder, Mr Koundouris is legally responsible for the skilful construction of a building and the supervision of all employees and sub-contractors. Mr Koundouris and his foreman at the time are on record in evidence that their quality assurance technique used during construction of Manhattan was to walk around on rainy days and look for leaks.

His lawyers admitted: "It also means that the tribunal could be satisfied of defective building work in relation to those (level 3) balconies".

Let's imagine catching a taxi from the airport to the city and the driver displays negligent and dangerous driving. Would a lawyer's defence be that "taxi drivers rely upon the advice and training of driving instructors and the licensing regulator".

Non est mea culpa.

Ed Purrer, chairman, Manhattan Apartments Body Corporate, Turner

Australia today reminds me of the risks of following the path of the corrupt, dysfunctional Ireland of the mid-2000s, which caused such massive havoc for its people and economy. While I am in no way suggesting we are on that path, I could be forgiven for thinking we have some similarities.

We have a lot of crook politicians at all levels of government on the gravy train and more; we have a lot of crook businesspeople in local and foreign companies, large and small, which take advantage of the tax rules ; and we have a lot of crook union officials for similar reasons. Their crime; standing in the taxpayers' trough, rather than paying their fair share of tax, like most of us. And remembering why we elected them as equals in the first place.

The history of human frailty shows it does not take much for the ego to kick in and separate us from the rest of the community.

Will Australia return to its historical compass of compassion and egalitarianism and focus on all the real needs of the community? Or has Australia changed so much, we have lost that compassion and it is a free-for-all.

It is not the people of Australia who have lost the moral compass; it is our pathetic leaders across these sectors.

Geoff Clark, Narrabundah

The addition of three retired politicians to the panel of those selected to review federal politicians' entitlements, all of whom are probably receiving some of the lifetime benefits about which we mere mortals complain, hardly fills me with any confidence that the outcome of the review will actually produce any overall reduction in the depth of the trough into which many politicians' snouts are buried.

If the standard for "entitlements" is to be community expectations, then why can't News Ltd and Fairfax jointly give us a truly independent review against which the "approved" review panel's recommendations can be benchmarked. After all, it is only thanks to our national media that we are finding out how the rest of us are being ripped off: please finish the job of keeping the bastards honest.

Roger Dace, Reid

I am sorry, but all the people selected for the expenses review have absolutely no credibility. They are all ex-pollies who know the system themselves and, over the years, retired into well-paying jobs to bolster their overinflated pensions.

Are we honestly expected to believe these people will have a bipartisan approach to the review?

They are so out of touch with what the taxpayer believes is a fair compensation for the pollies' entitlements that very little, if any at all, of the current entitlements will change.

If they included two Average Joe taxpayers to sit on the review committee to add their point of view of what is a fair entitlement, then I might be swayed into believing some form of genuine review has taken place. Until then, it is all just a stunt to enable the rorting to continue.

Ken Owers, Harrison

Forget the pub test. Dump the root and branch review. Follow the Menzies mantra: be generous with your own money, and stingy with the public's.

If an event has any private or party political component – no public funding. If any public money is left over from a trip, it is repaid.

Travel on business by means that ordinary people would see as reasonable.

Roger Bacon, Cook

Tony Burke is yet another striking example of a politician caught with their snout deeply entrenched in the entitlements trough ("Burke to pay back $90 but defends $12k trip to Uluru", p7, August). And, like the others, he shrieks and lashes out in defence, turning on the electorate when we dare to question.

Stop it. All of you. Stop defending this untenable position of because something is within the rules, it makes it right. You are the top public servants and you are to lead by example. Restore some honour to the position you hold in society.

Joe Murphy, Bonython

Why should the Australian people believe anything Senator Eric Abetz (Letters, August8) or his government has to say? The abolition of the carbon and mining tax has done little for our country, except put us further in debt by the lack of those taxes. The lack of any meaningful intent to attack climate change has made your government the pariah of the western world.

As for the rest of his letter, I would rather believe Sally Young's opinion piece ("Abbott's regime ineffective", Times2, August5, p1) than your biased opinion. This government has not had a budget through in its two years of being in power. What kind of government is that?

A very poor one, I conclude, and quite possibly the worst in Australia's political history. One that should also stop blaming the previous Rudd/Gillard government for all its woes.

Jan Gulliver, Lyneham

It is not Prime Minister Tony Abbott who has missed the point, in that Indigenous people need to lead the process towards their own constitutional recognition, but Waleed Aly ("Whom does Abbott lead?", August7, Times2, p1).

Abbott's sidelining of Indigenous Australians is part of his own deliberately calculated and ideologically driven political process aimed at instituting the untainted primacy of white European settlement.

Central to this process is the political mantra that Abbott keeps repeating due to its astounding electoral success, which is the government's turn-back policy on refugee boat arrivals.

With the federal Labor Party now officially adopting the same policy, Abbott is in the strongest position possible to rebut such esteemed Indigenous leaders as Noel Pearson and Patrick Dodson, who are worthy of this nation's greatest respect.

For as long as the Australian electorate supports the government's punitive approach to refugees, the granting of full constitutional recognition to Indigenous Australians will shamefully remain an anathema to Abbott's boyhood dream of a white Australia.

Reverend Dr Vincent Zankin, Rivett

What an excellent article by marine biologist Jann Gilbert ("Sharks aren't out to get us. The only frenzied attacks are by the media", canberra times.com.au, August6). Without sharks in the ocean, marine food chains would collapse, as sharks are our oceans cleaners. They eat dead and dying fish and keep fish stocks healthy.

Jann said: "This would mean the loss of a resource that humans have relied on since we walked out of Africa." Worldwide, 100million sharks are killed every year for their fins, to make shark fin soup. Many are trapped or caught in trawler nets as bycatch and drown. Whereas there are around six human deaths in the world each year.

World-famous oceanographer Sylvia Earle said: "Ninety per cent of our big fish are gone already, due to overfishing. We must protect the last 10per cent." Do the maths.

Di Cornelius, Seacliff Park, SA

The announcement about 30km/h school-zone speed limits is very disturbing, because it is not about road safety, as our "town council" – being wagged by a Green tail that is totally bereft of any logical thought – would have us believe.

My initial reaction was that the "town council" should have to address questions such as: How did my generation, and my children, ever survive going to school when speed limits were 60km/h? Why not adopt what is very effective in NSW and Victoria, ie, flashing solar-powered speed signs and reduced speed zones only for morning and afternoon times, when students are actually going to, or coming from, schools?

Having all-day speed zones only encourages drivers to show contempt for speed zones when travelling past schools during the middle of the day when there are no students in sight.

Phillip Harris, Holt

TIME FOR NEW CAPTAINS

After being out of form for a long period and with the team performing badly, at least one captain of "Team Australia" has done the right thing and called it a day. Well done, Pup, you've set a fine example. I wonder if it will be followed?

Jeff Bradley, Isaacs

MASTERS OF SWING

When a bowler gets the ball to move sideways, both ways, with good pace, any batting team is in trouble. Even the English in England. Remember Bob Massie? Remember Terry Alderman? The Australian team in England is our best team, and age is certainly not the problem.

Dick Telford, Forrest

SNUGGLE UP

I have to share the joy of seeing – in the midst of a gathering of people at morning tea after church – a little cuddly boy (around 18 months) toddling around happily amongst the sea of legs in a jumper emblazoned with the words "people snuggler".

Alison Coster, Karabar, NSW

A NEW ASBESTOS FIASCO

In an era when housing matters have been dominated by "MrFluffy", how did the presence ofasbestos escape the notice of assessors and estimators to the extent that its subsequent "discovery" blows out the estimated demolition bill of the Currong apartment block to the extent of $3million – or 100per cent?

Cliff Carey, Evatt

DODGY INVESTMENTS

If the Australian Securities and Investments Commission now has responsibility for our publicly funded universities ("Protecting ANU from CQU's rebranding overreach", August7, Times2, p5), then current and future domestic and international students, and their parents, need to be informed at once, so that they are not misled into making a dodgy university education investment.

Sophia Yates, Parkville, Vic

ABUSE NEVER OK

No, Alan Leitch! (Letters, August5). Calling a fair-skinned person, "white trash" is not OK. Words which are shouted to offend, do offend. There is no justification for that. When it is pushed to breaking point, a person will break.

Auriel Barlow, Dickson

MISSING THE POINT

Would it be possible for The Canberra Times to include a short explanation, near the daily David Pope editorial cartoon, of what the illustration means for the benefit of those of us who have never been able to make head or tail of any of them?

Ted Richards, Denhams Beach, NSW

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