Letters to the Editor: Don't turn EPIC into another housing development

Peter Grabosky's right to be disappointed by the level of care available to our ex-service men and women (Letters, June 14) but that is only the tip of the iceberg. There are almost as many police officers, paramedics and firefighters as there are ADF members, and figures from the National Coronial Information Service indicate that one of these is taking their own life every six weeks - and that number does not account for the suicides of retired emergency service personnel. What we don't need is another inquiry: the 2010 Senate inquiry (The Hidden Toll: Suicide in Australia) came up with 42 Recommendations, no follow up, and b---er all change. It would be nave to imagine that we could ever eliminate suicide but surely, we must be able to do better. I only wish I knew how.

As a Griffith resident I am appalled that a small number of loud voices are able to save one misplaced tree. It is clear to anyone walking past, that the tree in question was never meant to be there and is not part of the streetscape. That this opposition can prevent the much-needed redevelopment of the Manuka cinema site is disappointing to say the least. Like many others in the neighbourhood I look forward to a reinvigoration of Manuka to breath vitality back into the area. Surely, we would be better off with the 30 new trees the developer has promised.

Although I have some sympathy for the Manuka traders' concerns about slow progress on the Capital Cinema development ("Business owners want tree out for Manuka hotel development", June 15, p3), they may be pointing their collective finger at the wrong culprit. The tree on the site has been registered for many years, a fact that the developer would have been aware of when she did appropriate due diligence when buying the land. This tree could have been incorporated into building plans, in a restaurant courtyard or similar, from the beginning, preventing all the delays. Perhaps the current problem comes not from the tree's registration that they are protesting against, but a developer who assumed that a legal process to cancel it would give the result she wanted?

Kate Carnell and Andrew Barr cannot see a way to make oil companies compete on price in the ACT. Ms Carnell's enquiry reveals the oil companies outbid independents for sites in new land releases by the ACT government. So ... here again is the solution. I pointed this out in Letters about four years ago. Petrol prices in the ACT will only ever be competitive with Sydney if the ACT government operates one site in each town centre. A fuels only site with card operated prepaid bowsers. No need for a convenience store, just a small secure building for the console operator/site manager be onsite in case of emergency. Open from 6am to 6pm seven days a week. Watch how quickly the oil company franchise sites respond to a competitor site retailing at the Sydney price plus 1.8cpl freight. All profits to the ACT government. Simple. Free advice ... no committee fees ... just get on with it.

I was both pleased and confused to read that anyone who wishes to check on a residential aged care facility's compliance record can access a full list of the facility's sanctions, including their details, on the My Aged Care website, and that this includes information about warning notices of non-compliance ("Sanctions a reprieve for aged care residents", June 16, p1). This level of transparency is clearly good news for potential residents and their families interested in making the best possible decision for residential aged care.

What is completely baffling, however, is why the same level of transparency is still not provided with regard to food safety compliance for restaurants and cafes, despite the issue being discussed since at least 2011 ("Website set to list unhygienic restaurants", December 7, 2011). It seems that then-chief minister Katy Gallagher's efforts in this regard were defeated by an unholy alliance of the health bureaucracy and the hospitality industry. As a result, we now have access only to information about successful prosecutions, which are extremely rare, and no access to non-compliance information resulting in improvement notices and similar actions.

Such low levels of consumer information are not deemed to be good enough for the residential aged care sector, and they should not be considered good enough for food businesses to which customers entrust their health.

Dear Mr Warden, where is the evidence of your claim that young people have less stamina for sustained reading? Your own article was inspired by the disappointing percentage of Congress that has managed to read the Mueller Report (as reported by the Washington Post), and Trump's proud anti-reading rhetoric, yet you go on to regale us with the faults of the young? According to a 2018 report from the Congressional Research Service, membership of the 115th Congress is among the oldest in US history (at 59), and Trump himself is 72 years old. How ironic that you pass judgement on all of our youth, and undergraduate students, without the same level of research that they would require to submit a single paper. Perhaps we should assess the value of our words, rather than just the number of them.

I live in hope that one day those in government might come to understand that just as some debt is necessary and useful, so too are some regulations. Often it is our conservative lawmakers whom we hear preaching about the evils of debt and red tape. When it comes to debt there is good debt (theirs) and bad debt (Labor's). When it comes to red tape we are told that they need to do away with regulations that limit the ability of businesses to develop the economy and the country. But it is the absence of adequate regulation and/or enforcement which leads to situations like crumbling new apartment blocks. I have long believed that self regulation never works, so I do hope that we'll see sensible regulation where needed in the better interests of the whole community and screw those who use complaints about red tape as a means of cutting corners or avoiding their ethical responsibilities.

The article on the possibilities of small homes (June 16) came through like the sort of housing the more akin to that of the Hobbits from Lord of the Rings than the real world. In the ACT we have a government that has tripled the price of the average 12 square home. This has nor occurred by construction costs. It has occurred through artificially inflating the cost of land through cutting supply. One solution that would work is to divide the cost of the land from the cost of the house. The land could be sold over the counter at independently valued prices to anyone with a steady job and a combined income of less than $100,000. It would be sold on long term contract at reducible interest and could be paid off earlier if circumstances permitted. The land could be bought on a low deposit and built on when circumstances permitted. It would, when some degree of equity permitted, act as a deposit for building the house. The house would be financed on the usual commercial terms available and under the usual conditions with hopefully a first home buyer's grant. There is nothing revolutionary about these suggestions. Through the 1950s to the 1980s we had a housing scheme roughly similar. The alternative which is ever increasing people who are homeless, people who rent but would find it increasingly hard to find the money to rent when they retired is horrendous.

Before Andrew Barr continues spruiking about spending a billion dollars of taxpayers money on stage two of light rail he needs to address many other issues. This city and suburbs need cleaning up, so many suburbs are neglected and scruffy. Tuggeranong Parkway is a disgrace, litter and weeds everywhere. Contact with Canberra Access has not had any result. It is not OK to make the tourist venues all spick and span while the the rest of Canberra is ignored. We are proud Canberrans who want a neat and clean city like it used to be before self government.

Those who constantly criticise the impact of Baby Boomers on our economy should consider the invaluable contribution many of this post-war generation make through the provision of free childcare. Without this support the current workforce would be depleted and families would struggle to manage on a single income.

I applaud Sasha Grishin's review, "Monet Leaves Lasting Impression" (June 15). This is a salutary piece for people such as me heading off to view the exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia. A plea Sasha - Monet and many artists in north America and northern Europe would have been familiar with the cold conditions of winter. May we be spared of yet another pejorative characterisation of "a bleak winter Canberra"?

The ACT Property Council's call for reducing land prices is a wrong call to meet the planned target for 15 per cent affordable housing. If the government can stop foreign interests investing in our real estate market, house prices will become affordable to low income groups. There are many apartments lying vacant but foreign interests are using negative gearing to their advantage.

Adani, with the winds of traduced science in its sails, blithely heads into the unforgiving shoals of finance with none of Australia's or, even, China's banks prepared to sink funds into what is globally regarded as a stranded asset ("Full steam ahead for coal mine", June 14, p10).

Mike Quirk seems to believe that Andrew Barr's wish that the remaining repayments on the Mr. Fluffy loan repayments be foregone is fanciful (Letters, June 11). This is hardly the case in view of the nonsensical ruling that the Commonwealth has no responsibility regarding the Mr Fluffy debacle - whole affair occurred on the federal government's watch.

The territory's right to legislate for matters such as assisted dying is best guaranteed by the evolution to statehood under the Australian Constitution. I have seen media reports quoting a territory population over 800,000 by 2050 and the 150th anniversary of the city is in 2063 which seems an ideal date for the ACT to evolve into a State of the Commonwealth of Australia. What is required is a long term vision and leadership to achieve this modest goal to bring the population along otherwise the ACT population will continue to be second class citizens.

R. Salmons (Letters, June 16) is completely correct. Australia does need a different national anthem. However, given Australia's reluctance to undertake any genuine reform; be it; becoming a republic, constitutional reform, the flag, a bill of rights, etc; adopting a new anthem would appear to be beyond our capacity to imagine change. Rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, by replacing one word to be inclusive, might just be something within our reach.

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