It was good to learn the ACT government is going to install an additional 25 traffic cameras around the ACT.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Might I suggest that they should also install combination red light and speed cameras at the intersections of Wentworth Avenue and Giles, Eyre and Cunningham Streets in Kingston?
Wentworth Avenue has become a drag strip at these three intersections. The cameras will have numerous benefits including extra government revenue from speedsters and red light runners.
They would also reduce the noise of cars and bikes using the lights as a drag strip; especially the Harley Davidson bikes which appear not to have mufflers fitted.
And, in addition they would improve road safety.
H Zandbergen, Kingston
Job well done
We write to congratulate the ACT government on the way in which services were provided at the Garran Oval vaccination centre on the night of April 5.
The health staff were very efficient in providing the injections. Other staff working outside the building were also remarkably helpful.
The only problem that night were the taxi services. The driver who took us there didn't know where the centre was and we had doubts as to whether a booked taxi to take us home would ever find us.
After waiting some time two police officers offered to help us and took us home. A remarkable act of support for two aged.people in distress.
Congratulations to the ACT police service. A credit to you both. Thank you so much.
John and Eileen Gray, Mawson
Vaccine concerns
The current chaotic system for booking your COVID-19 jab is not looking good. My GP clinic, with 10 doctors and nurses, will only receive 50 doses a week starting on April 12.
They refuse to make any bookings until they actually receive the vaccine. They added me to a waiting list which is already five weeks long. They suggested I try other clinics.
I checked the Commonwealth COVID-19 website and it suggested many GP clinics nearby. One gave me an appointment for a month's time. I could shop around for more clinics. When should I stop? Once I get my jab do I just I just no-show for the other appointments?
This seems crazy and could result in vaccine wastage. Perhaps the whole exercise needs to be organised.
Chris Emery, Reid
House privacy?
Governments routinely hide behind privacy legislation to avoid answering reasonable questions (even when, incidentally, the relevant subject of an inquiry has consented to the information being released).
However, we have now reached a point that is absolutely surreal ("400 empty public housing properties", April 5, p2). Apparently, questions about vacant government houses are not being answered because of "privacy reasons".
Since when did an inanimate object acquire privacy rights? If the government provided information on why a property is vacant, is the relevant house going to take the government to task for breaching its privacy?
With this government we continue to venture further into Alice in Wonderland territory.
Gordon Fyfe, Kambah
Vaccination questions
Between March 19 and March 26, during the COVID-19 vaccination rollout in the US, the American government's Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System recorded 199 deaths following inoculation.
The deaths may have had many possible causes. They are not attributed directly to the vaccine. That said, the 199 people died within 48 hours of receiving the vaccine.
I am not claiming that the vaccine has caused the deaths, but I am asking why such a high number of deaths are not being reported. If shootings that result in 20 deaths are on every channel on the evening news why are these deaths apparently being ignored?
Jennifer Heywood, Spence
Not that simple
The idea being pushed in some quarters that a couple of hours of "empathy" training can cure a bloke of decades of accumulated sexism is quite ludicrous.
It reflects a certain male perception that really this is no big deal.
The problem can be rectified quickly and casually, and dismissed summarily, once "naughty boy" training is over.
But genuine, lasting, behavioural change has to be preceded by attitudinal change.
The work needed to achieve that result is a much more confronting educative process for males with psyches soaked in long term misogyny.
Lewis Rushbrook, Weston, ACT
People do act
Jan Hulka (Letters, April 6) might be surprised at the level of individual and community action on climate change despite the "wailing" that goes on.
In my tiny corner of Chapman my neighbours and I, with significant help from the ACT's Urban Parks and Places team, recently planted 35 trees in our small park. We did it for the dual reasons of aesthetically revegetating our park as well as having an eye to net zero by 2030.
Over their life, these little trees will take some 25 to 30 tonnes of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. Similarly, a car club I'm a member of has recently introduced its own net-zero policy and is partnering with Greenfleet to sequester sufficient carbon through revegetation programs to offset the carbon dioxide created by our club's petrol driven cars on club events each year.
Across the nation community groups like ours, local councils, and state governments are all quietly getting on with the job of introducing programs that contribute to net zero by 2030.
These efforts remain largely in vain while the federal government and some big business continue to turn a blind eye to the climate crisis with poor leadership on the issue, continued world-leading deforestation of our already barren land, and the usual profits at all cost mindset.
Malcolm Robertson, Chapman
Blind mice
Frank Breglec thinks the majority of Australians support the Morrison government's approach to big issues, such as climate change and COVID-19, and will show this support at the ballot box (Letters, April 7).
I suspect that this "majority" still sees climate change as something happening way down the track (so no need to worry for now) and feels that the government is handling COVID-19 well because we've only lost a small number of old people (so no need to worry if you're not old).
At election time the "majority" will make up their mind at the last minute and will vote for whichever side of politics gives them a tax cut or similar handout to make them feel valued.
Guess which side that's likely to be?
D Edwards, Weston
Happy dinosaur
Had John Barilaro lived in the early 1900s, he would have been convinced that the horse and cart could never be replaced by the automobile. But as we know, whilst many jobs supported the horse and cart economies, they were more than replaced by the new automobile economy.
Barilaro has the same lack of vision today about how new clean energy sources and technologies can, and will, replace coal; requiring new skills and creating many more new industry jobs.
Suzanne Jedryk, Griffith
A fact check
The acting chief medical officer, Professor Michael Kidd, recently said Australia was administering more COVID-19 vaccinations per head of population than the US.
It would appear from a simple web search that he may be wrong. According to Our World in Data on April 4 the US administered 0.92 doses per hundred people compared to Australia's 0.19 per 100.
Other data in raw numbers indicate that the US is administering between 3 and 4 million doses per day compared to around 25,000 per day in Australia.
Professor Kidd was responding to suggestions Australia should consider the successful mass vaccination models adopted in many countries.
The facts don't support his case.
Keith Hill, Mirrool, NSW
Be patient
Would the general public, premiers and chief ministers please put a sock in it and stop whingeing and whining about the slow delivery rate of the COVID-19 vaccine. Provision was made by the government from various potential sources very early on to supply sufficient vaccines to cater for all Australians.
When the EU abruptly reduced the negotiated supply amount by 80 per cent, owing to their greater need of the vaccine than ours, you can't reasonably expect any government to work miracles. Previously announced targets have become meaningless.
Now that the AstraZeneca vaccine is being produced locally by CSL the number of doses delivered has tripled.
Mario Stivala, Belconnen
TO THE POINT
DON'T PANIC
Don Sephton (Letters, April 8) fears that suburbs without reticulated gas will not have restaurants and cafes. An internet search using the terms "professional chef" and "induction cooking" should quickly dispel that concern.
Peter Campbell, Cook
NEVER FEAR
Does Don Sephton (Letters, April 8) believe that none of the hundreds of communities across Australia that were never connected to mains gas don't have restaurants or cafes? Isn't he aware of the existence of LPG and the use of bottled gas?
M Moore, Bonython
STOP THE DESTRUCTION
The Australian War Memorial is waging war and destruction rather than honouring the people who lost lives trying to prevent war and destruction. Not only is it destroying the Anzac Hall but also 116 trees, some of which are almost 80 years old. Stop it.
Marguerite Castello, Griffith
A NEW RECORD
The US NOAA website states the Muana Lia observatory recorded a daily atmospheric carbon dioxide level of 421.21 ppm on April 3. This is the highest level of carbon dioxide recorded. And this was after COVID-19. The signs are ominous.
Rod Holesgrove, Crace
CRITICS RIGHT
I would like to remind Frank Breglec (Letters, April 7) that if it had not been for "all those Morrison critics", sex discrimination commissioner Kate Jenkins's report, which was collecting dust for nearly a year, would probably still be sitting on a government shelf.
Rajend Naidu, Glenfield, NSW
ABSOLUTE CRUELTY
David Pope's cartoon in Tuesday's The Canberra Times was spot on. Those poor little children are being kept in prison because of the sheer bloody-minded cruelty of Dutton and Morrison. The parents are no more a security risk than I am.
Barbara Fisher, Cook
MALCOLM UNWELCOME
Well done to the people who were responsible for Turnbull being given the boot. The next in line should be Matt Keane, who does not seem sure which party he belongs to. Move him along to ensure that another debacle like the Turnbull appointment does not occur.
Alex Wallensky, Broulee, NSW
RESPONSES PREDICTABLE
The same old cartoons of Prime Minister Scott Morrison in The Canberra Times and the same old letters from the same old left-whingers. Some things never change.
Ian Pilsner, Weston
A MEA CULPA?
Our shallow hollow-man PM is good at blaming everyone for the slowness of the vaccine rollout. Perhaps a simple "We over-estimated the complexity of the logistics" might be more appropriate?
Graeme Rankin, Holder
CROCODILE TEARS
Premier Berejiklian accorded Malcolm Turnbull effusive praise for his contribution to public life while dumping him as the Chair of the NSW Net Zero Emissions and Clean Energy Board. So much so as to have me wondering whether her government is about to offer his family a state funeral.
Nigel Thompson, Queanbeyan East, NSW
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark canberratimes.com.au
- Download our app
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
Email: letters.editor@canberratimes.com.au. Send from the message field, not as an attachment. Fax: 6280 2282. Mail: Letters to the Editor, The Canberra Times, PO Box 7155, Canberra Mail Centre, ACT 2610.
Keep your letter to 250 or fewer words. References to The Canberra Times reports should include date and page number. Letters may be edited. Provide phone number and full home address (suburb only published).