Electric vehicle critics are wrong about long trip capability

The reader commented that they would not get an EV until they could drive at least 600km without recharging, while Mr Whittaker thinks he would have to wait two hours to recharge after driving 400km. Both comments are "petrol thinking". The following illustrates how long EV road trips can be quicker and easier than many assume.

I have driven over 800km in a day in my 2019 Hyundai Kona electric car - from Coffs Harbour to Canberra. It took me no longer than I would have taken in a petrol car despite a highway range of about 425km. We started fully charged from overnight on our motel's AC charger. Every few hours, I plugged into a fast DC charger while my passengers and I had necessary stops for toilet, coffee, leg-stretching or meal breaks.

During each of four breaks, we got partial charges, never to 100 per cent. Added together, they were the equivalent of a full charge without taking any extra time out of our trip. Charging slows down above 80 per cent so it is better to get back on the road and get another partial charge during the next break.

We sympathise with the plight of Adam Hughes Henry (Letters, December 11) who faces the double bind of unaffordable property for either purchase or rent. We would argue, however, that the situation he has described is seriously aggravated here in Canberra by the attitudes and actions of the ACT government.

This is a government that, in the name of tax reform, is shifting property taxing away from one-off stamp duties to annual land taxes, a fair enough move to provide more stability and certainty to ACT government revenues.

Unfortunately this is also a government that has slowed the rate of land release over a period of years, thus artificially inflating land and home prices and, of course, enhancing revenues collected through land rates and other land/property taxes. This is the situation now facing anyone who wishes to buy or rent property in Canberra.

Additionally, its anti-landlord changes to tenancy laws are progressively driving current and potential property investors away from Canberra, with a predictable impact on rents. There is also the factor of the spendthrift nature of this government, meaning relatively high taxes and charges have become inevitable.

When you add up all these factors, you get the situation Adam has described. As is all too often the case in Canberra, the blame for this lies squarely with the ACT government. For ordinary Canberrans, the only redress available is through the ballot box.

The letter complaining about rental costs and owner demands by Adam Hughes Henry (December 11) deserves a response.

My wife and I have owned many rental properties over many decades in several parts of Australia, including Canberra in the past.

We cannot comment on issues between the tenant and the owner as these are personal details but we can comment on rental costs.

In order to get a reasonable cash flow after operating costs and taxation, but excluding interest, a rental in Canberra has to be about 25 per cent higher than an equivalent property elsewhere because the ACT imposes special taxes and fees on rental properties. Also legislation on tenant/landlord relations is biased towards the tenant, giving rise to extra costs. Accordingly we, and many other owners, have sold their properties and invested elsewhere.

The blame for shortage of rental properties and high rents lies wholly with the ACT government. Its ideology of attacking landlords by extra taxation and biased legislation has rebounded on tenants particularly those who are poorer than average.

"This is a society rotting from within." Adam Hughes Henry (Letters, December 11) captures it perfectly, a society which preys upon those it should be nurturing.

In contrast, we were welcomed Down Under within an immigration regime driven by stability and just one imperative: integration. Integration into a society of trusted institutions where the people owned and operated the water, electricity, gas and transport infrastructure - all ready, affordable and running like clockwork!

A population approaching 12.5 million which did not overwhelm the hospitals, schools, TAFEs, Institutes of Technology, universities, employment, housing (with gardens) and sense of spaciousness.

Australia manufactured things and kids could find stable employment or develop a career, save up a deposit and build or buy a home.

On one wage, a (resourceful) couple with kids could pay off a mortgage in a decade or two.

The priority was stability; growth was the carefully managed byproduct. Now we have overpopulation to the point of species extinction, obscene wealth inequalities, exploitation and vast expanses of disenchanting concrete while the infrastructure grinds to a halt.

The worn out rhetoric has degenerated into "populate and perish".

I note that a funeral was recently held in Melbourne for a road worker struck by a car and killed in a road works zone. A sad occasion for his family and friends, and a reminder to road-workers of one the avoidable dangers of their job.

Avoidable? Yes, by motorists observing the posted speed limit in road-work zones. My experience is that there is close to zero compliance with these limits. On a recent night while travelling in such a zone (at 40km/h), I was overtaken by a police patrol-car (without lights or siren) moving at speed. So much for enforcement.

Let us consider the Canadian approach which is to apply double demerits and double fines for speeding in these workplaces. It's worth a try.

I was puzzled that such a well-known advocate for the National Film and Sound Archive Ray Edmondson ("National Film and Sound Archive needs sustained funding, not grants", canberratimes.com.au, December 10) would attack the Morrison government for our recent announcement of almost $42 million in funding for the NFSA.

Mr Edmondson suggests this is "really just a statement of intent" rather than a firm commitment.

On the contrary, it is a decision of government and will be included in the forthcoming Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook.

Mr Edmondson also argues that digital storage is inferior to storing the original analogue film and tape.

This is at odds with the expert advice to the Government from the NFSA. Much of the analogue material is reaching end-of-life. If we want to preserve this valuable cultural heritage material for the long-term, converting it to digital form - and doing so in the next few years - is critical.

The Kokoda Memorial is not the only art work waiting for a permanent home. To celebrate Canberra's Centenary, the ACT War Widows commissioned a stained glass window to be incorporated into the Canberra Services Club when it is rebuilt. This commission was beautifully realised by award winning glass artist, Ruth Oliphant, the granddaughter of the original building's architect. It has its temporary home at the Canberra Club. What's the hold-up?

Re: "Canberra motor vehicle theft has climbed every year for the past three years", canberratimes.com.au, December 8)

I am concerned that this article about ACT Policing's Annual Report 2020-2021 puts the emphasis on the theft of inanimate objects (cars). Scrolling down further, we read that "one of the big concerns highlighted by the report was the slowed response to priority-one life-threatening incidents".

This response time fell to 77.5 per cent of cases attended within 10 minutes, the worst outcome in six years. Does this mean that police officers are spending more time chasing stolen motor vehicles than responding to priority-one life-threatening incidents?

It also makes me wonder if police officers readily dismiss the concern for members of our community experiencing acute mental health and psychotic episodes? Community members experiencing such episodes can be at real risk of losing their lives. A car can be replaced; a person cannot.

How many apartments in Canberra are empty? Judging by the lack of lights at night, hundreds are empty among those built along Cooyong Street in Civic. It would be interesting to know how many are overseas-owned.

Why do we pay to send diplomats to the Olympics, anyway? It sounds like a foreign affairs rort. Time to stop it for good.

I had a letter published in a Sunday paper in 1981 regarding sport and politics. I see Scott Morrison believes sport and politics don't mix or should not mix. I, once again like history, must repeat myself and say that sport and politics do mix.

Apropos Anthony Albanese's recent public appearances, can I take it that now "spectacles maketh the man"?

Brendan Murphy's reappearance on TV, after weeks of running silent, telling us not to panic about Omicron, with Morrison in the background, fills me with dread. Looks like Morrison is building some post-facto blame-shifting for when Omicron runs wild like it has overseas.

The ACT government wants 500 car charging points around five or six major centres or work places by 2030. Since finding a parking space in some of those areas is like winning Lotto, anyway, how will times at a charger be policed? Will public servants in Barton have to rush out, move their car off the charger, find an ordinary car space and then return to work?

By labelling the "Voices Of" campaigns as Labor and Greens fronts, the LNP mob are simply showing how out of touch and increasingly desperate and dateless they are in what were once traditional conservative seats.

Weet-Bix (Letters, December 13) are banned from this house and we're all still alive and healthy.

It speaks volumes about the inadequacy of the LNP's pre-selection rigour that George Christensen could have been chosen as a candidate in the first place. Are there no vetting processes in place to guard against people with such extreme and outlandish views?

When referring to shortened forms of names for states and territories, The Australian Government Style Manual advises, "Don't use a full stop after the shortened forms. This rule applies to the initialisms (NSW, WA, ACT and NT), abbreviations (Vic and Tas) and the contraction (Qld)". Yet the form "A.C.T." is sometimes seen in headlines in The Canberra Times and elsewhere.

Can we please drop the stops: they're driving me dotty.