Barr's push for more Canberra-Sydney trains is welcome

As a regular train passenger, I have noticed increased demand and heard other passengers remarking how much more cost effective it is than travelling by plane. Rising fuel costs and Sydney traffic growth are other reasons to opt for rail travel.

There have been just three daily services in each direction for as long as I have lived in Queanbeyan. Population growth, more older residents and visitors, and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transport are strong reasons to boost rail services.

Another important measure is for the NSW government to extend the NSW Opal ticketing system and fare structure to Queanbeyan. It currently ends at Goulburn even though on the NSW north coast, you can travel from Sydney to Port Stephens (an equivalent distance from Queanbeyan to Sydney) for around $18 return.

Making the train more affordable for all passengers, not only concession-card holders, creates another incentive for people to choose rail over other transport modes when feasible.

I am concerned about the health of democracy in our state.

For three years now, residents in Bungendore have been trying to save a park in the centre of town. But no one listens.

In 2020, then National Party Member for Monaro, John Barilaro, announced he'd give Bungendore a high school.

The problem is: Mr Barilaro did not consult locals. He ignored the Department of Planning's preferred site, announcing the school would be built on Bungendore Park.

Don't get me wrong: people want the high school, especially the older residents who had to struggle to educate their children in times gone by. They just don't want to lose their park-the green heart of their town-to get it.

Since 2020, the Department of Education has ignored hundreds of letters and 382 formal objections protesting over the school site.

The Department has also blocked or delayed every Freedom of Information request seeking an explanation as to why the department rejected the Department of Planning's preferred site.

Mr Barilaro, or course, has moved on to bigger controversies, but now, the new Labor member, Steve Whan, is just doing a John Barilaro impersonation.

Before the election, Mr Whan publicly acknowledged the appalling handling of the school plan and criticised the selected site as "small" and "second best."

Now, he doesn't have a word to say.

He won't meet residents or organise a meeting with the education minister.

Aren't members of parliament supposed to listen to the people?

I agree with Mike Quirk (Letters, December 28), that solving Australia's housing crisis requires a change in community attitudes as well as government policies.

The colonial tradition of building one's own house is not so easy anymore, mainly because of modern rules and regulations, health and safety concerns.

Changes in available building materials (wood vs concrete/brick and steel), also have increased costs of building.

In addition, various states and territories have destroyed old low-cost housing as not "habitable", without replacing them with sufficient new housing.

Providing additional low-income housing is not Liberal policy, and various Labor governments have not been able to find funding for this before another change in government.

In those instances where a government planned to develop low-income housing, NIMBY movements often delayed projects. It is time for Australians to realise that everybody deserves decent housing and that we won't have enough people working in jobs that we need, if we do not provide suitable housing.

Re Richard Elliot (Letters, December 29) from Yarralumla's praise for eucalyptus trees in the recent storm. Storms will unfortunately take out trees in their path. I sincerely hope Richard appreciates his "exotics" in Yarralumla. He really does live in a luxurious suburb with Yarralumla's stunning collection of Plane, Oak, Maple, Birch and Willow trees. While most Canberrans swelter under radiant road heat, sparse shade from gums creating sparse soil, toxic eucalyptus tree litter all year round with accompanied blocked storm water, and sudden limb drops (without storm or warning), Yarralumla is a glorious green oasis of shade. I believe it is time to acknowledge the superiority of deciduous urban forests, such as those in Yarralumla (and indeed other nearby neighbourhoods of Ainslie, Forrest, Griffith, the Curtin Horse paddock). I would like to see the ACT government replicate these lush cool deciduous canopies across all of Canberra, and to do so for our capital's future generations.

Richard Elliot stated "the notion that all exotics (trees) are deep-rooted, and eucalypts are shallow-rooted is a myth". He also noted that many exotic trees in Yarralumla were blown over during recent strong winds and heavy rainfall, exposing their ... shallow root systems".

In nearby Deakin, there are also many exotic street trees, along with numerous eucalypts of various ages. As far as I am aware, the only tree to have been toppled in windy, rainy weather was a large, lop-sided oak street tree (with its canopy bisected by the energy supplier), which fell across my street nearly three years ago. This also exposed a shallow root system. None of the eucalypts has been toppled by the weather.

Another letter (December 29) on the important subject of tree selection for urban areas. The non-natives in Downer, growing over and close to the pathway between Giblin Street and Duffield Place, are a menace to the dozens of bike riders commuting on the quiet backstreets of Downer. Very nasty spikes in the branches can rip an eye out. And more generally, overhanging growth on any tree variety can cause pedestrians/runners injury. And block out essential path/street lighting.

Thank you Lanie Tindale for your article "New normal? What COVID will look like in 2024" featured on the front page (December 29). A timely reminder of the danger that COVID infection can lead to the Long COVID syndrome, a debilitating condition.

Unfortunately the emphasis on vaccination to prevent severe disease following COVID infection has lessened a need to understand and treat Long COVID. The only way to prevent Long COVID is to prevent infection with COVID in the first place. There is unfortunately little education and no leadership amongst health professionals in this space.

What needs to be understood is that infection with a respiratory virus (COVID, flu, RSV, the common cold) involves the mucosal immune system. This is different to the immune system that protects against infection once it gets into the body. Vaccination with current COVID vaccines only works once the virus is in the body, it does not protect against getting infected. Only immunity at the mucosal surface (nose, throat) can protect against infection, and hence transmission of the virus to others. Nasal vaccines are currently under development with clinical trials for some initiated in the USA. These new generation vaccines are desperately needed and the imperative for them requires political will.

Until infection and transmission of COVID is halted, Long COVID will continue to impact many in our society. Their plight will go unrecognised as noted in Lanie Tindale's article. The only effective measure is to prevent infection and that means well fitting N95 masks as these filter and trap virus particles.

One of the great pleasures of living in Canberra, when I had my early schooling in Queensland two generations ago, is that whenever I write quoting my early education, there is someone who has done a lot more research and seeks correctly to update my knowledge. Quite right too. When I was in the workforce, we all agreed that the only use for old textbooks was as doorstops, as a lot of their knowledge was outdated, even wrong. I shall in future confine myself to eternal verities like the speed of light, the force of gravity, and human folly.

On March 3, the NRL season kicks off in Las Vegas with Manly, South Sydney, the Roosters and Brisbane playing.

What could possibly go wrong with an overpaid bunch of socially inept 20-year-olds let loose in sin city? I hope the NRL integrity commission is ready to put in some extra hours. Say what you want about NRL referees, at least they leave their poor decisions on the pitch.

Hear hear David Markham (Letters, January 1). Intelligence is clearly overrated. Humans are not so much rationalists as rationalisers. We do what we want, then use intelligence to justify ideas and actions which are simply dumb. This usually involves a refusal to consider the big picture and a lot of lying.

I was surprised that in your editorial of 1 January about potential disasters ahead, there was no mention of the looming climate catastrophe and the fact that a US President Trump would roll back climate change mitigating policies. Surely this issue is equally alarming as the present wars.

A true giant in the fight for human rights, human freedoms, and human dignity is gone with the passing of John Pilger.

But his legacy will live on through the work of the many journalists and critical thinkers he inspired in his fight for what is right, what is just. RIP.

Re, "Is TikTok mishandling your personal data? "(canberratimes.com.au, December 29): Among many other important bits of information, TikTok's data scraping has been known to "conspiracy theorists" for a long time.

The question, then, is why is the government, which has massive resources at its disposal, including, supposedly, some of the best minds in the business, apparently being left behind by deadbeats like me? In truth, the "conspiracy theorist" has a good answer for that one, too, but most people won't believe it till it's in the paper.

Eric Hunter (Letters December 29) calls Doug Hurst and his ilk climate change "sceptics". They are not.

As a card-carrying member of the Australian Skeptics (motto: Seek the evidence), I can assure Eric that sceptics (spell it how you will) know full well that the evidence for human-induced climate change is overwhelming. Doug Hurst and his fellow travellers are climate change deniers, not sceptics. The two are opposite ends of the intellectual spectrum.

Poor Ian Jannaway (Letters, December 29); thrown out of his comfort zone by "pointless, tiresome and onerous protests". I wonder if he thinks the same about the organisers of the Boston Tea Party, or those who stormed the Bastille? And what about the English barons who protested vigorously about King John's crippling taxes - a move that led to the Magna Carta and over time a democratic system that Ian no doubt thoroughly endorses, ironically because it allows him to protest about protests that, illogically, he seems to fear.

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