All right-thinking Canberrans are rightly concerned that Australia's "most progressive government" will go down the drain at the October polls.
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High on its catalogue of difficulties is our not being able to catch a tram to Woden before the 2032 poll.
It is probably too late to stop gassing the bunnies so that they multiply and burrow to their heart's content until City Hill collapses enough not to bother to ship in more dirt.
It is not too late, however, to solve the problem of getting the tram across the lake. Indeed, the solution is so obvious it's a wonder minister Steel hasn't thought of it himself.
Drain the Lake. This is a win-win-win. The Greens can delight in restoring the Molonglo to its natural state. The Ngunnawal and Ngambri will have more country to claim.
Once the "Barr-geoisie" is back in office, the hectares of reclaimed land can be sold off for development fees and to earn rates to bring the budget towards the black before 2032, 2036 or ...
And sheep shall safely graze.
Humphrey McQueen, Griffith, (author Suburbs of the Sacred: Transforming Australian Beliefs and Values)
A stadium in Greenway?
Given that the Brumbies and the Raiders urgently need a roofed new stadium, then affordability and ease of construction are paramount.
So, the best site is on unencumbered land, already zone-compliant, adjoining existing sporting and accommodation facilities, on the west side of Athllon Drive, Greenway.
It's located in a superb Canberra lake and mountain setting, adjacent to the growing Tuggeranong town centre, near the bus station, and right on the planned tramline.
Jack Kershaw, Kambah
How not to do it
The steady flow of letters and the front page headline on March 12 all suggest that Canberra's light rail system is likely to become best known as a text book example of how not to manage major public works.
The correct procedure is a well established four stage process:
- Define the overall objective, taking care not to use criteria that pre-empt the analysis;
- List all possible options for achieving the objective, remembering that a "do nothing" case is one of the options and provides a useful base line;
- Analyse each of the options according to objective criteria (e.g. benefit/cost ratio).
- Select and implement the best option.
For Canberra's light rail system the process was quite different. The outcome of a local election had put one man with a rather starry eyed utopian view of light rail in a position where he could apply political pressure to each party by offering to provide support enabling that party to form government in return for a promise to construct a light rail system. No credible clinical analysis of this proposal was undertaken.
Now that the first stage is completed the slipshod approach continues. The ludicrously expensive Stage 2A appears to have been undertaken with no assurance that approval to continue through the parliamentary triangle will be obtained. Thus there is a risk that Stage 2A could become a stranded asset as a line to nowhere, servicing nobody.
An obvious alternative was an extension along Constitution Avenue servicing the CIT/UNSW campus, Russel Offices and the high density residential and commercial developments already completed and still expanding.
I have looked in vain for any publicly released information comparing these two alternatives.
Roger Quarterman, Campbell
Our Irish heritage
Thank you David D'Lima (Letters, March 16) for reminding us of St Patrick's Day and our country's links to Ireland.
The Romans did not bother with Ireland and nor did the vanquishing hordes from the east.
Monasteries learning and books flourished, even spreading back to needy Europe.
Who remembers the visit to Canberra's National Library of Ireland's precious Book of Kells? It arrived in early 2000 and I dropped in to visit a couple of times. Then word of the wonder spread and the queues wound around the columned library and the hours were extended. We were enchanted.
When the Vikings of the north discovered the jewelled covers of books and other monastic treasures - much was lost - but not the Book of Kells.
R McCallum, Canberra
The Liberals' woman problem
The massive problem the Liberal Party has with women voters and candidates continues.
Anne Ruston was relegated to second place on the Liberal party's South Australian Senate ticket after failing in a factional battle with conservative senator Alex Antic.
So again they've selected a Conservative male over a female. They're slow on the uptake.
A majority of the Teal/Independent female candidates who won at the last election were old fashioned Liberals. They share their entire ideology with the Liberal Party apart from believing in climate change and wanting to do something about it.
The Liberal Party detests the idea of quotas and always claims that the best person for the job should be preselected. It's astounding then that the best person always seems to be a hard line conservative male.
There is absolutely zero chance the LNP will reach their alleged target without quotas. The Labor Party introduced quotas for women in 1994. We can thank that decision for the state of the Labor Party today which is stacked with immensely talented women such as Penny Wong and Katy Gallagher amongst many others.
They are decades ahead of their counterparts. Bridget Archer is a shining light in the Liberal Party with immense courage but she's an exception.
The LNP is no longer attractive to women voters and candidates because it has moved so far to the right they've been excluded. The Teals now represent what the Liberal Party allegedly represented for female voters. Nothing will change as long as Conservatives rule.
Peter McLoughlin, Monash
Paying the price
R McCallum (Letters, March 16) commented on the high charge for parking a large SUV in Paris. Yes, $A372 for six hours does seem almost extortionate.
In Canberra, large SUVS are not the only problem.
The trend by tradies to giant utes (pick-up trucks in America) is also causing problems.
A few days ago, I saw an enormous ute parked outside the local gym.
Its bull-bar extended almost a metre outside the front of the parking space, and its tray-back was part-way through a bush at the rear.
It was also in a space designated "disabled".
If parallel parked this ute would have occupied two spaces. Its driver should have had to pay accordingly.
Douglas Mackenzie, Deakin
Question was relevant
Warwick Davis (Letters, March 16) has doubts about the EvoEnergy survey about gas usage in Canberra that contains questions about home ownership.
I can think of at least one good reason for that question: home owners/buyers are able to get rid of gas connections to their properties but tenants can't.
However tenants who answer the survey can be asked about whether they want or do not want gas connected to the properties they rent.
Davies's point that surveys shouldn't contain irrelevant questions is however important.
The number of times I've refused to answer a question on my marital status is innumerable. It is rarely relevant in many surveys.
S T Lawton, Weston Creek (master of social research methods, ANU)
We've known this for a while
It was first pointed out by John Tyndall in 1861 that the carbon dioxide in the air must have a critical influence on climate because of its "greenhouse effect".
After explaining that the burning of fossil fuels would cause an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide that would result in an increase in global temperature, and noting that human activities had already increased atmospheric carbon dioxide by about 13 per cent the geologist Arthur Holmes noted that "hurricanes and floods have become more frequent".
"By the time all the reserves of coal and oil are exhausted ... there will be about ten times as much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as there is today," he wrote.
"Temperatures will then be about 22 degrees Fahrenheit (12 degrees Celsius) higher than they would otherwise have been."
He also said "The melting of the glaciers and ice caps would increase sea level "by about 250 feet (76.2 metres)" submerging London and New York (and here in Australia our capital cities).
The quotes are from the final edition of Arthur Holmes's Principles of Physical Geology (revised 1965 edition).
Harry Davis, Campbell
TO THE POINT
SET AN EXAMPLE
If the "age of entitlement is nauseating" (Letters, March 14), maybe we should stop just blaming young people. It is up to us older ones to set an example.
Eric Hunter, Cook
DUBIOUS MOTIVES
I think Peter Dutton is spruiking nuclear power because it will give the fossil fuel industry more time to continue selling its noxious products.
Felicity Chivas, Ainslie
THIS MAKES SENSE
Felicity Chivas's proposal for flashing lights at school zones (Letters, March 18) is absolutely logical and a no brainer. The adoption of this proposal, similar to the NSW and other states' school safety zone systems, was Liberal policy at the last ACT election. Unfortunately Mr Barr and Labor ignore this very logical proposal because it is not their idea.
Angelo Barich, Kambah
SLEEPERS AWAKE
The funny thing about The Canberra Times' report on Australian's lack of sleep (March 16) is just how fast asleep Australians actually are.
Vasily Martin, Queanbeyan, NSW
NOT AN 'OFF-CHANCE'
Dr Mackenzie claims Israel is destroying Gaza on the "off-chance" that, in so doing, it might kill Hamas terrorists (Letters, March 14). The IDF targets terrorists it has identified or when returning fire. Targeting of terrorist infrastructure is based on intelligence. Hamas not only hides in civilian buildings but also booby-traps them. Where's the "off-chance" there?
R Webb, Griffith
LEFT HIGH AND DRY
Fleeing a catastrophic war zone isn't a good enough reason for Palestinian refugees to be allowed into Australia. People who were granted a visa and who left Gaza are now stranded high and dry in a third country because some bureaucrat in Canberra thinks they won't go home when their visa expires. Were Israeli or Ukranian refugees targeted in this manner?
L Chamas, Burradoo, NSW
HUNTER THE HUNTER
Many thanks for your investigative reporting on the "Coalition for Conservation" Eric Hunter. (Letters, March 15). I too smelt a rat.
Helen Moore, Cook
VOICE OF AMERICA?
Shadow foreign minister Simon Birmingham is publicly outraged Australia has restored its funding to UNRWA "ahead of the US doing so". His, and the LNP's foreign policy consists of parroting whatever the US decrees. Birmingham should be dropped from the federal payroll and given a stipend by the US State Department.
Alex Mattea, Kingston
NOT REAL SECURITY
Green Shed employees will be invited to reapply for their jobs when Vinnies take over. That's nice then. I hope it's at the same if not better than their current pay rates and entitlements.
Ian Jannaway, Monash
CSIRO ON THE MARCH
Now the Coalition's 2015 appointee, Dr Larry Marshall, is no longer CSIRO boss does Dutton fear it will rise up, phoenix-like, to get its teeth back into big and controversial issues? ("CSIRO 'staunchly' hits back at Dutton over nuclear energy", March 16)?
Sue Dyer, Downer
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