Parking stings at big events are unfair and should stop

As a resident who attended Skyfire, I received a parking infringement notice for parking on the landscaping area due to limited parking options caused by overwhelming congestion.

While I understand the importance of parking regulations, I believe that targeting special events for revenue through parking infringements is unfair and disproportionate.

Attendees are forced to make difficult decisions due to insufficient parking options, leading to unintended violations.

This practice not only places financial burdens on individuals but also undermines the accessibility and enjoyment of community events. By prioritising revenue generation over community welfare, the government risks discouraging participation in public activities and eroding trust in public institutions.

I urge your publication to investigate and raise awareness of this issue. By fostering public discourse, we can advocate for fair and transparent parking policies that balance regulatory enforcement with community needs.

We are constantly reading about the huge problem of violence in ACT cchools. Might I suggest a study be carried out, of the in-your-face atrocious behaviour, being fed to preschool children on kids programs on TV.

Being a grandmother I've become very aware of the violence, silly voices, bad behaviour and speech between kids, speed driving, bus drivers dancing while at the steering wheel of vehicles, vicious fighting, kids being rude to teachers, screaming, etc. These are in the "fun shows" our children are watching for entertainment.

How and when do they learn that they are watching cartoons and that this is not acceptable social behaviour? In many cases, no one is around to tell small children that this is not the way we should interact with one another.

The people developing these current programs probably think they are being funny and entertaining and see no harm in what they are producing, because this is what they saw to a lesser degree as they were growing up.

Since the development of TV the behavioural problem is escalating with every generation. Each generation is becoming more of a problem in schools through no fault of their own.

Many, many correspondents to this page state that it's time to change the ACT government. However, how many have actually spoken to friends and relatives about this government's shortcomings?

While Canberrans are well versed in foreign and national affairs, they seems pretty much clueless about the local scene. I've spoken to people who know nothing about the $80+ million waste on the IT system, the CIT contractor issue or the Campbell primary contract.

For those friends who can't bring themselves to vote Liberal because they think they're still mostly a far right party, suggest voting for an independent.

If you want change, get out there and make it happen.

Concerns about Canberra getting too big are mostly unfounded. Good land to the north, north-east, and south, including into NSW, would enable, if well planned, a fine, sustainable and liveable conurbation, government delivered, with location identity, and sensitively arranged suburbs with good sized blocks for healthy family life.

The expanded Cotter Dam has plenty of capacity, and there's the Angle Crossing pumps on the Murrumbidgee, and dare I mention the potential Tennent Dam?

Additionally, the airport and its takeoff and landing zones are some of the best land for Canberra to grow into. The airport could move in years to come, say, to the north-west, served by the Barton Highway.

Infrastructure at the current airport site, and beyond north and south, would enable a new town centre, with bountiful agricultural and nature reserves, and a new lake on Jerrabomberra Creek south of Hindmarsh Drive (not a new idea)- all integrated with Queanbeyan and environs, with greenbelt separations.

Dual occupancies are environmentally destructive, and mostly plain dumb, and all densification has proven itself to be a property developers' free-for-all, with poor amenity, dodgy buildings, and worsening affordability.

My lived experience highlights how the ACT Guardianship Tribunal is failing the most vulnerable in our community. My experience was highlighted with incompetence, procedural failures and poor judgement. Legal appointees and support staff were ill-equipped to judge complex matters and difficult family circumstances.

The failure to provide an interpreter for the vulnerable person; the inability to understand and make sound judgements on detailed and complex medical evidence; a failure to protect the broader community from harm; and, a failure to meaningfully respond to complaints within 12 months, signal a failed organisation.

The process left the vulnerable person, the support person and the ACT community worse off than they were prior to the process. This is a poor outcome for the expenditure of taxpayers' money.

Deterioration of this public service has occurred on the ALP-Greens watch. Informing the ACT Attorney of these failures some months ago has failed to make any meaningful impact.

One can reasonably assume the most vulnerable are not a high enough priority for this government.

It's time that vulnerable persons, their support persons, and the institutions that exist to support them, were a priority for the ACT government. It's time for a comprehensive review of the ACT Guardianship Tribunal to protect the most vulnerable members of our community.

Dr Sophie Lewis has laid bare the extremist position held by the ACT government in relation to kangaroos (Letters, March 28). Make no mistake, the ACT government regards kangaroos and wallabies as "pests".

This is not a generally accepted view in the Australian scientific community but is particularly convenient for many developers, rural leaseholders and shooters.

Dr Lewis, like her colleagues in the ACT environment bureaucracy, seem happy to blame kangaroos and wallabies for habitat destruction while the obvious destruction wrought by over-development continues to wreak havoc on our "precious threatened species".

Yes Eric Hunter (Letters, March 28), the only danger in having another Western Bulldog in Canberra is that, like the eastern grey kangaroo, we may well end up being declared an "invasive" species.

I'm more than well aware that one doesn't need an abacus to tally Western Bulldogs or should I say, Footscray premierships.

Not one to hold a grudge as a rule, I still haven't forgiven Hawthorn for 1961. Now about Footscray's future, I take your point but the thing that worries me is that anyone can have an off 10 decades.

If you are looking to let disappointment into your life, just add the Hammers and St George to your list of favourites. You'll then realise that mere pain is but a luxury.

Those who oppose the Canberra's light rail (tram) development proposal should look at the Sydney, and Melbourne public transport histories.

Sydney had until 1961 one of the largest tram networks in the world moving 400 million passenger journeys a year. Then they were conned into replacing them with buses.

Transport patronage plummeted, and private car usage soared, which caused traffic chaos with bus / car competition.

Now after 60 years they are spending billions putting them back. Melbourne rejected the bus con, expanded their tram system, which now moves millions of people yearly, and on footy matches provides transport for thousands a day.

Let's learn from history and not be conned by the bus lobby and politics.

It has been reported that the Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs, Stephanie Foster, was seen leaving minister Clare O'Neil's office in tears in February after an "incredibly robust" discussion.

I would like to think that departmental secretaries, as the CEOs of their departments, were made of sterner stuff and had the "ticker" to stand up to ministers where appropriate and/or required.

Kim Huynh ("Hear me out: Canberra needs more pollies", March 28) is absolutely right that we need more MLAs. The expert review in 2013, which recommended expansion from 17 seats to the current 25, said we needed to expand to 35 seats once we passed a population of 400,000.

We're now well on our way to 500,000, and yet the government seemingly has no interest in expanding our combined state parliament/local council to ensure MLAs provide effective governance and oversight, while being accessible to the public.

Doug Hurst (Letters, March 28) says that the tram is taking so long to build because it is 19th century technology. If he is right, it should take a long time to build a bicycle, a train, or a car with a petrol or diesel engine. Electric buses may be faster to build. Wikipedia says that the first ever battery-electric bus service started in 1907.

Having been distracted over recent days on a number of personal matters (locally, and interstate); I just wanted to ensure that, with all the chest thumping going on, I had not missed any articles whereby Hamas have been called out for the bunch of cowardly terrorists that they are.

Further to R. J. Wenholz letter of March 27 re "silly letters", I have often felt that angry letters are too angry, sad too sorrowful, happy too frivolous, thoughtful too biased and political never cynical enough.

Silly is best.

Re the recent correspondence on cycling safety on major roads. As I drive my grandchildren to school in morning peak hour traffic in the safety of a car, I'm stunned at the risks many cyclists take. The other day I saw a lady wobbling across a busy Canberra Avenue around 8.30am with not one or two but three very small children with flailing arms and legs on her bike. While I appreciate the onus is generally on motorists to avoid cyclists, too many riders sadly do little to help themselves.

One reason, Mark Sproat (Letters, March 22), that we should accept Muslim immigrants is that as a rich, uncrowded (if inadequately housed) country with skill shortages, we have more capacity and more need to do so than most countries in the Middle East.

Further to nuclear power reactors and radioactive waste dumps finding a home in coalition constituencies, we should ask our atomic representatives if they have condescended to install photovoltaic panels on their homes and property portfolios?

Credit to the Albanese government for offering a $1 billion boost to the Australian solar manufacturing industry (March 28). Given that China currently holds an 80 per cent share in all manufacturing stages of the world's solar panels, more Aussie made solar panels will offer a welcome reduction in our dependence on Chinese solar, while creating local manufacturing jobs.