Why isn't southside hydrotherapy an election issue this year?

This week the main provider of affordable hydrotherapy facilities in the ACT - The Arthritis Association (a non-profit organisation) - has advised their clients that facilities hired in Kambah and Calwell would no longer be available, or sessions reduced, due to costs to the association. Limited facilities will be extended at the John James rehab pool, but these will only cover a few of the hundreds of people who rely upon warm water exercise to alleviate their pain.

Facilities are available at the UCH rehab pool in Bruce. But that's a long way to travel during these times of soaring prices, especially at the petrol bowsers.

During this election year one would think that the ACT coalition government and the opposition would grab this topic and run with it. But a stony silence is being maintained by all political parties. It is time to make a stand and change the government now.

Independent candidates might like to campaign on assisting those with pain and disabilities to live a better life and to stay out of hospital.

I refer to the recent article and letters on cycling in Canberra and write as a motorist, a cyclist and a pedestrian.

It's about a lot more than bell-ringing (but your correspondents are correct - most bike riders don't use bells, and when they do many pedestrians are confused).

Much more needs to be done to bring about behavioural changes by all concerned. Structural changes are also urgently needed to roads and bike paths.

A silent revolution is taking place in transport with the advent of the electric bicycle and this highlights the need for action.

Walk into a bike store: half the stock is now electric.

Cars can be dangerously reckless and rules ignored. Many bike riders also transgress. Pedestrians amble off-course, sometimes with uncontrolled dogs and kids, scooters are fast and anarchic and shopkeepers litter the passageway with unauthorised signs.

A focused education campaign to change behaviour is needed for all, including improved signage and enforcement of basic safe behaviour and equipment.

Equally important, cars, bikes and pedestrians should be separated as much as possible and this requires significant investment.

Any political party up for it?

Cyclists have lately been receiving a hard time from the letter writers. I would like to offer a constructive suggestion to road-using cyclists.

I regularly drive out to the Cotter Reserve at weekends. I worry that the majority of cyclists are wearing black or dark-coloured clothing which makes them difficult to see against dark backgrounds and shadow patches.

I would like to suggest that recreational cyclists wear high-vis fluorescent vests at all times to ensure drivers can see them easily.

In Yemen, 2 million children are undernourished and half-a-million are severely malnourished. It is not uncommon for a young child to die from hunger (according to a report from Radio Sweden).

It is common knowledge that things have been this bad for many years.

At the same time, the Houthis are now finding lots of money for missiles and drones to attack merchant ships in the Red Sea.

The money for just one of these would feed hundreds of children.

This is not condemned, or even mentioned, by various demonstrators. There is not a whisper of protest.

Ian Douglas's misogyny is showing. It is exactly the tone of his letter ("Morrison was wise", May 6) which gives support to the view that women (especially those who protest about the death of a woman from gendered violence every four days) are not to be trusted.

It is this kind of view which can contribute to the very gendered violence to which the women were drawing attention. Morrison was not wise to avoid attending a similar protest; in my book he was cowardly.

As the UK and Australian governments arm for war, perhaps we should heed the words of the prophet Isaiah: "He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore (Isaiah 2:4)."

Here are some "thorny questions" that your May 1 article, "A five-year report raises thorny questions for light rail opponents" failed to address.

If the government had invested in rapid bus transit, bus commuters from Gungahlin would now be getting to Woden in 40 minutes. Light rail commuters will have to wait until 2033 to take more than 50 minutes for the same trip.

If the government had invested in transit lanes and rapid bus transit the 2021 census would probably not have recorded a record high proportion of commuters driving cars.

Future development will be stifled by the higher rates and taxes needed to pay for light rail. Many of the new developments in suburbs serviced by light rail would have happened in any case. Those developments would also benefit more suburbs.

Some of those developments resulted from selling off public housing along the light rail route. Some public housing tenants were relocated more than 2km from the nearest light rail stop.

So it is hardly surprising that some "people are regularly travelling 1.2km to catch a light rail service".

Canberrans are much more likely to transfer between buses than to transfer between light rail and buses. Almost one-third of Transport Canberra trips involve transfers to or from buses.

As a result of the lack of interchanges between buses and light rail, only 6 per cent of light rail trips involve bus transfers.

Your recent report "A five-year report raises thorny questions for light rail opponents" (May 1) comprised little but credits to the pro City-to-Woden tram brigade.

At no point was the fact stated that buses (electrified, if you must) can not only achieve the same thing for a third of the cost, but they can provide far greater flexibility and diversity than a rigid tram track.

Suitable bus stops can be inserted along the Yarra Glenn/Adelaide Avenue corridor once the greedy development and real estate companies have had their appetites filled by a compliant government.

I further question how many residents living along this future corridor of concrete would actually need to commute to the city in these modern days of diversification of workplaces.

Instead of petulantly forging ahead with their tram, perhaps this ACT government should focus on fulfilling at least a few of their other promises prior to the upcoming election.

Violence against women needs tougher sentencing. The key question for all of us caring Australians is why should potential victims be forced to live with ongoing fear for their safety, with some being murdered?

Thousands of Apprehended Violence Orders and Apprehended Domestic Violence Orders are issued in Australia each year. It is not practical to lock up all the men who have orders against them. The majority comply. Some even reconcile with their partners.

So how does society recognise which men who threaten violence will go on to commit horrific acts against their partners? That is an impossible guessing game. AVOs and ADVOs are the only answer. What the courts need to do is to make it very clear absolutely no breaches of such orders will be tolerated.

If a breach occurs the courts must lock the transgressors up. Only after a time of reflection behind bars, and counselling, should they be released - and then on the condition they relocate far away from the victims.

During the incarceration, and after, our welfare system must provide for the family.

Peter Dutton has actually raised a very legitimate community concern regarding the absence of proper monitoring of a released migrant who brutally assaulted and robbed an elderly woman who is a cancer sufferer.

Dutton's concerns should be given the attention it deserves. PM Albanese makes a grave mistake in thinking it's something that can be swept under the carpet.

Well, Susan Kover (Letters, May 2), where we are on Palestine is that Australia has supported a two-state solution since the original 1948 UN decision. But the Israeli Prime Minister does not. That's unfortunately where we are at, along with at least 34,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza since the Hamas attacks on October 7.

Why is it so difficult, Coke Tomyn (Letters, May 2), to understand that it's possible to be opposed to the mass slaughter of innocent civilians and the destruction of their homes by a modern military force without automatically supporting a terrorist group that also targets innocent civilians?

Yes, Janine Haskins (Letters, May 3), there is nothing wrong with lobbying. It is even admirable, when it is arguing for a good cause. And yes, Mario Stivala (Letters, May 1), lobbying can be corruption. Lobbying is corruption when money is involved.

Us lefties are often conflicted because the people whose causes we support aren't perfect. Like the Palestinians Steve Evans talks about, Black Power was famously sexist back in the day. Indigenous violence against women is particularly egregious. So should I shut up about dead Palestinian children because they are the same race as some perps? Isn't that racist?

One of the great joys of Canberra is seeing our spectacular gang-gangs up close as they munch on berries and seeds in our gardens. If their nesting sites are destroyed, we won't see gang-gangs. It is as simple as that. Surely our territory emblem is more important than sating the greed of a golf club.

Further to Anthony Bruce (Letters, May 3), the "foot of fleet" are the Royal Marine Commandos.

Sue Pittman (Letters, May 4) noted the time-wasting ploys of social media. Of course it is about money; users' money. The tech executives know exactly what they are doing. They send their children to expensive schools with screen-free education; no phones, laptops or tablets. We can turn off our links to them.

With reference to the article on school suspensions (May 6). It seems that if a school pupil behaves badly, he or she is detained in school (that's called detention). But if they behave really badly they are kicked out of school (or suspended). As Manuel from that excellent TV show Fawlty Towers might have said: "Que?"

I have just seen Ralph Fiennes' Macbeth (the film of the play). When are we going to see a Scottish production of the Scottish play, with only Scottish actors (or at least accents?) Are the English afraid the Scots will do it better than they can and they will never get it back?