It's time for the ACT to embrace digital driver's licences

The government has previously said it was waiting until it understood the digital specifications that digital driver's licences would need. The success stories in other states provide a clear blueprint for the ACT to follow.

Digital driver's licences offer numerous advantages over their physical counterparts. They provide greater convenience, eliminating the need for physical cards that can be lost, damaged, or forgotten. Additionally, digital licenses can be easily accessed and authenticated through smartphones, reducing the burden on citizens and law enforcement.

Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia and now Victoria have already embraced digital licences, paving the way for a seamless transition in the ACT. By leveraging their experiences and learning, the ACT government can streamline the implementation process and ensure its success.

Furthermore, digital licences align with the government's commitment to sustainability and reducing bureaucracy. They contribute to a paperless environment, reducing waste and minimising the environmental impact of traditional licenses.

The ACT government should prioritise the development of a digital driver's licence.

After being involved with the National Gallery since its inception, I am shocked that it is proposing to spend $60 million to redesign the Sculpture Garden.

It is one of the most beautiful gardens in Canberra, loved and admired by many and is a huge tribute to its designer Harry Howard and inaugural director James Mollison.

We have already seen an unnecessary $550 million wasted on the Australian War Memorial.

Why it is it that these institutions feel so compelled to change things that are functional, appropriate, beautiful and widely admired and respected? What happened to the old adage "if it ain't broken don't fix it".

If there is that sort of money floating about wouldn't it be better spent on a café that provides something better than a lukewarm pie served from a pie warmer in a tent outside the front entrance to the nation's principal art gallery?

Why spend money changing a great environment when the the gallery has many other needs.

Why do we have to have lobbyists?

They are contrary to our democratic system of governance and should be abolished as a lobbyist's prime responsibility is to try to influence our parliamentarians into voting for legislation that is in the interests of the organisations they represent, not the public interest.

Parliamentarians are voted in by the people, for the people. Lobbyists are not.

Parliamentarians can be, and in all probability are, open to enticement by the lobbyists.

We currently have close to 600 registered lobbyists.

That's about two for every parliamentarian.

They should be abolished or, at the very least, severely reduced in number.

The Federal golf course and its Sydney-based developer have received the go-ahead for their 152 multi storey retirement development.

In the paperwork released with this decision there is direct reference to the Red Hill roos.

Acknowledgement is made that they will be displaced by the development and this may involved fleeing and being hit by cars. It also says that there may be "grazing pressure".

These "impacts which may occur during and after construction need to be considered and mitigated".

This means slaughter. These roos will be hunted down in the dead of night and shot.

This is a shameful, disgraceful way to take yet more land and develop it.

Shame on the Barr government and the Federal Golf Club.

Ms Coleman is concerned that the concept of "innocent until proven guilty" has been ignored by Justice Lee (Letters, April 24). But Mr Lehrmann has not been found guilty of rape. As Ms Coleman rightly notes, that can only occur in a criminal court following a finding of guilt in a trial or by a plea of guilty.

Justice Lee instead found, to the civil standard, that it was substantially true that Mr Lehrmann raped Ms Higgins. The critical difference being that no criminal consequences can flow from Justice Lee's finding.

Unlike a person who is found guilty in a criminal court of raping someone, Mr Lehrmann can never be convicted or sentenced in relation to the rape as a result of Justice Lee's finding. His criminal record remains unblemished.

Secondly, as to why Justice Lee has the right to make a finding that it was substantially true that Mr Lehrmann raped Ms Higgins, it was Mr Lehrmann himself who gave Justice Lee that power. Mr Lehrmann decided to sue Network Ten for defamation for reporting that he raped Ms Higgins.

In doing so, he put the matter before the Federal Court and asked the court to make a finding that he had been defamed. A person cannot be defamed however, if what is being said about them is true.

Justice Lee was required, by the terms of Mr Lehrmann's suit and Network Ten's defence of its reporting, to delve into the truth of whether the rape occurred. In making a finding as to whether it was true that Mr Lehrmann raped Ms Higgins, Justice Lee was doing what was asked of him by Mr Lehrmann.

When it comes to reducing traffic congestion and transport emissions, parking fees may be more effective than light rail.

The ACT government's 2012 submission to Infrastructure Australia estimated that Stage 1 of light rail, together with a 70 per cent increase in car parking fees, would reduce local car travel by two per cent. That would reduce emissions by 13,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year.

Stage 2 is likely to have a smaller impact on car travel. Unlike Stage 1 it would be slower than buses. So it would attract fewer passengers.

Each stage of light rail reduces emissions from buses by about 4000 tonnes per year. A light rail vehicle can carry three times as many passengers as a standard bus. Each kilometre of travel by a light rail vehicle replaces about three kilometres of bus travel.

The government estimates that Stage 2B would cost $905 million.

According to the ACT Transport Demand Elasticities Study, a 30 per cent increase in car parking fees would reduce local car travel by three per cent. That would reduce emissions by 20,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, and generate $10 million annual revenue.

Costs of HECS repayments have come to the fore of late, a crushing burden on young graduates who often fail to see much benefit in the near future from their investment, if ever, given the failure of wages to match the increasing debt due to inflation adjustments.

Why are the other beneficiaries of higher education, ie employers, exempt from paying a fair share? Where will our trained graduates come from when the young decide there is no long-term benefit from university education because HECS debt prevents them from raising a family or buying a home?

Is there a case for a return to free, or at least subsidised, higher education? Other countries do it. Why not us?

M Flint (Letters, April 23) is spot on. We are in the process of ruining our economy in the overzealous rush to install wind turbines and solar panels in the pursuit of net zero whilst recklessly shutting down reliable and weather independent base load generation.

All this to be seen as good citizens and set an example to the rest of the world. But China, India, Indonesia and others continue to increase fossil fuel use at the expense of our manufacturing (or what's left of it).

Australia's total contribution to greenhouse emissions on the world scene is negligible. The government's Future Made in Australia Act to reinvigorate manufacturing is going to be interesting to follow as we move towards a weather dependent and unreliable power supply.

When World War I broke out in 1914 it quickly morphed into a global conflict and became known as "the war to end all wars". How wrong that was. It ushered in an age of violence and we are still living with its consequences. Gaza and Ukraine are cases in point.

Further to Albert White's comments on the insatiable demands of our war establishment, we spend hundreds of billions to defend Taiwan while Australia is invaded by fire ants. The most negligent of the enablers of this invasion seem to be the Australian Defence Force. Great job. And another blow for self-determination.

The weak laws that are supposed to protect our women are a disgrace. There should be a mandatory sentence of life without parole for those cowardly men who murder their partners. If we need to build more jails so be it.

I think that rather than spend money on de-sexing cats (The Canberra Times, April 24) it would be better for the environment and more economical to euthanise them.

Having witnessed Israel's universal, pervasive, permeating, unrivalled propaganda machine, and its total disdain for UN resolutions advocating Palestinians be treated as human for many decades, Australia should be conscience-stricken at having accepted "unsupported" accusations against UNRWA earlier this year.

It is only a matter of time before the annual kangaroo slaughter on Canberra's reserves begins in earnest. Whole family groups will be exterminated for no other reason than they eat grass. Wake up Canberrans. This disgraceful act is happening under your watch every year since 2008.

The US Senate has approved almost $US100 billion in military and other aid to the Ukraine. Imagine what they could do with that money in their own country? Free universal healthcare? Urban renewal? Poor relief programs? Instead they choose to wage war. Why can we never find the money to wage peace?

If, as the PM said on Anzac Day, we will never forget the Papua New Guineans who helped the Diggers on the Kokoda Track, he could allocate some cash to move the memorial to them, now decaying at the old Services Club. Anzac Parade would be perfect.

Speeches delivered on Anzac Day should emphasise the desirability of peace and the obvious undesirability of war. That they do not suggests our leaders want us to maintain a "ready for war" mentality, to readily accept without question our involvement in the next faraway military conflict the US drags us into.

It is remarkable how often the Canberra stadium debate happily ignores how other cities integrate their arenas into city and urban life. The notion of a southern fringe stadium (Jack Kershaw, Letters, April 25) is just the latest example. More Canberrans should take a look at Lang Park or the Adelaide Oval.