Bruce seems to be the best site for a new stadium. It's reasonably centrally located and will be more so as Canberra spills over the border north of Gungahlin. It's a large site and can easily accommodate the restaurants, bars and other facilities that usually surround stadiums and assist to ensure its long-term viability.
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The site is close to the AIS precinct, CIT Bruce, the University of Canberra and the Northside Hospital.
It is also centrally located for the majority of visiting Australian NRL, ARL and soccer teams as well as musicians.
Given our climate, which will become more erratic, the stadium should have a flexible roof, for the players and the spectators and to ensure concerts will not be affected by the weather.
Multi-level parking should be provided if not at the same time at a later stage. As the city is growing fast, the stadium needs to have a capacity of 30,000 and be built in the next few years; the current stadium is past its use-by date.
Canberra will then attract more international sporting teams also and it would be marvellous to take visitors to an event in a stadium worthy of the capital of Australia.
The Canberra Times is doing an online survey. Let us all complete it and secure federal funding. It is not often the political stars align.
Herman van de Brug, Holt
Hamas is evil incarnate
Re the quote from ANU encampment protest.
I am very disturbed by the reported quote from student Beatrice Tucker, an organiser of the ongoing pro-Palestinian encampment on campus, who in an interview on ABC radio reportedly said "Hamas deserves our unconditional support".
The ANU should not be facilitating protesters who laud the horrific actions of Hamas on October 7. These "unconditionally supported" actions included the massacre of many civilians as young as Beatrice Tucker, who were simply attending a music festival.
All such protesters at the encampment should be suspended from the campus (but not from the ANU as students - one hopes they can yet learn something), leaving others to rightly protest the inhumane treatment of Palestinian civilians by the IDF (and related Israeli policies).
Otherwise the protest should be stopped.
Michael Hall, Hawker
ANU protest was anti-Semitic
David Perkins (Letters, May 2) claims there were no taunts or anti-Semitism at the ANU pro-Palestine rally on Monday night. But I was there and I heard one protestor abusively scream "F---ng Jewish c---s". Steve Evans has reported that other witnesses heard people saying "F--- the Jews".
Perhaps Perkins has a different understanding of anti-Semitism to mine or the noise from the Hamas supporters on their very loud PA system was drowning out the horrible verbal abuse directed at the Jewish students gathered peacefully in one place about 50 metres away.
What Perkins calls the barbaric destruction of Gaza is actually Israel trying to root out the Hamas terrorists who have comprehensively militarised the entire strip.
It echoes other campaigns of urban warfare, such as in Iraq, where the terrorists were less entrenched.
Did people call for a ceasefire when the Nazis were on the ropes in 1944? In any case, all this would have been over months ago if the hostages were released.
Robert Cussel, Canberra
Israel in the wrong
Once again letter writers to The Canberra Times concentrate on Hamas and their truly dreadful attack on Israelis last October without any recognition of similarly dreadful attacks by Israel on Palestinians.
Since Palestine was divided (unequally in Israel's favour) Israel has made life unbearable for Palestinians with its checkpoints, home incursions and demolitions, burning and uprooting of olive orchards and settlements built on Palestinian land.
Is Israel's aim to remove all Palestinians so the entire land becomes a Jewish state? That would appear to be what is happening in Gaza and on the West Bank.
Gwenyth Bray, Belconnen
Do you know what Hamas is?
I write regarding the abhorrent anti-Semitic comments made by one of the organisers of the pro-Palestinian camp site at the ANU.
Student organiser Beatrice Tucker is reported as having said that Hamas deserves our "unconditional support", that they could not condemn Hamas and further more cast doubts over the terrorist attacks.
Such an inference is insulting.
These comments need to be called out.
A. C. Garnet, Deakin
Chemistry wins again
Dave Hobson (Letters, May 1) refers to the two world records set at Bruce stadium at the 1985 World Athletics Championships.
One of these, by East German Marita Koch, still stands today at 47.60 seconds nearly 39 years later.
It says a lot about the ability of sports pharmacologists that the East German woman won 12 of the 16 events, the Soviets two and the Bulgarians one.
At the time, athletics officialdom showed the same cowardice as WADA is now when calling out cheating in swimming.
John Bromhead, Rivett
Social media time wasters
A few of us are finding it almost impossible to find what we are looking for on the internet. It keeps interrupting with registrations, subscriptions and websites that are completely unrelated to the search subject.
Social media is already failing our society and I suspect the tech companies' use of AI is doing the same. It might be time for consumers to charge the tech companies for our time. After all, time is valuable and irreplaceable.
Sue Pittman, Kambah
A drop in the bucket
Defence Minister Marles has just announced that Australia will provide $100 million to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia's invasion.
Ukrainians will be heartened by this support and Marles' claim that further (unspecified) assistance will be provided is also welcome.
However, the federal Labor government spent $400 million on the advertising blitz during the Voice Referendum which was lost.
So, the $100 million to Ukraine is just like giving Ukraine a dozen cans of mosquito insect repellent.
Ukraine needs more serious military assistance.
Ukraine is fighting an indicted war criminal who is being supported by China, North Korea and Chechen fighters. Putin has also threatened, on several occasions, to use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine if Russia's military offensive goes bad due to Western assistance. It is now time for Western countries to tell Putin that if he is silly enough to use any nuclear weapons in or out of Ukraine, Russia also will be "cremated".
Coke Tomyn, Camberwell, Vic
Heritage a black art
Your editorial "Heritage system must live with the city", (April 29) was well observed. Heritage has sadly become a bit of a "black art", often spuriously invoked, even by experts.
With regard to redevelopment issues in particular, governments here need to take more notice of the intensity, spread, and organisation of objection (or support) from ordinary citizens, in deciding on the preservation, conservation, adaptive re-use, etc, of a place. Griffin's hospital lost from Acton Peninsula is a case in point.
Jack Kershaw, Kambah
Where is our right to assent?
It was reassuring to have Crispin Hull reminding us that "liberal democracies will endure" even if Trump were elected (April 30) and then to be reminded that it can be universally appreciated that "the only legitimate form of government is government with the assent of the governed".
But I'm worried to discover that we, "the governed" in Australia, will not even have the chance to assent or not assent in our Parliament about whether to join the US and UK if they defend Israel and demand we do the same.
Australians for War Powers Reform's Dr Alison Broinowski says "If any request comes to Australia from the Biden administration or the Sunak government, the public should be informed, the Parliament should be convened and a properly-informed debate, followed by a vote, must take place before any decision is made".
I agree with her. Whilst I consent to be governed, I want the opportunity to assent or not assent through the Parliament we've elected, on what would be a profoundly significant matter!
Jill Sutton, Watson
Missed opportunities
Bridget McKenzie and others say the Albanese government isn't doing enough to help end the violence against women crisis.
If over $100 million dollars hadn't been wasted on "sports rorts" (and hundreds of millions more on pork barrelling by the LNP) that money could have gone towards funding refuges and support workers.
Peter McLoughlin, Monash
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