The sale of East and West Blocks is not the only Department of Finance asset divestment drawing ire (Canberra Times, September 17).
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In its rush to make a short-term financial gain to the detriment of the nation's natural heritage, the Department of Finance is also selling off a unique inner-city environmental reserve in Barton.
This reserve is home to a viable population of the critically endangered Golden Sun Moth and similarly endangered Natural Temperate Grasslands. Also to be found on this site are the vulnerable Striped Legless Lizard and the rare Canberra Raspy Cricket.
The Department of Finance has already asked the Department of Environment and Energy to remove the environmental protection so it can clear the site of vegetation and sell it for commercial development. The National Capital Authority will probably agree to this if the DOEE approves it.
Selling this reserve would be a clear sign the federal government puts a quick cash fix ahead of long-term environmental concerns. The environmental principles of the National Capital Plan would also be shown to be meaningless.
So far only two organisations appear to have shown any appreciation of the true value of this site – Friends of Grasslands and the Kingston and Barton Residents Group. Does anyone else care?
Nick Swain, Barton
The ACT Greens are opposing the sale of East and West Blocks in the parliamentary triangle because of concerns about the impact of privatisation on national heritage.
Why then are the ACT Greens not vigorously protesting about the West Basin development debacle, given the serious threat it poses to central Canberra's heritage as outlined by Juliet Ramsay? (Letters, September 16).
Murray May, Cook
Irving Street risks
I have moved into an apartment at the recently completed 323 unit complex at Trilogy, Irving Street, Phillip. In the short time I've been there, I have witnessed several near misses to pedestrians and motor vehicles attempting to enter or exit from Irving Street into Launceston Street.
There is a large public car park in Irving Street that is generally occupied by nearby government office workers, who then need to cross Launceston Street, placing themselves at risk. In peak hour traffic it is virtually impossible for vehicles to exit Irving Street and turn right into Launceston Street. This is where most of the near misses occur.
More large unit developments are about to commence in Irving Street, adding to the vehicles and people in that short street.
There are no traffic lights, roundabouts, traffic-calming devices or pedestrian zebra crossings at the intersections of Irving and Launceston streets.
I extend an invitation to our newly elected MLA Rebecca Cody to witness for herself the issue at hand and perhaps lobby the minister's office for some type of solution to the problem, before someone is seriously injured or worse.
James Bodsworth, Phillip
Ugly fence fits
Some don't like the new fence around Parliament House. I, however, think the fence is utterly appropriate. It is ugly, threatening, definitely not people-friendly and sends the clear message: "You are not welcome."
Just like a lot of the messages coming out of Parliament House these days, especially to the homeless, the sick, the disabled, the workers, the artists, the bleeding hearts and most importantly, the refugees. A very symbolic fence.
Jane Keogh, Downer
Beyond belief
Father Robert Willson (Letters, September 17) attempts to explain why so many Australians still regularly participate in worship, in the face of the ever-accumulating body of scientific knowledge and the revelation that members of the Australian Catholic clergy over the last 50 years partook in child sexual abuse, facilitated or protected the abusers, or averted their gaze from something of which nearly every adult Australian (and far too many children) had heard whispers.
Instead he touches on the proclivity of humans everywhere to adopt belief systems that purport to fill gaps in their understanding and explain the unexplainable, much like convergent evolution in the animal kingdom where certain physiological traits like sight and echolocation have evolved multiple times independently.
That so many Australians accept that the only way to speak to their God is through an organisation exposed as being morally corrupt to its core says more about the power of indoctrination, the prevalence of irrationality and resistance to change than anything else. I can't explain why so many people willingly suspend reason and logical thought when science, which is responsible for every incremental advance in human progress since the Enlightenment and is taught in every school, provides simple and elegant answers for so much and the framework for discovering so much more, and neither can he, but recent census data reveal that the winds of change are gathering strength.
N James Allan, Narrabundah
Facts of marriage
Objectivity appears to be a remote consideration in the marriage equality contest presently besetting Australians ("When Ireland voted on same-sex marriage", Focus, September 17, p17).
Marriage, in exotic forms, has existed through time, in a manner bearing little relation to its present Hollywood, picture-perfect, glamorous, lovey-dovey image. Marriage was often a purely functional necessity, with men choosing wives for their productive capacity in running businesses or maintaining crafts. Peasant farmers needed women to help with harvest, keep house and contribute by selling in the market. Marriage was essential for propagation of the bloodline, as well illustrated by the incestuous royals of Europe and, in particular King Henry VIII.
Romantic love, in these settings, was potentially an impediment, which could, so to speak, have gummed up the wheels. It is speculated that art and literature of the early 19th century, fostering the ethic of individualism, heralded development of "romantic" love, a predominant theme of present-day discourse.
Groucho Marx reportedly said: "I don't want to belong to any club that would accept me as one of its members". With marriage figures declining globally, it seems somewhat strange there should be this scramble to board a sinking ship!
Loving relationships, like beautiful gardens, demand ever constant attention and maintenance to thrive. Take care all ye who enter here, there's more to it than confetti and champagne!
Albert M. White, Queanbeyan
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