The suggestion in your editorial, "Tech woes are useful lessons" (November 7, p10), that "the Australian Public Service lacks the right staff to manage complex technological services" and "is often 'captured' by the businesses from which it buys" applies in the superlative form here in the ACT.
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Combine this with Gwynne Dyer's forecast in "Pointless panic about the rise of automatons" (Forum, November 7, p11) that "automation ... will probably abolish all driving jobs in the next 20 years" you have the genesis of an essay which I would entitle "The Anatomy of a Tram – 2016".
Dyer notes that "the secure jobs and decent living standards they [the angry people] enjoyed in the latter half of the 20th century are gone". If Dyer's "guaranteed minimum income" is to be available for them then the economy as a whole must have the necessary productivity.
The ACT government has embraced the $1.3 billion (2016 cost) tram project, and will create 500 temporary gold-plated jobs for its champion, the CFMEU. At the same time it has rejected taxi-bus, a simple technological development by the local NICTA/CSIRO group, that would cull the enormous waste in unused ACTION services. To survive we must generate the right jobs.
A. Smith, Farrer
Five-star service
Living at the South Coast and receiving iiNET bundled services via Telstra infrastructure, I can say they are better than theTelstra alternative I previously used.
For technical problem resolution, iiNET blitzes its main competitor! They employ patient, tenacious call centre experts speaking English that I can understand, who call me back at their cost if they're busy and don't accept "near enough".
Charges are reasonable and timely and my experience with iiNET has always been five-star.
Jonathan D. Mobbs, Malua Bay, NSW
Integrating traffic
Regardless of the desire of A.Smith (Letters, November 9) to limit the discussion of autonomous vehicles to potential public transport options, the fact is these vehicles will need to integrate with other privately owned autonomous and driver controlled vehicles.
Thus, any increase in traffic movements by owned autonomous vehicles will slow the movement of public transport autonomous vehicles, and vice versa. I am curious though, once having met the high peak of morning and afternoon commuter demand, where do up to 23,000 vehicles go and park when there isn't the same demand during the day?
If in the city, plentiful parking will be denied to driver controlled vehicles. If it is somewhere out of the city, the additional traffic movements will create gridlocked chaos for hours. The technology described by Kent Fitch (Letters, October 31) may be good, but it can't make myriad autonomous vehicles magically disappear when they are not needed again till the afternoon commute.
Mark Boscawen, Banks
Hebrew hogwash
Athol Morris (Letters, November 9) has a good case to make about ancient Hebrew people not being the most warlike of souls, despite what is written about their activities in the Old Testament. There's convincing written or from-the-ground archaeological evidence that other people were being much more warlike in Palestine – Egyptians, Hittites, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans – when early Hebrew people just wanted to live peacefully in a few small villages such as Jerusalem then was.
Perhaps unwisely, Hebrew sources seem to have wished to make themselves appear more fearsome and powerful than they really were, and so wrote a lot of hogwash about what they planned to do to the guys in the next valley. One other matter. Mr Morris may be able to help make things clearer by elucidating his claim "that fact is backed up by archaeology". What archaeological evidence is Mr Morris referring to?
Roy Darling, Florey
Athol Morris need not be concerned that I think Jews are uniquely and historically evil, I have had many Jewish friends over the years who I have great respect for, particularly when they beat me at chess, or play classical music. Unfortunately Mr Morris appears not to be aware of basic historical facts. The earliest traces of human occupation of Canaan was 1.4million years ago in the Lower Palaeolithic period. In the Bronze and Iron Ages there were some 50 gods worshipped in Canaan. The ancient Israelites were a warlike tribe living in the northern mountain area of Canaan; they had a monolatrist belief with their god being Elohim; the god(s) of Israel. To gain superiority over other gods and their land required genocide, not peaceful assimilation.
The development of Judaism came later, based on the religion of the tribes of Judah in southern Canaan; their god was YHWH or Yahuvah. Present day Judaism came from the monotheism of Rabbinical Judaism in the 2nd century CE.
Zionism was developed in the 19th century as a nationalistic political movement. Its core is a belief that, while Judaism was the predominant religion for less than a thousand years of 1.4 million years of human inhabitation, it gives present day followers the right to claim Eretz Yisrael Hashlemah as their homeland, when the great majority of the then population were Semitic who had lived there for millennium and were believers of the far more practised Islamic faith.
The point of my letter was that murderous religious fanaticism is never acceptable, whether it was in the Iron Age by the Israelites, the Middle Ages by the Christian crusades, or at the present time by IS or the Buddhists in Myanmar.
Paul Fitzwarryne, Yarralumla
It's time for this lapdog to slip the leash
The election of Donald Trump presents a splendid opportunity for Australians to consider where our future really lies.
Contrary to the Pavlovian utterances of Prime Minister Turnbull, history has shown that the national interests of the United States and Australia have not always coincided. One need only look to wars against Vietnam and Iraq for two examples.
None other than former prime minister John Howard (a stalwart supporter of both of these misadventures) is on the record as having said that he "trembled" at the prospect of a Trump presidency. Does Australia really want to play the role of Trump's lapdog?
Peter Grabosky, Forrest
Reality will bite
There is one key point to hold on to, through the truncated Trump presidency: he cannot do what he told his supporters he would do.
Once in the White House, reality will crash down on Donald. The wall will not be built. He cannot create millions of jobs for his angry white male working-class base. Trump willimplode.
As he inevitably fails, the last responsible Republicans in Congress will have to partner the Democrats in impeaching Donald as his past comes to light. More frightening is the risk of the white-hot anger of his disappointed base, who will take their vengeance.
Unfortunately he will do much damage before this. The next generation will face climate catastrophe at his hands, and they will vilify him for it.
Rod Olsen, Flynn
I woke on Thursday morning with a sense of complete disbelief. How could Americans, those most reasonable of people, have voted Donald Trump into the White House? In one fell swoop, the USofA has been reduced from the leader of the "Free World" to a pitiable, third-rate nation in which misogyny, racial bias and self-opinionated ego predominate.
I cannot believe that this man will have his finger on the nuclear trigger! Vladimir Putin must be rubbing his hands together, for a Trump presidency will surely see Russia attain Putin's desired ascendency. I disagree with Kim Beasley's assessment: Australia (and, indeed, the rest of the world) will have no hope of swaying this egomaniacal fool from whatever path his brain decides in the one second before he opens his mouth. God help us all.
Chris Hunter, Farrer
Showed his smarts
Donald Trump is more clever than he has been credited for. He has played to the anti-establishment where he can see great numbers, and made himself out to be no politician, making sweeping statements and acting naive and simple to appeal to people whose votes he has canvassed.
His victory speech was like a breath of fresh air and put quite succinctly. He may prove to be a lot more capable; his voters having swallowed his bait as planned. He has "turned defeat into victory", as he said.
Glenys Hammer, Narrabundah
Media's epic fail
For the past several months, CT readers have been fed a near-daily diet of reporting on the US election, almost entirely critical of Trump and explaining that he cannot and will not win. Your chief foreign correspondent (Paul McGeough) was consistently strident in his anti-Trump reporting, even announcing on the eve of the election in this paper that Americans will "awake from their nightmare to discover that Trump is not their president".
But like so many of his colleagues, your reporter had lost objectivity and allowed his personal views and biases to influence his reporting.
There was no detailed analysis, just a circle of reporting what other like-minded journalists werereporting.
So on Thursday morning, do we get to read why McGeough and his colleagues got it so wrong? No, just a weak attempt to justify inaccuracies by blaming it all on uneducated and ignorant voters.
Sorry, that's not good enough for a quality media organisation which so many rely upon for accurate, objectiveanalysis.
Kym MacMillan, O'Malley
Replace Shorten
Bill Shorten has now shown how unsuitable he is to be Opposition Leader; the Labor Party should replace him as soon as possible. Apart from the fact that he is a talker rather than an action man, and soft on people smugglers to boot, his "barking mad" comment on Trump showed considerable immaturity in international affairs.
Ric Hingee, Duffy
HRC dimness
Yes, as the heading of your editorial of November 9 states: "Freedom of speech inquiry is welcome." Particularly so because the irony-challenged zealots staffing the Human Rights Commission are apparently too dim to have appreciated the nonsense of three QUT students being hauled into court under the Racial Discrimination Act and, in effect, being charged with racial discrimination for protesting about racial discrimination.
Still, the HRC might reclaim some intellectual dignity if they now support charging the QUT with practising racial discrimination for its establishment of an "Indigenes-only" computer room.
Bill Deane, Chapman
Downer and Huawei
If Mr C. Williams (Letters, November8) had done a basic fact check, he would have seen that Alexander Downer resigned his directorship from the Huawei Australia Board, and other boards, when he was appointed Australian High Commissioner to the UK nearly three years ago.
If Mr Williams had done further investigating, he would have seen that Huawei has been helping build Britain's NBN-equivalent for the past seven years.
It seems "one of our closest intelligences allies" doesn't share his negative views on ourcompany.
I am extremely disappointed that The Canberra Times not only published this rubbish, but also gave it such prominence and included a photo. It seems my children's school newsletter has higher editorial standards. Publishing this factually incorrect letter not only damaged our reputation but also Mr Downer's.
Mr Jeremy Mitchell, director, corporate and public affairs, Huawei Australia
TO THE POINT
TRUMP THUMPED
Trump, Turnbull and Brexit all in the one year! Thank goodness 2016 will be over in less than eight weeks.
Robyn Lewis, Raglan, NSW
Do we now enter a period of increased racism, sexism, xenophobia and climate change? Not to mention volatile markets, currency fluctuations and protectionism?
Margaret Atcherley, Forrest
USA. OMG. WTF.
Tony Judge, Woolgoolga, NSW
In January, America will change presidents from a humble intellectual to a narcissistic buffoon. Unbelievable!
Rory McElligott, Nicholls
A multibillionaire is about to occupy prime government housing in Washington, expelling a black family in the process.
John Rodriguez, Florey
Hillary took a rust-belting.
Michael James, Hackett
Dear US citizens: here's a tip. Give it 12 months 'til the "swamp" is drained and at the bottom of it you'll find the real Donald Trump.
Linus Cole, Palmerston
THE RIG IS UP
The 2016 US presidential election was rigged. Donald Trump said so.
John Sandilands, St Marys, Tas
CURLY OUTCOME
I tried hard but can't resist. I told you Trump would win. So, I've got beer and popcorn ready and await the radical feminist meltdown. As Curly of the Three Stooges would have said, "nyuck, nyuck, nyuck".
Gerry Murphy, Braddon
DO THE MATH
Oz LNP = US GOP, Oz Labor = US Democrats. Oz Trump = ?
Adrian Gibbs, Yarralumla
JERRY-BUILT REACTION
And the bitter hate against ordinary working class Americans continues, in violent protests against the result and toxic bile from the likes of Tony Wright ("Jerry Springer Show a reality for all to see", November10, p6) and Paul McGeough ("What will Trump do after he loses", November9, p4).
Greg Ellis, Murrumbateman, NSW
JUST THE TICKET
Note to Andrew Barr: to reduce the Territory's budget deficit, simply send some parking officers to Novar Street at the Yarralumla shops at lunchtime. A couple of weeks' work should see the budget back in the black.
Carolyn Williams, Yarralumla
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