Residents will suffer under any plans to expand airport

Sheep grazier Charlie Prell is seeing at first hand the evidence of climate change and says "what's happening now was predicted for the 2030s, but we're not even in the 2020s yet" ("A plea for change comes from the climate front line", September 16, p 4-5).

The major problem for primary producers in much of eastern Australia is, of course, the drought, which shows no sign of easing. That, together with unseasonably high temperatures through winter helped to trigger a call from the Greens, supported by several crossbench MPs, for the declaration of a national climate emergency.

Climate change emergencies have been declared in about 1,000 local and regional jurisdictions around the world. Critics of such declarations have labelled them as "left-wing propaganda". However, more than 99 per cent of climate scientists see human-caused climate change as a scientific fact, and know that the state of emergency is real, not a matter of party-political ideology.

In this context, it is deeply concerning that the federal government is not only allowing our greenhouse gas emissions to keep increasing (as they have been since Labor's carbon price was dumped), but encouraging still more emissions through its staunch support of the coal mining and coal-fired power industries.

To confirm his complacent lack of concern about climate change, Prime Minister Morrison is refusing to attend the UN Climate Change Summit in New York later this month despite being in the US at the time.

In support of the children who plan to go on strike on Friday, Dr Sue Wareham calls for actions that bypass the federal government. I could not agree more. The answer lies in the hands of the children and their supporters. Take direct action. Here are a few tips.

Turn off the air conditioners, the heaters, the big TVs, the mobile phones and the hot water. Turn off the light when you leave the room. Walk or cycle to school and work. Do not fly to Bali, Disneyland or Europe for holidays or travel to climate conferences. Eschew cruise liners for Manly ferries or a rowboat. Go bushwalking and camp in the pristine environment you want to preserve.

Do not deny the children in countries like India, Pakistan and Africa the benefit of electric light and power unless you are willing to give them up yourselves. Do not insist that their mothers cook their food over cow dung fires that destroy their health while you patronise McDonalds and The Colonel.

Concentrate hard in all your lessons, study at home instead of watching TV or texting. Maximise the benefit from the energy and human resources devoted to your education. Hone your own skills so that you can help develop the science and technology needed to deal with future climatic events.

No doubt a moment's thought will bring to your fertile minds more direct actions you can take.

I am writing to express my frustration at the ACT government's apparent lack of interest in the provision of day to day services to West Belconnen.

Four months ago I reported via the ACT government's "Fix My Street (FMS)" portal that the footpath that runs down the Higgins side of Kingsford Smith Drive between Castieau and Findlay Streets has over 60 badly damaged concrete pavers. Many have been marked for repair, but this was done so long ago that the paint has almost worn off.

After a few weeks I received a call advising me that this issue was under notice and that repair work would be undertaken early in the new financial year. Two months after the initial notification I advised the ACT Government that there was still no action to fix this issue. I was advised that a work order had been resubmitted to investigate and take appropriate action.

Now, a further two months down the track, nothing has been done and the FMS portal has marked this issue as "resolved". I can only assume that the investigation resulted in a decision to take no action. This makes no sense if the ACT Government themselves had previously marked many of these pavers for repair but had never undertaken the work.

This is symptomatic of a government that is no longer interested in the day to day provision of services to West Belconnen. The problem described is repeated many times throughout West Belconnen. There would be hundreds if not thousands of these pavers in need of repair across the district. There are also numerous parks and laneways that are seemingly only ever mown and maintained after complaints are made through the FMS portal.

I fear this government is now so complacent it is only interested in the big projects (like the light rail) at the expense of other services. The current residents of West Belconnen will never see the light rail in their lifetime, but will have to put up with dangerous footpaths and unkempt laneways and parks.

The Government should get back to basics.

The Canberra Times ( 14 September) had a gushing piece on a forthcoming philanthropy conference at Parliament House. There was no analysis of the down sides of philanthropy. Australia prides itself on being an egalitarian society. Do we really want to go the way of the United States where provision of many public goods are dependent on the whims of rich people?

A fundamental problem with philanthropy is that it does not support the basic needs of society and a nation, but just the interests of certain individuals. The keynote speaker for the conference is quoted as saying: " the American way of generosity can solve many Australian problems," and there were "no deep pockets of poverty in the the US". The first statement is ridiculous and the second, very questionable.

In "Pay up Kevin" 16 September 2019, Mokhles K Sidden correctly attributes the idea of an NBN to Kevin Rudd but incorrectly blames the debacle that we received on Rudd. He forgets that Tony Abbott was determined to wreck the NBN and gave his shadow minister for Communications Malcolm Turnbull instructions to "demolish" the NBN in September 2010 when launching his shadow Ministry.

Unfortunately the department, or NBN or both, achieved a hybrid technology that fails Australia every day. This should be blamed on Tony Abbott, not Rudd and not Turnbull.

Replacing the Fibre to the Node FTTN with the missing leg of FTTP Fibre to the Premises technology would cost millions but restore to Australian industry the world class speed and reliability needed to compete with the nations with political leadership which applied science to their national development and not the ignorance of Abbott and Co, Dinosaurs Inc, Knuckledraggers at their own service.

Abbott's FTTN was an ideological choice, not technological.

People claiming to be NBN contractors are in our street. What an arrogant and destructive bunch they are.

No letter-boxing to let people know they are coming. No knocking on the door to let you know they'd like to poke around in your garden. They just arrive, spray paint all over plants and gardens and kerbs, park their huge trucks day and night and through the weekend on public open space, potentially compressing the roots of trees that are almost 50 years old. Oh, and they're filling their tankers from the fire hydrant, and they've dumped huge coils of piping on the public open space and against tree-trunks. Challenged about taking over and damaging the open space, the response was, "We're working for the NBN." That excuses all arrogance and illegal parking, apparently. Complaints to the government have so far yielded no result.

What's the difference between magpies swooping and delivery drones flying? Well, both fly over our heads but magpies are silent compared to the drones! Not to mention that magpie swooping occurs one season a year, delivery drones will be all year round.

What hasn't been stated in the news that the federal government has measured the Wing delivery drones at at least 69 decibels, similar to leaf blowers, is that the noise is coming from the sky.If a drone delivers food to my neighbour I absolutely hear it, there are no buildings up there blocking the high pitched whining noise. This is why the noise can't be compared to street noise, the decibel reading is much worse from overhead than on the street, and if Wing have their way it will be hundreds of times a day for their delivery flights.

Tim the Yowie Man( p9, Panorama September 14) canvassed the demise of Canberra's old style silent cops in the 1960s and 1970s. Their disappearance has been a backward step as these features provided a clear mark of the centre of the intersection.

We live on a suburban corner and almost all of those turning right into our side street 'cut the corner' in order to maintain their momentum on the upward slope, too lazy to slow down or to change gear to take the corner correctly.

The ACT government has my permission to install one near our place, in fact encouraged to do so please.

Scott Morrison will fly to the United States for a prestigious state visit and Joe Hockey gave him some advice about Trump! Joe Hockey and Trump! God save our ScoMo.

So, our Prime Minister will not be attending the UN Climate Action Summit on 23 September 2019 in New York. But he will meet his good friend Donald Trump who will accompany him to travel to Ohio to meet his billionaire friend, Antony Pratt. With friends like that, why would he need to worry about a climate policy? As for those of us who care about the future of our planet, there is always Greta Thunberg, much younger and far, far, more intelligent and honest than our PM and the POTUS.

What's the bet that Morrison's "quiet Australians" will yell the loudest when they realise that money will be of little use when it comes to the horrendous impact of climate change. All those who voted for short term financial gain will wonder why our government hasn't done anything to address the looming crisis, preferring instead to invest millions of taxpayer dollars towards the development of the Adani coal mine - this is utter madness.

Our reactionary LNP government is fond of proclaiming its opposition to leaving a heavy financial debt to future generations. But it seems to be blind to the enormous climate change induced environmental debt it will inflict on Australians of the future by its head in the (hot) sand approach.

Meanwhile back on Christmas Island, the Tamil family formerly from Biloela are still incarcerated waiting for a decision on their future. Do they have a hope of having a normal life in Australia and continuing their contribution to the local community or will they face an uncertain future in Sri Lanka. They have now had the Sword of Damocles hanging over them for 18 months - I wonder how many of us could put up with that amount of stress. This treatment of vulnerable people is tantamount to psychological torture.

Karleen Minney's photo of Andrew Barr (September 16, p2) is excellent. Is the halo real or did she use Photoshop. How about a smile Andrew!

Chief Minister, yes, saint, no (Andrew Barr's photograph "ACT wants Tassie's housing debt deal", September 16, P2) and certainly more vulnerable than venerable.

I feel your pain, Steve Swift (Letters, September 16). Like Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge, I cannot tolerate question time in the House of Reps for more than a few moments. It's so bad, I've even tested myself to see how long I'm able to listen to it, but life's too short to listen to Government ministers steadfastly refusing to give straight answers or to listen to ministers using Dorothy Dixers to spout repetitive, untruthful propaganda. No wonder people turn off from the political process.

Email: letters.editor@canberratimes.com.au. Send from the message field, not as an attachment. Fax: 6280 2282. Mail: Letters to the Editor, The Canberra Times, PO Box 7155, Canberra Mail Centre, ACT 2610.

Keep your letter to 250 or fewer words. References to Canberra Times reports should include date and page number. Letters may be edited. Provide phone number and full home address (suburb only published).

To send a letter via the online form, click or touch here.