Overpass and cloverleaf should stay

The current London Circuit overpass and clover leaf is a very useful arrangement. It allows vehicles to travel between the east and west sides of the City. Importantly, it allows buses from the south to travel into the city without having to stop on Commonwealth Avenue.

The government says there will be disruptions during construction. I expect delays will continue long after construction. In the mornings and afternoons many of the vehicles planning to exit Commonwealth Avenue on to Parkes Way are banked back as far as Commonwealth Avenue Bridge. If there were to be new traffic lights at an intersection of Commonwealth Avenue and London Circuit then the banked-up traffic at those lights will extend back further so as to block vehicles wishing to exit on to Parkes Way. Commonwealth Avenue will be gridlocked in the morning and afternoons.

It doesn't have to be like this. If the government has to run a tram line to Commonwealth Avenue then the easiest way would be to simply extend the line to City Hill and run it on the grassy verges at the base of City Hill and then on bridges over London Circuit and Parkes Way. Prefabricated bridges could be constructed off site for the tram and dropped into place.

Ever get the feeling that the ACT government has painted itself into a corner with the tram? Having given one to the north it now seems stuck on having to provide a tram for everyone. After the enthusiasm and novelty value of stage 1 wore off, when was the last time anyone from government spoke enthusiastically about subsequent stages?

The best Transport Minister Chris Steel could manage was that "light rail will make our city more vibrant, sustainable and better connected" ("Taskforce to ease traffic pain", July 21, p2). Just how it would achieve this was not explained.

And where is the opposition party? Why don't the Liberals offer an alternative public transport system? For example, modern electric buses for the rest of Canberra at one third the cost of light rail, with the massive savings going to health, free public transport and proper planning of our urban environment. Or, are the Liberals now too afraid of not rolling out trams for everyone?

In the last three months I have had to make two complaints to Housing ACT on behalf of elderly neighbours. One has a yard wall that has been held up with wooden supports for over 12 months and is in danger of collapsing. The other has a power point that is not even attached to the wall and has exposed wiring.

I have been informed that both of these matters are "under review".

What is there to review when the matters obviously are safety and health issues?

Perhaps Housing ACT are reviewing what is left of the budget for essential maintenance after the tram blew a hole in it?

Perhaps Housing ACT are reviewing the mortality rate for their elderly tenants and hope that they will soon no longer be a problem?

I know what I am reviewing - the wisdom of keeping in power a complacent arrogant government that prefers vanity projects and headlines to actually carrying out what should be its core mission to look after the vulnerable here in the ACT.

Your correspondent, Sue Wareham (Letters, July 21), berates "unlimited" defence spending whilst our emergency services "struggle for funding". This could not be further from the truth. Our defence spending in the budget is set at a target of two per cent of GDP. That is felt across most of the Western world to be a sensible allotment.

Since Federation Australia has participated in many wars against despots and murderers. These include World War I and World War II. There have also been smaller wars in Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the intervention in East Timor.

We have all but removed the scourge of Nazism, and severely limited Communism (which claimed the life of my maternal grandfather in 1939). No war is nice, but to live freely, and to give the citizens of countries suffering internally evil regimes the chance of normality, participation in wars with our allies is the cost we pay.

We also spend on defence preparedness as a deterrent to potential invaders. We have treaties with our friends to aid each other.

Concerning our spending on emergency services, we are a large and sparsely populated country. We suffer the ravages of drought, fire, flood, cyclones, and (very occasionally) earthquakes. Large sums of money are provided at the federal, state and local government level on facilities, equipment and staff. And let's not forget the volunteers.

We also have predictive agencies, such as the Bureau of Meteorology forewarning of weather patterns like El Nino and La Nina so we can prepare.

In times of crisis our emergency services do a wonderful job, often aided by our defence agencies.

We must make judgements on how much to spend, and how to spend it. I believe we have the balance about right.

For once I agree with Ian Morison (Letters, July 22). It is high time for leadership.

The sceptic in me wonders whether his new found concern for the environment, the excesses in government defence spending, the vaccine rollout and compassion for the Biloela Tamil family and Afghans who assisted our troops is genuine or just a strategy to get the government re elected. I hope it is the former. I do not think the PM or his cabinet has the wit, morals or social conscience to advance Australia fair.

To correct Linus Cole (Letters, July 20), Barnaby is a heartbeat away from being temporary Prime Minister, pending the Liberals electing a successor. Even choosing a Deputy PM from the same party as the PM doesn't make the deputy the future PM: Frank Forde was PM for only a week following the death of Curtin.

The indefatigable Douglas Mackenzie (Letters, July 21) tells us "If Senator Seselja wishes to be respected, he would bow to the will of the people he represents".

Edmund Burke, Irish MP and philosopher, wrote: "Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgement; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion".

He made this statement immediately after being elected, rebuffing a colleague who favoured party instructions. He was not returned at the next election. Best of luck Zed.

Mario Stivala (Letters, July 21) is right when he says reporting should be governed by the truth and moral integrity and not by any alleged attachment to the "right" or "left" but then alleges that the ABC is guilty of the latter.

I would suggest that there is overwhelming evidence that truth and moral integrity are far more lacking in both the "right" and the "left", i.e. politics, where they should be just as clear and evident as in our public broadcaster which has to spend much of its reporting in trying to get to the truth (and often succeeding in the face of mistruths and obstructionism).

Would Mario prefer that ABC reporters simply relied on political media releases and not question their accuracy or, indeed, integrity?

That said, the ABC is not perfect. But it is not deliberate "political bias", which is what Mario is really on about; it is professional journalistic standards which are being diminished, due largely to the lack of adequate oversight brought on by ongoing government budget cuts.

If Mario put as much effort into urging the government to properly fund the ABC as he does in criticising it, his concerns might be ameliorated.

Reading of Mark Gwynn's research sent me to the bookshelf as I remembered a book purchase from 2015 ("A butcher's at rhyming slang", July 21, p5). Yes, there it was, The Story of Australian English by none other than the linguist or should that be the etymologist, Kel Richards. More recently Richards has released a companion book, Flash Jim, the story of James Hardy Vaux.

In Richards' earlier writings he also referenced the man Vaux. Richards goes onto to relate that Flash Jim became a swindler and a pickpocket and was known within the trade as 'The Count'. The name Le Compre de Vaux was used in a number of his swindles!

Vaux walked out of prison on August 18, 1841, never to heard of again. Maybe at 59 he just did a bolt. He left us with a good yarn that never has us lost for words.

The ACT government is pushing ahead with a tram line to Woden, stating that the Labor/Green victory gives them carte blanche to subject Canberrans to traffic chaos for years.

The election was won on many ideas, not the tram alone. We need a referendum on the road closures to decide the future of the tram.

Run that past me again. "Kristina Keneally, government accountability spokeswoman" (Editorial, July 21). Is this the same Kristina that was the political master of such shining beacons of accountability and honesty as Joe Tripodi, Eddie Obeid, Ian Macdonald and Tony Kelly? Must be a case of mistaken identity.

Once again the selectively silent Senator Seselja misrepresents the situation in the ACT Assembly, suggesting it's only the local ALP and Greens who would hold sway.

Surely the outcome of a conscience vote of the 25 members of the Assembly could not be predicted this far out. Or is Senator Seselja peddling fake news?

After the NCA bestowed its blessings on the desecration and destruction of the AWM, MLA Steel is being satirical in implying the NCA might do anything to stand in the way of developer's insatiable lust for benefit ("Taskforce to ease traffic pain", July 21, p1).

Are professional interstate drivers (truck and bus drivers for example) tested with the rapid COVID-19 test before being allowed to leave their point of departure? If not, why not? It seems an elementary way of reducing the opportunity for COVID-19 to spread.

The release of more flummery from the government still does not identify the depth of fill required at the intersection of Edinburgh Avenue and London Circuit. More information, Mr. Steele, not more inconclusive flummery.

This 2a scheme is literally a blot on the landscape. Where is the business case for such lavish expenditure ?

If the PM is looking for people to blame, search no further than his Cabinet and the staffing of his PMO which is populated with castoff execs and managers from the coal and gas industries. Follow this with some introspection over who chose these guys.

I was wondering whether Scott Morrison was good with God at the moment. "For whatever a man soweth, that shall he also reap".

When are we going to have, and abide by, a national definition of hot spots? Queensland's Dr Jeanette Young is not guided by science.

How is the whole of NSW a hotspot? Many parts of NSW have had no cases or community transmission for 18 months.

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