Seselja's cynical burst of activity

Zed usually does a great impression of wallpaper, hiding in the background but gets very vocal around election time. I hope the independent candidates receive equal time in The Canberra Times articles.

Zed tells us how much he has done for Canberra. This is the very same person who admits he doesn't believe in territory rights and won't even give the people of the ACT a vote on voluntary assisted dying as it contravenes his religious beliefs and he knows what the result would be.

The election hasn't even been called yet and the promises are coming thick and fast. What next, a pony for everyone under 12? Free democracy sausages for life.

It's extremely difficult for any independent to knock off a Liberal in the ACT but it would be the best thing that could happen. It may teach the government that the rights of ACT voters matter.

Let's not forget the Liberals locally fought against the development of the arboretum, now one of our greatest assets.

I'm looking forward to a few months time when Zed will be completely irrelevant, having either lost or sitting on the Opposition benches.

Your recent editorial ("Petrol price shock to charge electric vehicle future", canberratimes.com.au, March 20) says that higher petrol prices should boost EV sales. That's true.

But as Elon Musk (the producer of Tesla) has pointed out, supply chain disruptions have increased the prices of metals used in EVs since Russia invaded Ukraine.

Indeed, Tesla raised its prices in China and the US twice in less than a week.

The increased cost of producing EVs will offset, to some extent, any boost to sales resulting from higher petrol prices.

Recent correspondents have focused on the eye-watering costs of extending light rail to Woden. However there are other reasons Infrastructure Australia said Light Rail would be "unsuitable" for Canberra, while noting the north-south residential dimension of Canberra is the same as Sydney and they have metro heavy rail.

Public transport needs to be fast, direct, frequent, dependable and comfortable. Stage 1 light rail to Gungahlin matched the original bus journey time only by introducing traffic signal priority for trams and by leaving out the Mitchell station.

According to the Light Rail Stage 2 business plan the tram to Woden will take almost twice the journey time of the current buses, with half the frequency, half the seats and twice the operating subsidy per boarding.

Extending the tram to Tuggeranong would introduce over an hour's travel to Civic, more than likely standing up. And then you need to catch a bus or tram to your destination.

Why is the ACT government so determined to make public transport less attractive to us all?

"Canberra is a car city and that sits uneasily with the ACT government's repeated bragging about its green credentials" ("Canberra Day is a day to remember our good fortune", editorial, canberratimes.com.au, March 13).

The government's response has been to build a tram line from Gungahlin to Woden and cram the corridor with high rise apartments and offices.

What sort of people will live there? Will they have any children? If so, where will these children play and go to school? There is no evidence in the current redevelopment of Woden that any consideration has been given to this basic community requirement.

It is clear from the ever-widening gap between house prices and unit prices what people want. Why not spend the $2 billion required for the tram Stage 2 on utilities to the new subdivisions that are required for cheaper houses? The advantages to mental health and families would be a very good return on investment. Moreover, it remains to be shown that high rise living is greener than having one's own backyard.

Alex Crowe's article "Australia's Environment Report" (canberratimes.com.au, March 18) was a sobering, but incomplete acknowledgement (and warning) of the harm we have done, and continue to do, to the Australian landscape.

Omitted was a direct reference to the primary driver of the environmental decline that she describes: us! Too many of us and ever more of us.

The other constants in this never-ending environmental decline are the never-ending growth in the human population and the never-ending growth in our consumption. The links are causal and correlative; yet our politicians and our economists - indeed, all those who have a vested interest in forever growth - continue to turn a blind eye.

Is there hope that we might, finally, get this matter sorted? Perhaps. Surveys indicate that most Australians believe our population is large enough and that, save for an appropriate level of humanitarian immigration (currently circa 10 per cent), we ought to dispense with much or most of the rest; the (pre-COVID) 90 per cent that is growing our consumption (but not our per capita wealth), expanding our ecological footprint, and ensuring that we will never achieve what is needed to protect all those other species that share this continent with us.

The great difficulty for those voters wise enough to realise we must do things differently is that neither major party offers us this opportunity. Will one or other do so before it is too late?

J Boothroyd (Letters, March 16) seems confused some Canberra Day events were held elsewhere in the Parliamentary Triangle than in Commonwealth Park.

Commonwealth Park and Stage 88 are the prime focus of most community ACT events, including, formerly, Floriade, but the Triangle, bounded by Commonwealth, Constitution and Kings Avenue, includes Kings Park, Commonwealth Park, Patrick White Lawns, Reconciliation Place and many national public buildings. These, such as Old Parliament House, attract visitors and are used for Balloonfest, Enlighten and so on. Most locals and tour organisers are fully aware of the wealth of fine national facilities on our doorstep.

Though I live in Belconnen, thinking objectively from a traffic flows aspect, a new arena at the AIS or the University of Canberra would appear to be the better option by far.

Civic and Wanniassa would not be able to cope with large numbers of cars trying to enter the complex and later leave the area.

The AIS and UC have a lot of room to build the facility. Both would be a more central location, having regard also to anticipated population growth in Gungahlin and Molonglo.

Belconnen would be a strong candidate for light rail Stage 3; from the city to the Belconnen town centre. This is already a busy corridor. So traffic flows to the arena will even ease later.

A new stadium should be allowed for at the site chosen but built later. It is a "nice to have" at this stage; across Australia there would be higher priorities. We need a new arena now.

Further to Yvonne Truesdale's experience (Letters, March 17) I had to put a big effort into transferring and renewing the registration of a trailer I acquired. The first problem, after a 40 minute wait to present the documents, was that as the trailer was over six years old, a roadworthy certificate was required. Then I found most vehicle inspection places no longer inspect trailers.

I knew scanning and attaching four pages to an email would challenge me. My next big mistake was posting the documents to PO Box 500 Dickson as per the website. Three weeks later, nothing heard, I hung on the phone to be told I should have personally presented the papers at the shopfront or emailed them. Motor vehicle matters could not be actioned by post. My original documents could not be located and, despite a promise to contact me when they were found, this did not happen.

I had kept photocopies and headed off for another long wait at the shopfront. I was then told photocopies were not accepted. I explained they had the originals in their mail system. After some time a staff member approached me and said the process could be completed by a different method.

After two-and-a-half hours I walked out with the registration paper.

Success (eventually).

M Moore (Letters, March 20) observes that politicians on both sides "promise everything and end up doing nothing". A century ago, a Cockney music hall comic went even further with, "Them politicians; they promise yer everyfink, give yer noothin' and before yer got it, they take it orf yer". Plus a change, plus c'est la même chose (the more things change the more they stay the same).

Geez, what about those Sharkies. Go Sportsbet.

Vlad takes himself seriously. That's easy to do when you have been running a country of over 140 million people for nearly a quarter of a century. But the danger is that you lose your humanity.

By not coordinating with Mr Putin's move to "reclaim" Ukraine President Xi missed the perfect opportunity to restore the renegade province of Taiwan to the PRC.

Any list of a teacher's responsibilities to an ever increasing number of students should include "addressing failed parenting".

Haven't Wong, Keneally and Gallagher gone very quiet over the past few days. Is this case of still waters running deep or more of the famous "small target approach"?

The people's choice has turned into a contest between "Small target Albo" and "Scomo the ham fisted"; play "hard".

The South Australian state election result's federal implications has all the credence of Henny Penny sightings of fallen bits of sky in the marginal electorates.

Seselja's Viking Park upgrade proposal demonstrates a lack of sensitivity Canberrans' needs. These include homelessness and an increase in poverty and destitution. His grandiose thought bubble only caters to the whims of rent-seeking, life-membership, executive-suite, empire builders.

What a world. There are numerous multi-minute programs daily on our TV and radio stations highlighting the shocking rise in the cost of living. In Ukraine the only topic is staying alive.

Is anyone else wondering how Zed suddenly discovered he could represent Canberrans?

Driving in Sydney I was able to make a right hand turn at a traffic light, safely avoiding oncoming traffic. Now back home in Canberra I have completely lost that skill. Thank god for our nanny state.