There needs to be a proper cost-benefit analysis of light rail

Despite ongoing concerns from Infrastructure Australia, the ACT Auditor General, and the Institute of Logistics and Transport the ACT Transport Minister has consistently dismissed expert opinions on the limited benefits of Stage 2 to Woden.

Just last year Chris Steel laughed off claims Stage 2 might escalate to $3 billion. Future taxpayers and the Credit Rating Agency might not find this figure quite as funny.

The ACT government told us Stage 2 to Woden would cost less than $1.6 billion. That figure is now clearly miles off the mark. Meanwhile, federal Labor has just pledged an ongoing 50/50 funding split despite previously promising to implement evidence-based infrastructure funding to stop the coalition's wasteful spending on low-return infrastructure projects.

Sensible infrastructure decision making seems to go out the window no matter which party is in power.

Paul Rubinstein's (Letters, December 9) advocacy of the two-state solution in the Arab-Israeli conflict raises a number of unanswered questions. He skates over the 1947 UN-sanctioned takeover of Palestine by the newly formed state of Israel.

This led to the dispossession of the Arab inhabitants.

For the past 75 years the descendants of those people have had no power over their own safety, security, destiny and connection to their ancestral homeland.

With over 60 per cent of the housing stock in Gaza destroyed and 90 per cent of the population now displaced millions of Palestinians in the strip have no access to food, water and shelter.

His sneer at protesters against the IDF's devastation of Gaza reveals a colonialist attitude towards Arab populations; that Western powers with superior democratic traditions are entitled to order the affairs of peoples in the Middle East.

That hasn't worked in Iraq or Afghanistan. It doesn't offer a workable solution in Palestine either. So-called liberal democracies may disagree with despotism and a poor civil rights in the Middle East but if we can't get over that and find a way to negotiate, there can only be conflict.

Successive governments in Israel, particularly recently, think Palestinians will only come to the table after they've been crushed into the ground, a guarantee for continued resistance.

After reading reports from the International Atomic Energy Agency it appears as though the fear of the nuclear accidents that occurred at Chernobyl and Fukushima is a thing of the past.

Carbon emissions are now humanity's greatest concern.

Some countries (France, India, Poland, Romania and the UK) are considering the installation of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) which can replace coal power plants.

SMRs are smaller, cheaper and about 33 per cent as effective as existing coal fuelled power plants.

They do have enough power for 300,000 homes and businesses and are small enough to be installed in sites not previously considered.

SMRs can be installed at, or near, the sites of retired coal-fired plants. They can also be taken to remote areas.

While I am certainly no expert in this area, I hope our government is considering these possibilities.

While it is politically fraught to review the Stage 3 tax cuts, negative gearing or the GST the tax cuts need to be made fairer.

Negative gearing changes are overdue and it is time for the GST to be reviewed and adjusted.

The May budget is the opportune time to do or start to do this.

These reforms would make Australia a much fairer place in which to live.

Given the transfer of planning portfolio responsibilities to Chris Steel, I do hope that in contrast to the apparent impotence of his predecessors, Mr Steel has what it takes to deal with the Canberra Services Club eyesore in Manuka.

Derelict since it was ravaged by fire in April 2011, the site has stood as a monument to the inability of successive planning ministers to deal with portfolio issues.

Further to my oft-reported detailing of the appalling circumstances of the site's Kokoda Memorial, long menaced by the muzzle of the unfortunately located Leopard tank, surrounded by overgrown vegetation and a derelict sign, the rotted and now decapitated backing flag pole sum up over a decade of disrespectful neglect.

While I am hopeful for a breakthrough with a new, and hopefully enthusiastic minister, should that prove forlorn, the memorial should be relocated to a respectful home as a matter of priority.

I recently went to an event where our Chief Minister was trumpeting Canberra's economic growth.

Year-on-year, we've led the nation apparently. He even seemed pleased at that our population would reach half a million.

That means being oblivious to the way growth is wrecking the fabric of our city, smothering the land under towering concrete blocks, while struggling to provide basic services.

But if you think about it for a moment, the logic is worse than absurd. Nothing in the universe can sustain indefinite growth. A growing system is not stable.

Or, to put it more bluntly, a growing system is unstable, which means a crash inevitable.

I don't want to pick on Andrew Barr because he's responding to what economists, the media and what he thinks his voters want to hear. A week earlier, I heard Andrew Leigh saying that growth is good. He apparently believes in the "weightless economy" which has no environmental impact.

Meanwhile on planet Earth, we're racing towards an environmental crisis, ploughing on as if business as usual (only bigger) should be our goal.

As I predicted, with the hot weather the red bin (which is loaded to the hilt with nappies, sanitary products, adult underwear, and used tissues) are stinking and buzzing with blowflies.

Mr Barr you have gone too far in your quest to save money for the tram. You are putting Canberrans at risk by creating a major health hazard.

The bins are full of contaminated waste that should arguably be incinerated.

This bin goes once a fortnight and, as a result, is often full to overflowing.

The green bin could go once a fortnight because it is vegetable matter, not noxious waste.

This is a critical public health issue.

I reckon many charities have killed the goose that's been laying the golden eggs. Having shared their lists of donors with other charities, one may now receive many unsolicited calls every day, seeking money (admittedly, for very worthy causes).

Also, in order to maximise efficiency, many charities have outsourced their donation-seeking work to professional cold-callers.

When one answers the phone one is often not speaking to someone with a personal connection with the charity on whose behalf they are calling.

I no longer answer the phone unless I recognise the number.

What might have seemed a good idea at the time, and may have yielded short-term advantages, has ended up being, at least in my case, counter-productive.

The volume and persistence of the calls have made me quite reluctant to engage with these organisations, despite how worthy their causes are.

The report "Most farmers say climate change is greatest threat" (December 14) is, on balance, good news. However, it applies to only 700 Australians in the agricultural sector.

It is vastly outweighed by the final outcome of the COP28 climate meeting in Dubai, where countries - such as Saudi Arabia and host nation, the UAE - that produce a large proportion of the world's oil supply made a half-hearted commitment to phase down, rather than phase out, their fossil fuel production, exports and gargantuan profits.

The emissions that cause global heating, climate change, and destructive extreme weather events, will continue rising.

Usman Khawaja is entitled to his own opinion on any subject, including Palestine, but he should keep it off the field. Would one of his "woke" teammates receive support if he wore a black armband in solidarity with all the Christians who are persecuted (sometimes murdered) in Khawaja's native Pakistan, India or China? Don't sully the sport with politics. It's just not cricket.

Khawaja, a bloke known mainly for hitting a cricket ball around a paddock, states he supports Palestinians. Does that mean he supports Hamas murdering Israelis and wanting to wipe Israel off the map? Its only a matter of time before he is caught in slips.

A R Taylor (Letters, December 7) presents a welcome and far more accurate understanding of how the economy actually works. The Canberra Times would do well to get its economics writers to research other economic theories and not just accept uncritically the economic theory currently in favour. One example: The selling of bonds by the federal government is just a hangover of the gold standard era prior to 1971.

Congratulations on finally calling for a ceasefire in Palestine/Israel are owed to our government. Better late than never - though too late for thousands of Palestinian civilians and their civic infrastructure. No peace will hold unless the IDF and settlers are kept away from Hamas and other Palestinians and vice versa.

We have all heard of The pub with no beer. With a couple of weeks to Christmas I can report the Post Office with no stamps. The Hall Post Office was out of Christmas stamps at 10am on December 6.

COP28 takes the cake for cynical performances, choreographed by master illusionist Sultan al-Jaber, coincidentally ADNOC oil's CEO. The 70,000 attendees generated incalculable tonnes of carbon dioxide travelling to Dubai and having their creature comforts provided there.

People who rent their homes are the only Canberra residents who get no government subsidy to install solar panels. I have just been informed by the Chief Minister that "renters are not eligible for a solar rebate under the Home Energy Support Program. There are no current plans to expand the criteria". When will this injustice be corrected?

The obvious answer to Howard Hutchins' question about where the Palestinians should live (Letters, December 13) is Palestine. Unfortunately much of their land is illegally occupied by Jewish settlers. There will be no peace or security for Israel until the Palestinians have their own state.

Given the support for Hamas a Palestinian state would always be at war with Israel.