Re: "Trail maintenance has gone 'downhill'", (February 28). This article was spot on and highlighted just a few of the broader bushfire risk reduction issues facing ACT.
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The ACT Assembly bushfire inquiry submissions, including mine, demonstrate the ACT government has become very complacent regarding communicating the risk and getting on with risk amelioration in most forms across the broad landscape from the city to the Brindabellas.
The all hazards committee places bushfire first on the list of risk consequences for ACT. The committee reports have for some three years clearly outlined a case for and the detail regarding how to reduce risk and improve community safety.
The cost of doing much better is very modest and the government is urged to put some serious priority to this number one risk. The cost to benefit of improved risk management is overwhelmingly in favour doing more.
I call on our assembly representatives to prioritise this low-cost budget item and empower the relevant agencies to get on with it without the apparent bureaucratic impediments. Did I hear some $78 million on a HR system that does not work.
That's every rural property granted $20,000 to fit state of the art fireproofing sprinkler systems and all fire trails upgraded and maintained and maybe 50 new community fire units and lots of RFS training. One dollar spent on prevention saves three dollars on response and five dollars on recovery.
![It's a lot cheaper to prevent bushfires than to put them out and clean up afterwards. Picture by Andrew Campbell It's a lot cheaper to prevent bushfires than to put them out and clean up afterwards. Picture by Andrew Campbell](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/LLBstgPA4H8EG9DTTGcXBL/68746e84-ea1f-45f4-8695-cc7304a5c964.jpg/r0_93_2000_1311_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Gregor Manson BSc (Forestry), Ainslie
Spoilt for choice
I hear complaints that we have limited choice when grocery shopping. My wife and I shop at Coles and Woolworths. We go to Aldi for its European flavour and Costco for its American flavour. We also use our local IGA and a nearby super IGA.
We also regularly shop at the Fyshwick Markets and use online shopping.
People may prefer to shop at Coles and Woolworths because of the wide range of familiar products, or convenience, or the overall experience, but that is their choice. They have many other options to choose from.
Eugene Holzapfel, Campbell
It's not that simple
Many people, including Albert White, (Letters, March 1) are of the belief that the total taxpayer funding allocated to education should be spent entirely on the public system.
it is only fair that parents who educate their children privately should benefit from their share of the tax they pay allocated to education.
- Tony May, Pearce
Most parents choosing the private system with its diversity of curricula and opportunity would find the cost prohibitive without a share of government funding.
Too bad, say those who advocate that private schooling should be self-funded. But the reality is, which many forget, if private schooling was out of reach it would drive more students into the public system. This would impose a heavier tax burden.
Also it is only fair that parents who educate their children privately should benefit from their share of the tax they pay allocated to education.
Tony May, Pearce
Turn on the lights
In the half-dozen or so streets near my home in Greenway, there are four streets where most, if not all, the streetlights are not working.
One of those streets is Anketell Street, not exactly a quiet suburban street. The entire southern end has been out for well over a year.
In a scene that would make a decent script for Yes Minister the entire block surrounding Evo Energy is in darkness every night.
If the ACT government cannot even keep the lights on, can we trust them with open heart surgery, teaching special needs children or making sure the police have the right resources?
If the current ACT government cannot even manage to change a light globe maybe it's time for voters to change the government.
Scott Taylor, Greenway
'Break the cycle' fund needed
I couldn't agree more with Corrections Minister Emma Davidson's statement that "more programs to support prisoners detained in the ACT need to be made available in an effort to support people once they are released back into the community".
Ms Davidson also stated that: "The programs that we invest in need to be self-determined by First Nations people, with lived experience of the contributing factors to harmful behaviour as well as the justice system".
I do have some issues with her remarks however. The first issue is that Ms Davidson stopped short of endorsing a $20 million "break the cycle" fund.
It's just more "talk the talk" not "walk the walk" from this government.
Also, much as I am concerned by the crisis level of Indigenous incarceration in the ACT, there are also non-First Nations people incarcerated at the Alexander Maconochie Centre. All detainees should be treated equally.
We need an equitable system approach which identifies and values people as "people first", regardless of their ethnicity, culture, religion, sexuality, political beliefs, and socioeconomic status.
There is so much that needs fixing at the AMC. Let's start with the endorsement of the "break the cycle fund".
Janine Haskins, Cook
Name and shame the traitor
So a former Australian politician was recruited by a foreign government. And there were possible links to a PM. In the good old days that was called treason and the result was a death sentence.
How much damage was ASIO going to let happen before they did something? We have got very soft here.
We must demand to know who the politician was.
Where is a good mole when you need one? Someone must know who it is.
Ian Jannaway, Monash
Morrison's history rewritten
George Brandis's recent article in the Nine newspapers "As Morrison leaves parliament, we should honour his legacy" is either a brilliant exercise in rewriting history or an attempt at creative writing.
He champions AUKUS, which may not happen if Trump is elected. Mr Brandis apparently forgot about the cancellation of the French submarine contract and Macron calling Morrison a liar on the world stage.
Mr Brandis says Morrison steered us through COVID. He didn't, he outsourced it to the states then played the premiers against each other. We had "gold standard" Gladys and all the Labor premiers were the baddies. He suggests that Morrison signed us up to net zero by 2050. His party is full of climate sceptics and the LNP was doing nothing to ensure we reached the target.
Mr Brandis must think Australians have the memory of goldfish. There was no mention of "robodebt" which Morrison was heavily involved in. No mention of "sports rorts", the trillion dollar debt, non existent car parks or more than a dozen failed energy policies.
He neglected to mention that the state of the environment report was so disastrous it was hidden for six months or the Hawaiian holiday in a time of crisis.
Perhaps Morrison's biggest disaster was foreign policy where our relationships with China, France and our Pacific neighbours collapsed.
There was also no mention that Morrison became a superhero "multiple ministry man of mystery".
Being objective, fair and generous is desirable when assessing someone's legacy but rewriting history isn't.
Peter McLoughlin, Monash
Tale of two brothers
Entebbe was a daring raid. It was ably led (from the front) by a brave Lieutenant-Colonel Yonaton Netanyahu who was killed performing his duty to defend Israel and its citizens.
He correctly assessed "on ground" threats and adapted the plan accordingly.
His brother Benjamin, on the other hand, along with other senior IDF, civilian and political leaders, neglected their duties in the weeks, days and hours before the Hamas attack on October 7.
A female soldiers' concerns about activity on the Gaza border were dismissed as "crying wolf".
While Colonel Netanyahu was rightly honoured Prime Minister Netanyahu is facing charges that may seem him go to jail.
The two brothers should not be mentioned in the same breath.
Christopher Ryan, Watson
Our paradise lost
This is another letter expressing frustration and sadness about "lost" Canberra.
Apart from the arrogance of planning at the large end of scale and the refusal to effectively enforce parking regulations on the heritage nature strips adjacent to the Kingston Hotel at the micro, it's the lack of social and environmental innovation the disappoints.
Canberra is excellently placed to lead in the protection of residents from passive smoke in housing; eliminating all single use coffee/tea cups and to upgrade the home maintenance skills of public housing tenants with CIT as a training partner.
While residents have their own priorities they have little opportunity to communicate them to a "the computer says no" government and the entrenched bureaucracy.
Susan Boden, Narrabundah
TO THE POINT
THAT VALEDICTORY ADDRESS
It was all typical Morrison talk; mainly false, but always self-serving.
S W Davey, Torrens
INQUIRY IS NEEDED
Re: "The Pocock support for a Babet move that has raised eyebrows (February 29). Senators Ralph Babet and David Pocock want an inquiry into excess deaths that coincided with the mass roll out of the COVID vaccines, which were novel and had hardly any human testing behind them. Yet still some people can't get beyond calling the senators names.
Vasily Martin, Queanbeyan, NSW
DEVIL IN THE DETAIL
Much of what has been said about the "gender pay gap" seems misleading given it implies women are being less than men for the same work. Not so. Equal pay for equal work has been the law for almost 60 years. The gender pay gap is the result of more men in higher paying jobs than women. Addressing that is a different matter entirely.
Don Sephton, Greenway
NOTHING TO SEE HERE
What does Joe Hockey think he has to contribute to Australia's spy history?
Warwick Davis, Isaacs
I LIVE IN HOPE
I read Fr Day's letter (Letters, February 28). In the light of many revelations in recent years advice from the church has lost any credibility it may have had with me. I cling to more ancient teachings and believe Pandora's box is not yet empty; there is still hope.
R J Wenholz, Holt
TERM MAKES NO SENSE
After reading the responses of Alan Shroot and David Wilson to Vee Saunders (Letters, February 29), I conclude that, rather than having drifted in to incorrectness, usage of the term "anti-Semitism" never made any sense at all.
Ian Douglas, Jerrabomberra, NSW
TAKE THE BLAME
The PM's expectation of voter forgiveness for his lie on the stage three tax cuts presupposes he will make an admission of liability.
M F Horton, Adelaide, SA
BAN THE CHIP
Why is The Canberra Times promoting unhealthy hot chips with the headline "Hot chips back at Dickson pool for the last blast of summer"? Why, also, does the Dickson Pool sell them instead of healthier food? It is about time only healthier snacks are offered if we are serious about reducing diseases caused by unhealthy diets.
Felicity Chivas, Ainslie
IS A SPLIT LOOMING?
So the Greens have slammed Chris Steel's planning decision. Shocked I am when lovers fall out. The Greens appear hopeful of a divorce before this year's election.
Bill O'Connell, Chapman
A SPECIAL BIRTHDAY
February 29 comes but once every four years. Those born that day celebrate their fifth birthday in 20 years, their 21st in 84 years, and their 80th in about 340 years.
Ian Morison, Forrest
ANOTHER AMERICANISM
Could Stephen Saunders (Letters, March 1) please tell us where the "beltway" is? Or did he just use that Americanism because he couldn't think of anything original?
James Mahoney, McKellar
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