Ian Jannaway (Letters, March 5) suggested the Alexander Maconochie Centre (AMC) could be repurposed for housing illegal immigrants.
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I've got a better idea. How about the AMC operate as it was designed to; a model focused on the human rights and rehabilitation of detainees.
Currently, there are limited programs and education (and at times, irrelevant to the individual detainee's rehabilitation needs). Industry is effectively non-existent, except for the bakery where only women and protection detainees can work.
Detainees have requested simple and achievable activities such as building gardens to grow their own fruit and vegetables.
Surely this would have rehabilitative value?
Perhaps ACT Corrective Services should look at the NSW model of incarceration, where all detainees are provided with options for participation in programs, education and even industry.
![The Alexander Maconochie Centre was originally intended to operate as a human rights prison. Picture by Keegan Carroll The Alexander Maconochie Centre was originally intended to operate as a human rights prison. Picture by Keegan Carroll](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/LLBstgPA4H8EG9DTTGcXBL/0ef5ead3-b5ea-44ad-9a70-518cef9bd321.jpg/r0_511_5000_3333_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
I have toured prisons in NSW and Victoria.
They all had several types of industry ranging from propagating plants in nurseries to building prefab houses.
Detainees are taught skills and trades which can be utilised upon their release. It seems pretty simple to me.
The psychosocial rehabilitation of detainees is not helped by the lack of prosocial activities that should be being provided at the AMC.
Whilst the visitors' café is operational again, it is limited to weekends only, and after several years, the detainees' barbecues still require "maintenance" and aren't working.
While ACT detainees continue to languish within the confines of the AMC, as it currently stands the chances of reducing recidivism are next to none.
Janine Haskins, Cook
Wong's 'preachy' approach
Senator Penny Wong's warnings to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations of the geopolitical dangers of China's inexorable rise as a superpower typifies the "post-colonial preachiness" of a meddling mid-ranked Australia still tightly aligned with a blustering and fading United States.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's assertion that Malaysia's attitude towards China is formulated to how well (the current situation) or badly (in future) the Rising Dragon treats his nation strikes me as eminently reasonable.
Be it friends, foes, or a balance between the two extremes, let it be known that mutual relationships can only be a function of how two nations behave towards each other.
Australia mandating "caution with China" and "all the way with the United States" prescriptions to our south-east Asian neighbours is patronising and subscribes to the view that south-east Asia is not able to stand on its own geopolitical two feet.
It's a bitter pill for these countries to swallow in the post-colonial era.
Dr Joseph Ting, Carina, Qld
Chronic disease pandemic
Like many in the media who have come before him, Garry Linnell ('Should taxpayers foot obesity bill', March 2) both misses the point and makes things worse.
The problem is not obesity, the problem is the massive health burden caused by preventable chronic disease in Australia as we age, whether we are big or not.
Even if everyone was suddenly normal weight Australia would still be paying billions of dollars in preventive and therapeutic medical care to prevent and manage diseases mostly caused by disease-promoting food that is not regulated, not taxed sufficiently, and freely promoted, even to children.
How is your cholesterol, Garry? What about the other risk factors that are now treated with prescription medicine? High blood pressure, high blood sugar, and chronic inflammation?
These billion-dollar risk factors are radically reduced if you eat healthy food and break the addiction to crappy food.
By making the problem a moral issue about the body shape and size of individuals you deflect from the real problem. You also cause shame and promote abuse.
This doesn't facilitate healthy outcomes.
Should Australia pay for drugs that work to reduce the addictive appetite many of us have (big bodied or not) for crap food? Given it is likely to significantly lessen our greatest health burden, preventable chronic disease, it's a no-brainer, really.
Helen Kinmonth, Cook
Police response times
According to a media report, Canberra resident Stephanie Munk recently rang police about a suspicious person who subsequently broke into a neighbour's property.
Apparently, police did not respond until the next day. If correct, that's disappointing.
The AFP in the ACT costs ACT taxpayers $205 million annually and has a staff of 1015, of whom 745 are sworn officers.
A question taxpayers could reasonably ask is: "What are all those people doing with their time if police can't respond to (any) criminal activity in a timely manner?"
For a response comparison, the average police response time in the US is 10 minutes.
C Williams, Forrest
Saving fuel makes sense
For years, Australia has been a dumping ground for inefficient vehicles that the manufacturers have not been allowed to sell in other parts of the world, so I guess it's not surprising that the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries ("Chris Bowen says Coalition wasted $4b in petrol costs", March 7) is attacking the proposed new vehicle efficiency standards.
But why is the Coalition jumping on that same bandwagon? Aside from the obvious benefits of reduced emissions and better health outcomes, surely Mr Dutton and his colleagues can see the benefits from a national security perspective.
Australia's transport fuels are virtually all imported - to the tune of some $90 billion per year. This is not only an impost on the economy but is also a huge vulnerability in the event of international uncertainties or conflicts.
The proposed efficiency standards are not spelling the demise of utes or family vehicles. It's just that the ones we'll get will use less fuel than some of the current batch. Sounds like a win-win to me.
Catherine Rossiter, Fadden
Nuclear doesn't add up
Further to the report "Dutton's nuclear 'fantasy' under attack" (March 6), Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is a little premature in making plans for small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) to replace aged coal-fired power plants that are no longer cost-effective.
The SMR is still a developing technology.
At present, there are only three SMRs in operation: in Russia, China and India.
At least 65 more are still in the design phase, mostly in China.
On December 10, 1998, nuclear energy was banned by the Australian government. It would now be necessary to draft new legislation, debate it, and pass it in overwhelming numbers - likely a painful process - before any SMRs could be built.
In addition teams of technicians and scientists would have to be trained to operate the SMRs.
The entire process would last at least 10 years: time we do not have to reduce emissions to net zero and play our part in slowing, then reversing, the progress of global heating and catastrophic weather events.
Dr Douglas Mackenzie, Deakin
On the other hand
Your report "Former top prosecutor teaching at uni" (March 7) notes that Mr Drumgold successfully challenged "some of the findings [of] the inquiry into the handling of the dropped prosecution of Bruce Lehrmann".
It goes on to mention the two findings which were successfully challenged.
However it fails to mention that there were at least seven others which Justice Kaye upheld.
It is hard to see how Mr Drumgold could be delighted with that result.
Chris Rule, Conder
A good question
Why is petrol 20 cents a litre more expensive in Canberra than Queanbeyan and Sydney? This question is raised every year.
We're told petrol prices are cyclical. That sounds like they're peddling nonsense to me.
We are also told it has something to do with the latest OPEC meeting or the trouble in the Middle East.
The latest reasons are linked with ships being attacked by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea.
Why are the fine people of Queanbeyan less impacted by Houthi rebels than Canberrans?
Another perennial reason given is transport costs.
Really? There are thousands of little remote towns all over Australia where petrol prices are now lower than the ACT.
Could it be that the real reason petrol prices are 20 cents a litre more expensive in Canberra is because the suppliers know they'll get away with it and we're treated with contempt?
There is even less competition in petrol pricing than supermarket pricing and the supermarkets are being investigated by the government.
We are simply being taken advantage of.
Peter McLoughlin, Monash
TO THE POINT
THE DEVIL'S IN THE DETAIL
The many different interpretations of the federal byelection vote that have been rolled out are akin to dissenting scholars citing scripture for the devil's purposes.
M F Horton, Adelaide, SA
HARD TO RECONCILE
If, as the national RSL president suggests, AWM displays should be confined to those who fought "in Australian uniforms", it must be disconcerting to witness major war matériel manufacturers, responsible for death on a production-line scale, sponsoring such displays.
Albert M White, Queanbeyan, NSW
BUREAUCRATIC INCOMPETENCE
Jim Coats (Letters, March 8), I sold my car in May last year, but still receive quarterly reminders from NRMA to renew my roadside assistance. As for your query, I imagine trailers are registered separately because they are vehicles which need to be roadworthy. A bike rack is not.
S W Davey, Torrens
SHOOT ME NOW
The choices for US president remind of an old joke: A man walking down the street is confronted by a man with a gun. "Who are you going to vote for, Carter or Reagan?" the assailant demands. "Just shoot me now," the man replies.
Bede North, Turner
EV FASHION STATEMENT?
I continue to see uninspiring white Tesla EVs appearing on Canberra roads. They look very "samey" and uninteresting. Are the owners buying them for environmental reasons or because they are the latest fad and they want to "keep up with the Joneses"?
Sebastian Cole, Ngunnawal
JENNA'S DOUBLE STANDARD
Jenna Price in her article about Sam Kerr asks how calling a white police officer a "white bastard" is racial abuse. She has her head in the sand. Imagine the fallout if I called a policeman a "black bastard". It would be terrible and rightly so.
Ian Jannaway, Monash
THE DEFENCE MEMORIAL?
Since 1984, in accordance with the rules of Newspeak, the Australian warfare department has been called the Department of Defence. Australia's war fighting forces have been called defence forces. Shouldn't the Australian War Memorial be renamed the Australian Defence Memorial?
Leon Arundell, Downer
SUV UPSIZING
Huge SUVs are a menace when parked. I had two of these monsters parked on each side of my car and could not get back into it. A very slim youth managed to extricate my car. Given the ACT government registers these it should mandate wider parking bays.
John Simsons, Holt
FACEBOOK NEWS IS FAKE NEWS
Facebook news sounds like fake news to me. I wonder why anybody would consider it to be trustworthy when there are plenty of other more reliable news sources available from print media, radio and television.
Wal Pywell, Narrabundah
EQUITY IS NOT A GIFT
Really, The Canberra Times? "Super gift for mums" on page 1. What about gender equity? It's not a gift, but goes towards a healthier financial balance in society. Happy International Women's Day.
Alexandra Rea, Moruya, NSW
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