It will take more than light rail to make Canberra great again

Great cities also entertain their residents with modern sports stadiums, concert halls, theatres, ice rinks and basketball arenas. All those nice things that Mr Barr has promised for us years but never started because of the cost.

Additionally, great cities don't have a poorly performing hospital system, reduced public housing numbers, declining education institutions, and a poor urban planning and land release system that puts house prices beyond the wages of an average worker.

Mr Barr thinks you can magically make a city great by spending many billions of dollars on a city-wide but slow and stop-laden light rail network. But Canberrans need to wisely ask themselves, what is the real cost of putting too many eggs in one basket?

Jack Kershaw (Letters, April 1) is correct. There is much land available for the urban expansion of Canberra. He focuses on how this can create a "liveable conurbation ... with good sized blocks for healthy family life." More importantly he provokes us to reflect on the consequences of an increased supply of land.

A principle of economics is that increasing supply to meet demand will stabilise the price of an item and exceeding demand may lead to a decline in its price.

The federal and territory governments should focus on the infrastructure required to facilitate increased land supply. Certainly in the case of the territory government, infrastructure spending is slanted towards providing services to a segment of the community but using taxes provided by all taxpayers.

The balance should be altered to allocate the territory's funds on a broader basis and on infrastructure such as roads and schools in greenfield areas. Our young citizens have a right to affordable housing.

I also believe that the dual occupancy policy as proposed will not deliver the uptake expected. I also share Mr Kershaw's concern about the likely outcomes of the policy.

I was encouraged by Ben Ponton's views on planning policy when he was first appointed. It should not be rules-based but driven by quality outcomes that respect the community's expectations while providing room for imagination and innovation.

Every time defence concerns emerge in the public discourse ultimately conscription is mooted as "essential".

Soldiering, if it ever was, is no longer for gifted amateurs but requires intensive training over a lengthy period. Today's selection standards, medical, psychological and educational amongst others, require that armies only recruit the best. The question of conscription being selective or universal also arises. Should the burden of sacrifice be shared by all or a few Australians?

AUKUS is taking a huge share of the defence budget. There would be a concomitant need for higher taxes to pay for conscription.

Anybody who thinks three months' square bashing, whilst paying conscripts seven bob a day, will produce trained soldiers is delusional. What must not be lost sight of is armies train for war and soldiers die in war.

The ACT Liberals have released their "people-focused public transport" policy, which commits to restore the bus network it says the current government has neglected. Although they have endorsed stage 2A they did so before knowing the outrageous contract cost. They would have good reason to cancel the contract if in power. But, one can be certain that cancellation costs built into the contract would be draconian and well in favour of our greedy contractor/unions consortium.

They should promise to make public the terms of the contract so taxpayers can see how they are being exploited.

Another politician has resigned from a political party after being elected by that party's supporters.

Tasmanian senator Tammy Tyrrell has resigned from the Jacqui Lambie Network and has become an independent.

But voters vote for the party and that party's election candidates and should rightly expect that the party members show allegiance to the party and the voters that voted them in with that party.

This should not be allowed.

The voters are not getting what they voted for and should be given the chance to reassess the candidates at a by-election [in the case of House of Representatives seat]. In this case the usual Senate vacancy protocols should apply.

If the JLN was not happy with Tyrrell's performance how can those who voted for her at the last election have any confidence in her performance as an independent?

Pollution worldwide is killing an astounding eight million people a year ("What breaking records really means for human health", April 2).

In Australia, air pollution is linked to over 3000 deaths annually, at a cost of around $6 billion to our economy.

The harmful effects of climate change and air pollution go hand in hand. Weather disasters such as fires and floods have become more frequent and intense by the burning of heat-trapping pollutants like coal, oil and gas.

During the 2019 to 2020 Back Summer fires, for example, there were more than 400 deaths due to poor air quality.

Children and older people are the most vulnerable. Over the years we have seen an increase in the tax on tobacco, with health groups pushing to discourage smoking. Why are we not taking the problem of air pollution as seriously as smoking?

The UK's Grant Shapps has explained that AUKUS is "fundamentally about securing freedom of navigation" ("Australia gives UK $4.6b to boost subs", March 23) yet this is a solution awaiting a problem.

Shapps may be referring to incidents in the South China Sea, when a Chinese vessel has sprayed a Philippine boat with water in a disputed area. There have been no incidents on the high seas disrupting trade, nor are there likely to be any. Freedom of navigation is most important for China to protect its vast export trade.

The idea of confronting China with military shows of strength is strange and puzzling. There is even talk of a war with China.

Almost two centuries ago the disgusting Opium Wars allowed Britain, France, and even the United States, to plunder China.

But we are now in the 21st century. Modern China is a superpower, with the very latest in nuclear weapons and a fleet of patrolling satellites to guide them to any chosen destination. There is no possibility of a war with China, without risk to life on Earth.

You can't go to war with a nuclear superpower. Get a grip.

Unbelievable. Energy Minister Chris Bowen says he and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese caught two jets from Canberra to a recent "renewable energy announcement" in the Hunter region of NSW because they had too many support staff to fit into only one.

Surely under the circumstances the correct thing to do would have been to simply cut back on the number of "freeloaders" and use only one plane? How can such a large number of government attendees be justified for a minor event like an announcement?

The cable car concept for Black Mountain has been revisited (Letters, March 22).

That's a great idea for passive transportation but many of us are need to move our bodies.

Currently only fit cyclists can pedal up the steep mountain while dangerously sharing the road with motorists.

Building a gradually ascending path for cyclists and walkers would get us all, young and old, fit and less so, on our way to the summit while safely enjoying the scenery and shedding kilos.

Re Ms Keuter-Luks' letter (April 3) on potentially judgemental reporting, I suspect it is rare when a reporter does not impart some personal judgement upon an issue.

As the proportion of the population espousing some religious affiliation is ever decreasing, I agree when she says your reporter's "comment that Pastor Ikea's views on homosexuality were even more out of tune with the times" implied many of the pastor's views are obsolete.

They indeed are, especially in Canberra which had the country's highest proportion of voters saying "yes" to marriage equality. The time for tolerance is over. Acceptance is the goal.

I have always considered the use of foul language as indicative of a limited vocabulary.

Stewart Bath (Letters, April 3) exhorts Australia to manufacture solar panels here. I suggest he read Andrew Leigh's The Shortest History Of Economics on comparative advantage and also ask himself why we no longer manufacture motor vehicles in Australia.

The US is reportedly sending fighter jets and bombs to Israel. Why doesn't the US assist Ukraine more as well? Israel is making progress in its goals; the Ukrainians are struggling to hold on to their territory and desperately need ammunition.

The ACT Greens policies of increasing the housing density in existing suburbs of Canberra is not "green"; it decreases the number of trees and gardens, increases the temperature and increases crime. A far "greener" solution is to convert the former sheep paddocks around Canberra into garden towns with high-speed freeway access for electric cars.

Australia is a major exporter of coal and gas. The federal government is attempting to approve more gas projects. We are becoming a standout contributor to human-caused climate change. Is this the reputation Australians want for their country?.

Imagine the response if police decided that killing hostages was acceptable practice in order to apprehend the criminals hiding behind them. Would we be okay with that? How is that different from the IDF's actions against Palestinian civilians, journalists and aid workers?

Men minding men in support of a media mogul's titillating media money-making ventures, was surely a tawdry recipe for disaster from the start ("'On warpath': More drug invoicing allegations", April 5).

How ironic that my letter praising Canberra's great Easter weather (Letters, April 5) should be published on a day when the weather turned foul. In another year these days of foul weather could be Easter time, but the Canberra lover in me knows that such are the exception at time of year.

What is happening in Gaza is a humanitarian catastrophe. Hamas sowed the wind and the Gazans are reaping the whirlwind. It's a repeat of what happened to Berlin, Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, Nagasaki and many other cities after Hitler's attacks on London and Tojo's attack on Pearl Harbour.

Simples. If you offer to pay them a bit more they will come.