Letters to the Editor: Archdiocese responding to royal commission

Exhibiting ignorance

I visited the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) in February to view an exhibition and upon leaving the building I noticed that the yellow reflective markings, which indicate an edge of guttering for the Vision Impaired such as myself, were so worn as to render them useless as a basic accessibility aid.

I emailed the gallery a day later pointing out the need to re-mark these visual aids as a matter of urgency to remove a potential source of liability.

I received a reply later that day which stated that the re-marking of the car park was under way.

I returned to the gallery on Saturday to view the Cartier exhibition seven weeks later. Unfortunately, the reflective markings in the car park remained faded, hence useless.

The International Year of Disabled Persons was in 1981 and 37 years later it seems that the general ignorance of the importance of accessibility aids remains.

The gallery also has a statutory obligation to ensure disabled accessibility.

Rohan Goyne, Evatt

Curtin-raiser

A group of Coalition MPs have come out in support of more coal-fired power stations, saying burning coal is vital to the economy and will lower electricity prices.

Seeing as there's space at Curtin shops, the ACT Liberals and proponents of fossil fuels should chip in and build a coal-fired power station here.

Think of the benefits for Curtin residents – jobs and growth, cheap electricity and doing something good for the national interest.

Simon Tatz, Curtin

What are they thinking?

The report "Low renewable costs 'chilling' for fossil fuels" (Business, March 31, p29) spells out how energy from renewable sources is already, or soon will be, cheaper than energy from fossil-fuel sources, especially coal.

The cost of energy provided via lithium-ion batteries has fallen by 79 per cent between 2010 and 2017. The costs of wind and solar energy have fallen significantly while energy from coal gas, nuclear and "large hydro" sources has decreased "only slightly" during that period.

The ANU has forecast that costs of renewable energy generators will fall to $50 a megawatt-hour in the 2020s.

Prices of coal-fired energy forecast by the Australian Stock Exchange for the 2020 March quarter and 2021 December quarter in NSW average $75.73 a megawatt hour, or 52 per cent higher than renewable energy.

Despite these facts, some members of the Coalition government, notably George Christensen, think it would be a good idea for the government to purchase the Liddell power station, irrespective of the fact that it is nearing the end of its economic life – which is, of course, why AGL wants to close it down in 2022 and replace it with a mixture of gas-fired generation, renewable energy and battery storage.

Other Coalition MPs, such as Andrew Broad, would like the government to build a new coal-fired power station – an even more irrational idea.

It seems there are some Coalition MPs who don't mind using taxpayers' money – our money – to pursue costly ventures that bear no resemblance to practical or commercial reality.

Douglas Mackenzie, Deakin

Blame it on mateship

Ross Gittins just doesn't get it. He writes that cheating is to be expected since Australia has drifted so far from our earlier commitment to, among other things, mateship. ("Cheating Part of our Ethos", March 28, p.18).

The reverse is the case. Mateship is part of the problem, not the solution. Mateship with its connotations of a dominant form of masculinity, is rife in Australian institutions from religious organisations to sporting clubs.

It shows itself in closing ranks and cliques that are sexist, racist, elitist, arrogant and often with the promotion of discrimination and corruption.

To get on, one has to be "one of the boys". Take the particular case in point – the scandal is down to three mates who decided to cheat and hang the rest of the team (even though they will most likely bear the consequences, certainly with question marks over their character).

Paul Kringas, Giralang

Get tough with Warner

So your correspondent Chris Barrett (Letters, March 29) thinks David Warner should be cut some slack over the Australian cricket team's ball-tampering scandal.

Methinks not, as Warner has already been cut too much slack over his lead role in this tawdry affair.

Unlike Steve Smith Cameron Bancroft, David Warner was not required to suffer the ignominy of having to attend a news conference until well after his arrival back in Australia. Instead, with children in hand – and no doubt that was a deliberate ploy to deflect media attention – he was allowed to walk through Sydney Airport uttering only a few words including effectively saying "I'll get back to you".

Where's the comparative fairness in all of that?

There is no doubt Warner and Smith have quite different temperaments, but Warner's apparent stoicism at this time does not serve him well.

It is quite clear that there is no real contrition on Warner's part and, unlike Smith, he has not indicated he is sorry about the whole mess that he instigated.

I do not feel any sympathy for Warner and he is certainly not deserving of being cut any further slack.

Don Sephton, Greenway

Lofty thoughts

When you're sitting in a cramped seat at 30,000 feet eating smoked duck and noodles and watching "Churchill" on your Airbus A330-200 entertainment system, you get funny thoughts, like "What am I doing here when people are getting bombed in Syria and the people of Rakhine State are getting ethnically cleansed?".

Kenneth Griffiths, O'Connor

City's treasure trashed

About 10 years ago I was involved in an ABC TV program that told the story of the search for our national capital – or, as one well-known writer memorably described it a century and more ago, the hunt for the "treasure-house of a nation's heart".

To introduce the first show, we ran the terrific ad used for the Centenary of Federation in 2001. You know the one: "What sort of country wouldn't know the name of its first prime minister?" In the ad, the boy ultimately informs the clueless, embarrassed dad.

Reading Sally Pryor's article ('A case of funding cuts deja vu', CT, March 31), the ad beckoned from the recent past, except now it's "what sort of country would allow its national cultural institutions to be cut to the bone, and then cut more with interest"?

For both questions, the answer is us.

This slow-burn cultural vandalism is happening on our watch.

Both sides of politics in government have been culpable, and both continue to perpetuate the Big Lie of "efficiency dividends", but we are all involved in this one – especially we Canberrans who have witnessed at first-hand these brutal gouges off the bone of our cultural "treasure houses" year after year (bar the War Memorial).

So a federal inquiry is to be held into funding cuts at Canberra's museums and galleries, chaired by Liberal MP Ben Morton. It's time for the citizenry to articulate the appalling results of these nasty assaults on our country's memory banks.

David Headon, Melba

Cyclists maligned

I commend your editorial exhorting commuters to cycle to work, being good for the environment, easing road congestion and boosting healthy living (March 29, p14).

However, the greatest impediment remains cyclists being treated as second-class citizens by motorists and road authorities.

We, cast as "cockroaches on wheels" by Queensland Police in 2014, are viewed with disdain by other road users who see us as nuisances that slow motor traffic down and oblige cars to have to swerve into an adjacent lane to avoid clipping a cyclist.

Cyclists are disparaged for not funding road improvements or upkeep.

As an emergency doctor, I am acutely aware that we have much to fear from any crash as we lack a protective carapace.

Recent equalisation of fines (in Queensland) which consider errant cyclists as being as dangerous as speeding cars and trucks is another reason cyclists are deserting the roads in droves.

Cyclists remain a maligned minority ripe for the seething abuse of motorists immune to your plea for civil and considerate road-sharing.

Joseph Ting, Brisbane, Qld

Sponsors not lily-white

I see the Magellan Financial Group has cancelled its sponsorship of Australian Test cricket over the morally reprehensible ball-tampering incident.

We might ask whether it also intends to disinvest from Kraft Heinz, in view of that company's refusal to report on the impact of its production processes on human rights and deforestation. We might also ask whether ASICS, which has terminated its contracts with David Warner and Cameron Bancroft, will immediately address the pay and conditions of its Cambodian female workforce.

And does the Sanitarium company, having ended its relationship with Steve Smith, also intend to sever its links with the Seventh Day Adventist Church, given what emerged from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse?

If none of that is likely, no matter – we have to keep a sense of perspective in all this.

At least our former captain can step forward untainted by financial support from the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

Paul Feldman, Macquarie

Immigration rate worry

I write in reference to the article "Errant Abbott is right about immigration", April 2, p3.

The author, Tony Walker has joined many others in criticising Australia's ridiculously high rate of immigration.

However, he has failed to point out that the real population growth effect of immigration is about twice the actual level of immigration.

Population increase due to immigration exceeds actual immigration because the children and grandchildren of immigrants are born in Australia but the parents and grandparents of immigrants die in their native countries.

The growth due to immigration lasts for about two generations.

Walker pointed out that in 2016-17 Australia's population grew by 388,000 – 245,000 of this was caused by current net immigration; the remaining 143,000 was caused by the excess of births over deaths.

Most of that excess was caused by earlier migration.

Further, it was caused by earlier immigration averaging less than 100,000 per year.

The current level of migration will cause much greater population increases over the next two generations.

Therefore, even if Australia were to cease immigration immediately, this nation's population will continue to grow at a rate greater than that of most comparable nations for about another 50 years.

I therefore recommend that Australia immediately reduce its net immigration to almost zero, and maintain it at that rate until population growth reduces to the long-term sustainability rate of zero.

Bob Salmond, Melba

Topic changes finally

Something strange happened on Tuesday morning when the death of Winnie Mandela took centre stage at the ABC, cutting out the never-ending cricket storm in a teacup.

No doubt the Turnbull government will give Aunty a rap around knuckles for having such audacity.

D. J. Fraser, Currumbin, Qld

Cure hard to swallow

Am I the only reader who found the article about a new treatment involving capsules of faecal matter (April 1, p14) extremely hard to swallow?

Although we are constantly made aware of weird and wonderful "cures", surely this was intended for April Fool's Day.

Vicki Brown, Fadden

TO THE POINT

CLOUD CUCKOO LAND

The only trickle down most of us will see from the corporates and the rich are unintended emissions due to cornucopian overexcitement or age-related incontinence. The notion cutting the taxes of the rich will help the poor is an idea from cloud cuckoo land.

Ed Highley, Kambah

HERE'S A SUPER IDEA

Is there a federal politician able (and willing) to explain the impact of Bill Shorten's dividend imputation policy on their parliamentary superannuation?

Ian Pearson, Barton

REALLY, WHY BOTHER?

Renee Goossens (Letters, April 2) is miffed by journalists' questioning of the Russian ambassador. Were I in a position to question him I would be asking why (since his Foreign Minister has characterised Australia as "not a real country") Russia is even bothering with a diplomatic mission here.

Geoff McKergow, Forbes Creek, NSW

LET'S PROBE ELSEWHERE

The actions of the Cape Town three have been extensively scrutinised and they have been punished excessively. The same level of scrutiny should be applied to the government's fraudulent refugee, tax and climate change policies.

Mike Quirk, Garran

THANK YOU CENTRE STAFF

I would like to extend accolades to the staff of the Canberra Cancer Centre. Having experienced weekly intravenous treatment there for six months, I observed how thoughtful, careful, kind, organised and efficient they all were. A huge thank you to all concerned.

Lynn Nickols, Griffith

WINERIES' LAND GRAB

Steve Thomas (Letters, April 3) asks when will those who think that kangaroos are not a problem offer to compensate wineries for their losses. Simple answer: when winery owners compensate kangaroos for taking their land.

Frankie Seymour, Queanbeyan, NSW

MISSING OUT

The short answer to your question about when the tram will make it to Tuggeranong, Darren Randall (Letters, April 3), is "Never". Same answer applies to Weston Creek, Molonglo, Belconnen (including the new, massive cross-border development at West Belconnen) and Canberra Airport. Perhaps we should secede from the ACT.

Paul E. Bowler, Chapman

SORRY, CHARGES VALID

Great letter from Dr Bill Anderson (Letters, April 2) until he stated "have people forgotten the day ridiculous and false charges were laid against Essendon Football Club?" Sorry Bill but the evidence was compelling so I'm wondering what you've been taking over the last few years.

Chris Bell, Arundel, Qld