“Why cannot the local ACT politicians understand that each shopping centre needs a public toilet as do many picnic areas such as Yarramundi reach,” say letter writers KARNA and JULINA O’DEA.

We assume that none of the local politicians need to use public toilets in Canberra. Maybe they can hold on forever due to youth, unlike the rest of us. 

The Eurobodalla shire council has done a lot to improve the number and accessibility of the public toilets down the coast unlike our local government which should learn from their example. 

Why cannot the local ACT politicians understand that each shopping centre needs a public toilet as do many picnic areas such as Yarramundi reach. 

Watson shops is now a busy suburban shopping centre, yet has no public toilet despite the local residents’ association pushing for one. 

The local cafes cannot be blamed for only providing access to their toilets for their customers. 

The role of local government is to provide public facilities, we gather the ACT government never got that memo. 

Not having accessible public toilets at parks, shopping centres etcetera does not help older people, families with kids, people with bowel issues.

Maybe the local politicians can hold on forever until they get home but the rest of us cannot and expect the provision of public toilets to be improved in Canberra as a matter of course.

Karna and Julina O’Dea, via email

Consensus ‘along the corridor’ almost impossible

Columnist Andrew Hughes’ comments on the disunity within the Canberra Liberals (“Labor will be back unless things start to change”, CN August 29) strongly align with my own experiences while consulting for then-leader Alistair Coe before the last ACT election. 

Attempting to foster and establish policy consensus “along the corridor” proved to be an almost impossible task, given the competing vested interests, fragile egos and widespread ineptitude among most members.

Unless the Liberals can learn to work as a cohesive team rather than against each other, I don’t see them returning to government anytime soon. Period.

There is still a pervasive and selfish sentiment along the corridor, which I believe persists: considering the salary, superannuation contributions, and numerous perks of office, “coming second is not such a bad outcome”.

Mike Carmody, via email

God help us if Labor and Greens get back

I’m with letter writer Anne O’Donnell (CN August 29) – Aggie Court’s Labor “candidacy,” in the electorate of Kurrajong should be disendorsed!

Currently working for the ACT CFMEU, which has been placed into administration, she should not engage in any party politics.

Come on Liberals, at least roar up and object to Labor endorsing this CFMEU candidate.

And speaking of the Canberra Liberals, Sue Dyer’s comment (letters, CN August 29) that they need more than time management.

Clearly, the Liberals need to get united on the same platform to win government and not think of their own individual agendas! They seem to be very divided, under their moderate leader.

God help us all if Labor and The Greens get back in.

Ros Thomas, Gordon

Decay is the development government has allowed

The letters from Raechel Nano, Dr Douglas Mackenzie and Maddie Lewis (CN, September 3) berate our Labor/Green government for its omissions in the maintenance of this decaying city. 

There is a more serious decay threatening in what development this government has allowed and its orthodoxy towards family.

I am thinking of the thousands of apartments that have been crammed into the Woden town centre along with planning for a light rail service to Civic and a CIT campus that will supposedly be attended by students from all over Canberra using public transport.

I visited one such small single-bedroom apartment recently, on the 10th floor, where the view was the wall of another similar building a few tens of metres away. Rent $450 a week.

Don’t contemplate the prospects of a young couple living in such accommodation if they wanted to have a family. There are no schools, and the only playground is on an extremity of the district.

If we want an ageing society amused by overseas trips while the fossil fuel and iron ore exports hold up, and lots of abortion and euthanasia, the current government can just sit back and get elected again.

John L Smith, Farrer 

More nails in the Barr government’s coffin

KEEPING UP THE ACT (CN September 5) nails Chief Minister Andrew Barr to the cross of debt. 

It begins with the outrageous three years and $31 million per kilometre to upgrade 2.4km of Athllon Way in Tuggeranong, compared to the one year and $4.7 million a kilometre for the Romans to build the 212-kilometre Appian Way.

Rome’s Colosseum of 60,000 seats took 10 years to build, and cost an estimated $600 million. This compares very badly with the 10 years and $1.8 billion to build the 30,000-seat Bruce “Barrena”.

KUTA then moves on to the absurdity of “a few billion laying a couple more centimetres of light rail”. As Peter Haddon (Letters, CN September 5) wrote, “the folly of building a tramline in Canberra in the 21st century” could not be justified on cost/benefit grounds alone.

Are these more nails in Barr’s “cross of debt”, or are they in the lid of the Barr government’s coffin?

Dr Douglas Mackenzie, Deakin

Vaping side effects are red flags for health harms 

Contrary to columnist Ross Fitzgerald’s assertion that there has been no deaths scientifically attributed to vaping nicotine (CN August 29), a quick Google search will reveal credible references to such deaths. 

For example, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 68 such deaths in the US by February 2020 and more than 2800 cases of serious lung injury requiring hospitalisation. Vaping-related hospitalisations have also been reported in Australia, in addition to some suspected deaths.

Due to the need to collect more information about the long-term effects of e-cigarettes, it is difficult to estimate the likely number of deaths attributable to these products.

Based on current information, sources including the Australian Lung Foundation and the ANU National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health report that health harms associated with vaping include: ​nicotine addiction; intentional and unintentional poisoning;​ acute nicotine toxicity causing seizures​; burns and injuries; lung injury; indoor air pollution; environmental waste and fires; dual use with cigarette smoking, which increases exposure to harmful toxins; and vaping is associated with the uptake of cigarette smoking and can be considered to be a “gateway” to further risk and health complications. ​

Even the short-term side effects of vaping – such as coughing, shortness of breath, eye irritation, headaches, dry and irritated mouth and throat, and nausea – should be red flags for harms to your health. 

Karina Morris, Weetangera

Incidence of antisemitism has skyrocketed 

On reading columnist Michael Moore, one would never know that the war in Gaza started because Hamas broke a ceasefire, crossed an established border, sent 3500 Hamas terrorists into Israel to slaughter, rape and torture some 1200 men, women and children, and kidnap another 250 people back into Gaza on October 7.

Nor that Hamas officials promise to repeat October 7 “again and again and again” until Israel is destroyed.

He also omits the overwhelming evidence that Hamas converted homes, schools, hospitals and mosques in Gaza into a giant terror base.

Moore falsely accuses Israel of genocide, and justifies this by citing unfiltered Hamas propaganda and assertions made by anti-Israel activists – including a couple of the tiny number of Jews who have thrown their lot in with the violently anti-Zionist “free Palestine” movement.

Moore also raises the straw man that criticism of Israel is immediately called antisemitic by an all-powerful Israel lobby. No reasonable person claims that criticism of Israel is always antisemitic.

But the incidence of antisemitism has skyrocketed over the last 11 months according to all known metrics, so this phenomenon is clearly not a figment of the Jewish imagination or part of any nefarious scheme to foreclose debate.

Richard Webb, Griffith

Ric’s taking a break from reading letters

Letter writer Eric Hunter has got it quite wrong on a number of occasions when commenting on several letters you have published in relation to my early view that The Voice would fail because of Albanese’s ego-driven approach to it and the fact that the illegal actions of Palestinian student supporters could possibly hurt their employment prospects.

As a result I have endeavoured to ignore all letters written by him. This has proved a hard task considering the number of letters and publications he contributes to on a daily basis.

So I have decided to not read any letters in any publications for a period of two months to see if I can restore some feeling of equanimity in my retirement. I will be interested to see if this will do the trick.

Ric Hingee, Duffy

Janine promises to deliver the goods!

I refer to Monica Beran’s letter (CN August 29) and her comments about the need for a change of government.

After much contemplation and consideration, I have made the decision to run in Ginninderra as a non-party, independent candidate in the upcoming ACT election.

Born and raised in Canberra, I am the epitome of a Canberran; aware of the needs and issues of our beautiful city. Through my previous and current employment, I am a person of lived experience in many spaces.

As a long-standing social justice advocate, during the last few years I have been proactive in working on coronial, prison and mental health reform within the ACT.

I have been advocating for these things because of the systemic flaws and failings in these jurisdictions, which need vast overhauls to improve the services for our people.

Further, as a parent, wife, friend and community advocate, I am aware of other issues, including education, housing, ACT Policing, homelessness, the environment and much more.

Quite simply, the ACT community deserves some new blood, and my campaign focuses on a fresh perspective to tackle the issues the Canberra community are currently experiencing.

If elected, I promise to listen and “hear” about issues local members of our community raise; I won’t just “talk the talk”, I am fully prepared to “walk the walk”, unlike many other MLAs.

Vote 1, Janine Haskins, Independent for Ginninderra and I will deliver the goods!

Janine Haskins, Cook