Letter writer ERIC HUNTER, fresh from a heart-valve replacement, found his recovery come to a screaming halt with a delay of up to 12 weeks to get on an outpatient cardiac rehab program at the Canberra North Hospital. It’s ‘unacceptable’, he says.

I’ve just come back from a second dose of heart-valve replacement. Critical to a fully successful recovery is participation in an outpatient cardiac rehab program.

On my first occasion a decade ago, there was no delay in joining a professionally run program at the then Calvary Bruce Hospital (now the government-run Canberra North Hospital).

This time, however, I was told it would be eight to 12 weeks before I could start this vital part of my progress.

I’m sure there will be weasel-words of attempted mitigation from government authorities for this unacceptable delay.

I doubt if they will include any excuse like “too many Canberrans are having heart attacks”, although I could imagine such a situation arising given Labor’s long record of stressful mis-governance – and not just in the health sector.

Eric Hunter, Cook 

Looks more like a switch to renewables to me

Vi Evans questions the claim that “ordinary Australians” are not keen on nuclear energy and asks, “What is an ordinary Australian?” (letters, CN August 21).

In today’s diverse Australia, the writer’s intent was surely to say most people prefer renewables over coal or nuclear. While Ms Evans doubts the surveys, their consistent findings can’t all be wrong.

Still, what would “ordinary” Australians know about the energy system? Better to ask the CSIRO. In its 2023–2034 GenCost report, it concluded that nuclear power in Australia is far more expensive than renewables and would take at least 15 years to build.

But don’t we need nuclear’s “baseload power” when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing? The CSIRO has said the very idea of traditional baseload is outdated. Modern electricity systems can run reliably on renewables, supported by storage, flexible generation and demand management.

But isn’t renewable energy expensive and isn’t the Tomago aluminium smelter in trouble? The Australia Institute has made it clear that it’s the gas-fired electricity generators that tend to set the price in Australia’s electricity market. Huge energy users like the aluminium industry could get cheaper power if the multinational gas exporters supplied local gas at reasonable prices.

Finally, Ms Evans claims the world is “switching to nuclear.” In fact, International Energy Agency reports show the opposite. In 2022, 2023 and 2024, the amount of new global renewable energy added was 320 GW, 507 GW and 700 GW respectively. For nuclear, it was 8 GW, 5 GW and 7 GW. Looks more like a switch to renewables to me.

Anne O’Hara, Wanniassa

The ecological grazing paradox

I was jogging across the Palmerston grassland and came across this sign (above).

It imputes that cattle grazing is protective of Golden Sun Moth habitat.

How is that logical when the ACT government spent the previous two months culling kangaroos?

Bruce Bennett, via email

Reeling in anger, frustrated at prison’s neglect

While I know what is happening, or more accurately, not happening at the Alexander Maconochie Centre (AMC) and the Transitional Release Centre (TRC), Hugh Selby’s article (citynews.com.au, August 16) found me reeling in anger and frustration regarding the poor treatment of detainees housed at the TRC.

I applaud Hugh for exposing the bitter truth of what the TRC is – a failure.

The TRC was intended to operate under policies designed to facilitate the reintegration of detainees into the community through structured activities.

These policies prioritise safety and security while supporting detainees in maintaining family ties, engaging in work, education, and other reintegration activities. Access to transitional release requires detainees to meet eligibility criteria, apply, and undergo risk assessments.

Hugh’s article exposes the gap between TRC policies and reality: limited work options (although I have heard that ripping up used mattresses is one “employment” opportunity). Further, education is a “no no’, and “structured and other reintegration activities” appears to be a fluffy assertion.

The reality is that there are little to no prospects for detainees at TRC to access options for rehabilitation and reintegration into the community. With the extreme restrictions placed on detainees to gain meaningful employment or work experience, they are left to languish in a purpose-built facility that was designed for anything but “languishing”.

In summary, there are words on paper, but the actions of management not only bely those words, they kill hope.

Janine Haskins, prison reform advocate

‘Outrageous’ survey on tall buildings

Purdons have put out a “survey” purportedly asking people for their views about tall buildings.

But to complete it you actually have to give three reasons for supporting tall buildings. If you don’t, you can’t lodge the response.

Outrageous and ridiculous. Hopefully, no one will take it seriously. We have asked Purdons to withdraw it. Here’s the link: purdon.com.au/buildingheightsurvey

Colin Walters, chair, Inner South Canberra Community Council

Are insurance discounts really discounts?

It took me 12 months – and repeated requests to my insurer, ASIC, AFCA and the Insurance Council of Australia – before I finally received a detailed invoice for my car insurance.

This is something that, under consumer law, I should have received within seven days.

When I did receive it, I was left deeply concerned. My seven-year-old secondhand car, insured for a market value of $12,000, was shown as starting with a “base premium” of $4186.40. Only after applying multiple so-called discounts (70 per cent no claim, 20 per cent, 20 per cent) did the final figure reduce to something closer to what most of us would expect to pay.

This raises a question that goes beyond my own case: are customers really receiving the discounts that insurers claim on renewal notices, or are these figures simply a way of making inflated base premiums look fair by comparison?

If it takes a year of persistence, complaints and escalation to regulators just to see how my premium was calculated, what chance does the average policyholder have of knowing whether they are being charged fairly?

Errol Good, Macgregor

Draft EIS on Woden tram ‘cherry-picks’ facts

The draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for light rail stage 2B has cherrypicked its information, to justify rejecting faster and more cost-effective alternatives, that would get more people using public transport.

The EIS ignores the City to Woden Light Rail: Stage 2A City to Commonwealth Park Business Case, which concluded that light rail would increase travel times from Civic to more than 27 minutes.

It ignores the Light Rail Stage 2 Business Case, which concluded that the base case option, which retains Adelaide Avenue’s transit lanes, offers more than $580 million greater net benefits than the light rail option.

It ignores the government’s most recent cost benefit analysis of bus rapid transit. That analysis concluded that increasing town centre car parking charges, combined with bus rapid transit, would increase public transport travel by 17 per cent and would be twice as cost-effective as the light rail option.

Bizarrely, the only excuse the EIS gives for rejecting bus rapid transit is URS Australia’s 2012 City to Gungahlin Transit Corridor: Concept Design Report. That report concluded that bus rapid transit offered a better overall outcome for Canberra than median light rail.

Leon Arundell, Downer

Time for another Nostradamus prediction!

While I have always supported a Labor government, I am perplexed as to what is to be achieved by our federal government’s declaration of “Supporting a Palestinian State”.

Firstly, there is not a current State of Palestine, nor does it meet some, if any, of the criteria to be recognised as a state, which includes an effective government and a defined territory.

I am not convinced that Hamas, Hezbollah and their Islamic state puppet masters, Iran, know or care what the Australian PM thinks about the future of the Middle East.

Collectively, these rogue terrorist Islamic states have one clear goal in mind: to build on Islamic state on the rubble of Israel.

Endorsement by the self-proclaimed President of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, gives no legitimacy to this declaration. His administration of more than 20 years has been defined by corruption, brutality, the rejection of peace and continued support for terrorism.

We appear to have arrived at a juncture in history, where the polarisation of politics worldwide, without any clear “middle”, has enabled the facts to be rewritten purely to give credence to a narrative.

We have Trump in talks with Putin, without the presence of the Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.

We have democratic counties, including Australia, giving credence to Hamas, a vicious terrorist organisation.

We have Trump, a convicted felon, misogynist and bankrupt, the world’s leading peacemaker.

It must be time for another concocted Nostradamus prediction!

Declan McGrath, via email

Hallowed governments can end in tears

The Coalition loss on May 3 has been covered by numerous letters to CN offering advice on how they can become more electable.

But most of the advice is not coming from Coalition voters. The advice includes “stop navel gazing”, conservative is against the narrative and move to the left if you want to win.

Those basking in the glory of Labor’s victory are rightly exuberant, but in some cases the exuberance is giving way to hubris and a sanctimonious “holier than thou” attitude.

Don’t forget, the once hallowed governments of Whitlam, Keating and Rudd all ended in debt and tears.

Paul Temby, via email

When Aunty Jack came to the party

I enjoyed Helen Musa’s article on living in the 1970s (CN cover story, August 14), especially the mention of Aunty Jack.

I was a medical student at the University of NSW and lived in a “hovel” in Coogee, with a group of other students. At the completion of our pediatric rotation in 1974 we thought we’d like to have a concert for the children.

We wondered about who we could get as a guest star, given that we had a zero budget. At that time Aunty Jack was very popular, and we were bold enough to ring and enquire as to whether he and Thin Arthur would be our guest stars.

They readily accepted, and rode up to the party on the motorbike! There was also another TV presenter called Captain Armstrong, I believe from Channel 10, who also donated a lot of toys for the children, so kudos to him as well.

At the time of the concert, there were two children from Papua New Guinea, Lop and Sophie, who were at the hospital to undergo heart surgery. Their eyes were out on stalks when they saw this large gentleman, in a purple dress with a moustache, and a golden boxing glove.

Peter French, Red Hill

Be independent and grow some veggies

Spring brings the chance of growing your own vegetables, either in a planter window box or in a garden plot outside.

Remember to soak seeds in warm water the night before planting, mix with fertiliser and worms in the earth and water. Seeds, fertiliser and worms may be purchased locally.

Grow some fresh veggies for yourself – be independent

Peter M Gately, Flynn