Letter writer ROSS E SMITH is disappointed at the state of Canberra, which he describes as a “national embarrassment” due to many issues left unresolved by the ACT Labor government. 

When is the chief minister going to resolve the many issues of the disgusting mess he and his Labor government have allowed to happen under their watch for a decade-plus years?

After almost 30 years in the Australian Army of continual moving/ postings around Australia and overseas deployments, my family settled in Canberra. I was proud of our “bush capital” Canberra and its cleanliness and open spaces. 

Now, Canberra has become a national embarrassment due to many issues left unresolved by our ACT Labor government. 

Okay, I understand the need for the future of transport for our residents from the far north of Canberra, also the further expansion of light rail to the Woden Valley hub, but the cost to the community is mind boggling, enormous! 

However, some issues I have observed that should be resolved, between the chief’s cafe lattes, are:

Potholes, come on, you cannot blame the massive rains of some years ago. We pay exorbitant vehicle registration fees for such a small area bound by NSW. The cost for me this week was a replacement tyre. It was covered by insurance, but the excess is much more than the cost of a new tyre!

Weathered roads – one can now see the underseal strips. For instance, Ashley Drive southbound was resealed to perfection. However, Ashley Drive northbound, completed no doubt by a cheaper tenderer is showing wear and previous road markings are now visible and delaminating in some areas! 

White line road markings in many areas are considered exceptionally dangerous to motorists especially in inclement weather/rain/fog conditions. Without the aid of cat’s eyes it can be exceptionally difficult to negotiate the correct lane to be in. 

Many pedestrian crossing marking/ strips have faded, becoming almost invisible and a danger for both pedestrians and drivers alike. 

Signage is an eyesore by delamination and peeling.

The litter and rubbish on the side of our roads, in particular the Monaro Highway, has been there for eternity.

Speed bumps are a great embuggerance, but necessary. However, the continually lifting of these “judder bars” from the road due to poor-quality workmanship causes damage to vehicles. 

“Clean Up My Street” – when? 

My heart goes out to the many Canberra businesses that are struggling to stay afloat due to the constant light rail project. Also, the Richardson Shopping Centre lies in a disgusting vandalised state of disrepair, but why?

I suggest that our chief minister drive around Canberra by day in order to witness his government’s mess. 

Ross E Smith OAM, JP, Richardson

Anti-Israeli posturing only prolongs the horror 

As bad as the situation is in Gaza, columnist Robert Macklin’s claim that Israelis “are bent on starving the Gazans to death” is false (“Fear when the ‘antisemitism’ bat starts swinging”, CN May 29).

If Israel was bent on genocide, as Hamas propaganda claims, the IDF would have razed Gaza in 2023. 

Robert, like so many commentators, brushes over the hostage dynamic and Hamas tactic of using Gazans as human shields. This morass looks bleaker every day; simplistic anti-Israeli posturing only prolongs the horror by heartening Hamas.

Peter Robinson, Ainslie 

God help America survive ignorant Trump

Donald Trump’s tariff policies, cuts to foreign aid, demonising of refugees, gutless response to the atrocities of Putin and the Netanyahu government have diminished America’s stranding the world.

His rhetoric of making America great again is code for making he and his billionaire cronies even richer. Any attempts to address disadvantage by improving the health and welfare systems are dismissed as Socialism, while any criticism is called fake news or coming from very nasty and stupid people.

God help America and the world to survive this ignorant and incompetent autocrat.

Mike Quirk, Garran

Wait one minute, is that antisemitic?

The answer to columnist Robert Macklin’s final question is, yes (“Fear when the ‘antisemitism’ bat starts swinging”, CN May 29). Fifty per cent of Australia is under native title with a further 12 per cent pending.

How would Australia today look if the British hadn’t laid the foundations for what we enjoy now? They brought many modern technologies such as roads, bridges, ships, automobiles, modern medicine, hospitals, industry, schools, shops, airports, communication networks, etcetera. 

Has Macklin got proof that the Aboriginals settled every part of it for 65,000 years? That is a big statement for a reasonably small population in such a large landmass, most of it inhospitable.

Macklin states he regards all religions as dangerous fables. How come we never hear him write anything bad about radical Islamists who preach such hate and vile against the people he seems to have it in for, the Israeli Jews? 

Maybe he could adopt the motto he is so fond of: “the behaviour you walk by is the behaviour you accept”. 

Oh dear, wait one minute, is that antisemitic?

Ian Pilsner, Weston

John’s right to be worried, but…

John L Smith is right to be worried about cyber-attacks on energy systems (“Infrastructure vulnerable to cyber attack”, letters, CN June 5).

Three years ago, the energy sector broke into the top 10 ranking of Australia’s most attacked targets. 

However, attacks in Australia have involved the exposure of customer data rather than blackouts. Even the 2021 ransomware attack on CS Energy in Queensland did not lead to a blackout because the company isolated the affected servers, ensuring electricity supply continued uninterrupted.

It should be noted that many of Australia’s older technologies were not designed with cybersecurity in mind, and they lack the modern security features that are built into newer systems. 

According to the report Cyber Security and Energy Networks, security is a core focus of the Electricity Network Transformation Roadmap being developed by Energy Networks Australia and the CSIRO. 

In summary, while synthetic inertia technology does have cyber risk due to its reliance on digital and networked systems, with proper cybersecurity standards and practices, it can be secured to a level comparable to other grid technologies. Its advantages in stabilising modern power systems make securing it a priority rather than avoiding it.

Ray Peck, Hawthorn, Victoria

Death claims are ‘complete nonsense’

Re letter from Murray May (CN May 5): I would like to know how the Medical Journal of Australia article in 2023 can claim the number of deaths in the ACT are attributable to wood heaters similar to the 2019-2020 Black Summer bushfires? This is complete nonsense. I have lived in Canberra for over 40 years and have never seen the pollution anything like that of those bushfires.

How do they know that some of the deaths were maybe caused by smoking, or from the indigenous smoking ceremonies where they waft the smoke and breathe deeply over the fire.

Vi Evans via email

The Greens need to get back to their roots

So the Greens have elected Larissa Waters to their top job.

I hope she does a better job than Adam Bandt who inflicted Lydia Thorpe on us for six years, rookie Max Chandler-Mather and multi-million-dollar property owner Mehreen Faruqi who famously wanted to chop down 20 trees in prime koala habitat to build double-storey townhouses on her property! 

Apart from that, Waters has refused to comment on whether Hamas should be abolished or not and led a boycott and walkout of taxpayer-paid Green senators from question time when they are paid big salaries to attend parliament. 

As an ex-Green supporter, when the party was led by Bob Brown, I never voted Greens again after he left and am not likely to until it returns to its environmental roots and gets rid of parliamentary members who were selected by Bandt to boost his numbers rather than on merit.

A number of these members have already left, such as Lydia Thorpe and Senator Cox, and I expect more to leave for reasons of self-interest.I saw enough of this after working for a number of years on ATSIC under my minister at the time, Senator Bob Collins.

Ric Hingee, Duffy