The Federal and the ACT governments will be looking to cut unnecessary expenditure given increasing debt, rising inflation and economic impacts of the Iranian war. In this context, light rail stage 2B should not proceed and Stage 2A repurposed as a busway,” says letter writer MIKE QUIRK.
Richard Johnston’s column on light rail Stage 2 (CN, March 26) highlights the continued ineptitude of the ACT government in supporting a project that provides 42 cents of benefit for every dollar spent.
The benefit cost ratio is similar to that of Light Rail Stage 1, which was found to cost twice as much as Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) to deliver a similar level of benefit.
Its development has diverted much needed funds from areas of greater community need, including housing.
The analysis was done in 2018 and did not consider the possibility of improved bus technology or the cost of providing a separate bridge crossing.
Despite this, and an Auditor-General’s assessment that Stage 2A was a poor use of funds, the government commenced the 1.7km stage at a cost of $577million.
The Federal and the ACT governments will be looking to cut unnecessary expenditure given increasing debt, rising inflation and economic impacts of the Iranian war.
In this context, light rail stage 2B should not proceed and Stage 2A repurposed as a busway.
Increasing the frequency and coverage of the bus network, utilising BRT on the intertown public transport route, intervention to direct employment to areas well served by public transport and encouraging working from home would be more effective in reducing car use than the light rail extravagance.
Given the minimal justification of the project, was an undisclosed commitment made to Capital Metro to develop Stage 2?
The ACT government has demonstrated it has the intellectual depth of a One Nation policy and it is from the shallow end of the think tank.
Will the Legislative Assembly have the competence and character to cancel or at least review the boondoggle?
Mike Quirk, Garran
‘Worthless’ business case for light rail Stage 2
The ACT Government has released a version of the business case for light rail Stage 2, dated January 29, 2018.
Besides there being only 90 pages released of the 191-page report, what content is given is hopelessly out of date and totally worthless.
To a professional project analyst, the report is replete with nonsensical errors, especially in respect of cost estimates.
Even eight years ago, government cost estimates were complete fiction. Estimates in the report do not include the high cost of bridging the lake. Since then, we have had limited information on the cost of Stage 1 and the outrageous cost of $577 million for build-only 1.7 km for Stage 2A, plus much more for raising London Circuit and other works.
The report recommends that the government adopt Option 2 (Civic-Parkes/Barton-Woden) with a benefit cost ratio of only 0.42, ie 42 cents return on the dollar invested.
So why has the government released it now? To what end, given that it is completely worthless?
A light rail cynic can have absolutely zero faith in the ACT Government, given its total obfuscation on light rail from its outset in 2012.
Maybe it was simply released by mistake – that would not be a surprise from our hapless Minister Steel (and to think he is the heir apparent!). Or maybe it is there for the government to simply claim that it has released it but, in consistent fashion, will simply ignore any public criticism thereof and forge ahead wasting more billions.
Max Flint, co-ordinator, Smart Canberra Transport
‘Shithouse stadium’ or an ungrateful, spoiled mob?
The football community needs to be reminded of how lucky they are to have facilities all over Australia, and a football club in almost every suburb.
Other arts communities receive no such support – let alone the provision of infrastructure!.
It will be a great day when every suburb has a community hub to nurture and grow the arts – music, drama, literature, visual art – that celebrates diversity!!
Instead, we have public land dotted with footy clubs and arenas, performing the same old plot: a winner and a loser, the good guys and the bad guys (yawn) – a banal narrative on constant loop, over and over again.
Now we see this disgusting display of ungratefulness (“Coach injured by shattered glass at Canberra Stadium”, citynews.com.au March 20, in which Raiders coach Ricky Stuart complained: “The people that make decisions about our stadium don’t care about the stadium. They don’t care about the nation’s capital having the shithouse stadium that we have.”).
Canterbury’s coach Cameron Ciraldo should be offering to repair the damage he made to the glass himself!
Enough is enough. It’s time for the arts community to stand up and demand a fair go, in return for its massive contribution to society and our culture!
For example, nearly every single person experiences music, art, literature and drama as part of their everyday life – mostly for free!
But only certain groups embrace football in their day-to-day lives. It’s a massive imbalance, and sporting groups need to be reminded of how lucky they are, while arts creators and communities struggle to receive any such support.
For every footy and sporting facility, there should be an equivalent arts facility! Then, and only then, can we expect to see profitability and sustainability in the arts, with real cultural outcomes, harmony, and inspired creative minds.
Wake up, Australia – it’s time to relinquish our fetish for winners and losers, and develop creativity and diversity in our society!
Jim Budd, via citynews.com.au
‘Precious workers’ we can’t do without
Congratulations to Noel Beddoe on recovering from his heart attack and on his important observation regarding Australia’s dependence on immigration (“Heart attack: there’s good news and there’s bad”, CN March 26).
If only Pauline Hanson and her cohort could understand how to research facts, and get off their stuck record of ignorance, prejudice and hatred of “the other”, they might realise that this country that they profess to love, could not run without all those precious workers that we welcome from overseas.
Her party is, in fact, jeopardising Australia’s ability to attract immigrants because of their negativity.
My husband has been institutionalised with dementia for the past five years. The difficult task of caring for him and others in his situation, has been most carefully and wonderfully undertaken by a workforce which is almost completely composed of immigrants from Nepal, the Middle East and Asia.
To my knowledge, there is just one Caucasian worker there. I thank them every day for doing this important work. Perhaps Pauline and her supporters could call in some day, when they’re not plotting more negativity, and observe these dedicated and skilled people doing the work that many would not choose to do.
Glenda Naughten, Farrer
Nats leader airs social expectations
New Nationals leader and aspiring deputy prime minister Senator Matt Canavan has issued a call for Australians to make more of everything, including “more Australian babies”.
Implementation strategies are still to come but “all of our God-given resources” are expected to feature. The male leaders of some theocratic states could probably offer a few tips on command-and-control techniques designed to deliver desired “people” results.
The senator is a father of five on a high salary with additional benefits and allowances.
His nationwide imploring remains in tune with his strong personal conservative religious beliefs, and the blunt and interfering, crusading tactics that he has used in the past to reject, reverse or restrict various hard-fought-for social reforms, particularly those concerning Australians’ personal rights and decision-making.
Given this procreation proclamation and the SA election results, the few remaining moderate Liberal politicians must be wondering how many more voters, especially women, will turn away from the Coalition parties at the next federal election.
The Liberal Party is supposed to be getting on with reviving and reforming itself radically, including as the leading Coalition partner. Without a major and trustworthy change in direction towards the centre, the party’s major policy capitulations to the Nationals in recent months, the lack of positive and realistic policies and tacit acceptance of the Nationals’ reactionary sprays of social conservatism will most likely taunt and haunt Liberal candidates at all state elections and federal by-elections between now and 2028.
Sue Dyer, Downer
Seven football fields and we’re there
Nick Standish (letters, CN March 19) quotes the total annual energy for steel making as 13.25 million MWh. He then states that “this power” must be produced each hour 24/7.
Power is energy divided by time. To convert annual energy consumption to power, the annual MWh figure must be divided by the number of hours in a year (8760). Thus the power required for steel production is 1513 MW.
According to the BOM the average power per square metre of incident sunlight (averaged 24/7) is 208 watts/sqm. Most modern commercial solar panels operate at about 20 per cent efficiency and degrade to about 15 per cent after 15 years. Thus one square metre of panels generates at least 31.2 watts.
Thus 48,400sqm of solar panels would be required. This is less than seven football fields. Add another footy field for batteries. Is this all the “free land” Victoria has?
Alan Lay, O’Connor
Thesis looks at ACT kangaroo management
A PHD thesis has been undertaken over the ACT Government’s management of eastern grey kangaroos from 2009 to 2024.
The thesis is both original and independent. Dr Varvaro’s research found, among other things that:
- The main drivers for killing kangaroos were the beliefs of rural lessees and the ACT Government’s close ties to the housing industry and urban developers.
- The ACT Government receives revenue from urban development through profit-sharing joint ventures.
- Key “ACT” ecologists who support the killing of kangaroos in the ACT are also strong advocates for the commercial kangaroo harvesting industry more broadly and for transforming the ACT’s operations into profitable ventures.
- The draft version of the ACT Kangaroo Management Plan (KMP) acknowledged that there had been little or no research into the impacts of kangaroo grazing on other species of flora and fauna listed as threatened in the ACT. This acknowledgment was removed from the published KMP.
Dr Varvaro noted that there appeared to have been no instances where the ACT Government attempted to “collaborate” with the public, and its efforts to “consult” or “involve” the public were constrained and conditional. This is particularly the case with the development of alternatives to “culling”.
Ultimately, the thesis found continuing to kill kangaroos comes at the cost of lives, justice and democratic processes.
Robyn Soxsmith, Animal Protectors Alliance
Finding courage to confront climate change
Thanks to Michael Moore for sharing the results of the Canberra Alliance for Participatory Democracy (CAPaD) online poll (“We’re mugs, our energy wealth flows overseas”, CN 19/3).
With oil, petrol, diesel and gas prices still high, it’s telling that two of the top five responses were “Tax the fossil fuel industry” and “Stop subsidising the fossil fuel industry and divert these funds to a just transition”.
As Senator David Pocock notes, unlike Norway, Australia has little to show for its natural resources.
The Superpower Institute, led by Rod Sims and Ross Garnaut, has proposed two levies on fossil fuels – the Polluter Pays Levy and the Fair Share Levy – to cut emissions, raise revenue and ease household energy costs. Together, they could raise about $35 billion a year from 2026 to 2050.
Why should taxpayers foot the bill for climate damage? The May budget is the moment for the Albanese government to show the courage to act.
Ray Peck, Hawthorn, Victoria
Each year net zero gets further away
The ACT’s legislated emissions target is “to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the ACT to achieve zero net emissions by June 30 2045”.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory reports confirm that since 1990 the average Canberran has caused 150 net tonnes of CO2e emissions in the ACT.
Last year we each added another three tonnes. Each year we get farther from net zero.
Since 1990 the average Canberran has caused another 200 tonnes of emissions, outside the ACT, from generating electricity that we use here.
The Commissioner for Sustainability concluded that more than 90 per cent of our carbon footprint comes from emissions that we cause producing goods and services outside the ACT that we consume here.
If the people of the rest of the world were to match our emissions, annual global emissions would quadruple.
On March 17 independent MLA Thomas Emerson moved a motion in the Legislative Assembly, calling on the government to bring forward the ACT’s net-zero target to 2040.
The motion was supported by the Greens and independent Fiona Carrick. It was defeated by Labor and the Liberals.
Leon Arundell, Downer
Politics of transition caused national disaster
In seizing upon my careless referral to the high “cost of renewable energy” instead of the high cost of electricity in my letter (CN March 5), Lesley Walker (Letters, March 19) has identified one of the anomalies in the disastrous introduction of renewable energy into the grid and the resulting high cost of electricity.
Even though natural gas is used to generate only a few per cent of our total electricity demand, the cost of gas largely determines the high average wholesale price of electricity.
The spot price of wholesale electricity, set every five minutes by the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), is determined by the bid of the last (most expensive) generator required to meet the total demand at that moment.
This is predominantly from a gas-fired generator, necessary because of the unreliability of wind power and then to the unreliable old coal-fired power stations that have been let run down and not replaced under this disastrous renewable energy roll out.
Ms Walker notes that wholesale prices were down in the December quarter. This was largely due to the unusually consistent winds over that period. This cannot be expected to continue. Moreover, the overall cost of electricity includes the continually rising transmission costs and other retail costs.
The cost of the transition to renewable energy was always going to be expensive even though the cost of generating renewable energy will always be the cheapest, but the politics of transition has caused a national disaster.
John L Smith, Farrer
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