Cutting seniors’ exercise classes ‘thoughtless and cruel’
An exercise class at the EQUIPD Allied Health gym in Chifley.
Letter writer DIANNE DEANE has some sympathy for the seniors who lost their exercise class when CIT Bruce cancelled its higher-level intensity classes for over 60-year-olds, but GLENN ARMSTRONG may have an answer…
I would like to join letter writer David Maplesden (“CIT Bruce ditches active seniors”, CN April 16), in urging the CIT against cancelling its higher-level intensity exercises classes for over 60-year-olds.
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I was dismayed when the AIS cancelled its regular aqua aerobics classes for elderly people a couple of years ago. These well-attended classes represented an affordable, regular and easily accessible option for participants as well as a much-valued social activity.
For the vast majority of participants, the cancellation of the classes meant this physical and social activity disappeared from their lives. It was a thoughtless and cruel decision.
I am over 70 years old and attend a local gym nearly every day, along with many other members of a similar age who work hard to maintain a high level of fitness.
These people are fit, happy and socially active and make a solid contribution to society.
The continued loss of sporting options for all Canberrans, including for the over 60s, is a deeply disturbing trend across Canberra. But it is one that carries real costs to the community through poorer social outcomes and a greater drain on our medical services. Cutting such options is a false economy across the whole of society.
Dianne Deane, via email
Solution may be the Chifley gym
Re the letter from David Maplesden (CN April 16) about the closure of seniors fitness classes at CIT Bruce. This group can attend the EQUIPD Allied Health gym at the Chifley community health centre.
I am a senior disabled person and this gym is perfect for me. It is manned by five or more exercise physiologists and there are many classes (strength for life, various yogas, every fitness – hard, medium and easy, tai chi etcetera).
There’s also a gym (7am-6pm daily), filled with pin-loaded exercise machines, support bars and steps. It costs $22 a week, which is most reasonable.
Glenn Armstrong, via email
Why no analysis of rapid buses, Mr Barr?
Jack Kershaw (letters, CN April 16) argues trams provide greater land value capture than bus rapid transport (BRT) because of the permanence of its routes.
This is unlikely in Canberra as BRT would operate on its own right of way, on the long identified intertown public transport route (IPTR).
BRT in Canberra, like the Brisbane bus metro, would be designed to give a traveling experience similar to light rail.
It would stimulate development along its corridor with the advantage of having a substantially lower cost of provision.
The Barr government, in these financially stressed times, should justify why it did not even analyse BRT for the IPTR to Woden.
This question has been asked numerous times, but the government has never provided an answer. Why?
Mike Quirk, Garran
Light rail planning is on the wrong route
Jack Kershaw (letters, CN April 16) says critics of ACT light rail “appear to concentrate on poor cost-benefit outcomes based on projected tram usage”.
He doesn’t suggest that’s an unreasonable concern, but says we appear to overlook the “land-value capture” that trams provide.
I can assure Jack that the ACT Government and its consultants tried very hard to maximise that as a “benefit” (even though there is no guarantee this would be realised) but still failed to go anywhere near matching their projected costs (which will, no doubt, have been greatly underestimated).
I do agree with Jack that Light Rail Stage 2B is on the wrong route anyway and should “enhance pride in the national capital, while saving Commonwealth Avenue’s important bridges and trees”.
Rather than Jack’s preferred route via Acton Peninsula, however, I’d suggest it should go along Constitution Avenue and Kings Avenue where it would be much closer to high density residential and employment areas.
Alternatively, as I have previously suggested, it should go underground from Commonwealth Park to Adelaide Avenue, since excessive cost is apparently of little concern to this government.
Richard Johnston, Kingston
Households just need help to make the switch
It is understandable that Joe Prevedello, CEO of Master Plumbers ACT, is concerned about the decline of gas (“When gas goes, what’s the plan for keeping warm?”, CN April 16).
It will affect jobs in his sector, and he is right that a government-led transition plan to 2045 is essential.
His concerns about heating and cooking during power outages are also valid. Not everyone can afford a home battery, even with rebates and interest-free loans.
However, electric vehicles (EVs), especially used ones, are likely to become far more common over the next decade. The ACT’s vehicle-to-grid trial showed EVs can power homes and support the grid. More recently, a study by CSIRO and Essential Energy demonstrated similar outcomes using the standard Combined Charging System (CCS2), now common in new EVs in Australia. With a single EV battery capable of powering an average household for two to four days, blackouts could become far less disruptive.
That said, equity concerns exist. Low-income households are least able to manage the upfront costs of electrification. Governments must ensure these households are not left behind. Programs such as the ACT’s Access to Electric initiative – which can fully fund appliance upgrades and insulation for eligible households – is a strong start.
With gas prices rising so high in recent years due to global factors, many low-income households have been unable to afford to run their gas heaters.
Switching to electricity could save these households around $1200 annually and annual carbon monoxide tests on gas heaters would no longer be required. Households just need help to make the switch.
People who think they may be eligible should contact Care Financial Counselling by email at energy@carefcs.org or telephone 6257 1788. The program is currently funded through to June.
Worry about the feral cats before killing the roos
Canberra’s claim to be the “Bush Capital” is at odds with the way it manages its native wildlife.
In particular, the regular killing of thousands of kangaroos seems cruel and unnecessary.
Kangaroo populations are naturally regulated by food availability, rainfall, and their reproductive biology. These characteristics limit population growth without ongoing human intervention.
If biodiversity protection is the government’s aim, its focus on kangaroos is misplaced.
Feral cats are the major driver of native species decline in Australia. One feral cat can kill up to 700 small mammals, birds, and reptiles in a year. Cats commonly kill for pleasure and not from necessity, and have contributed to multiple extinctions of Australian wildlife.
Culling a native herbivore while not adequately addressing the feral cat problem seems neither desirable nor scientifically consistent.
Clive Williams, via email
Under fives denied nasal flu vaccination
Regarding the excellent and informative article on annual flu vaccination (“What’s new with flu and when’s the best time to get a shot”, CN April 16) it should be noted Queensland, NSW, SA and WA health services are all providing free, needleless, nasal-inhaled flu vaccination (Flumist) for children.
This is in addition to the nationally funded traditional intramuscular flu vaccine injection.
I know when our children were under five, we would have much preferred the less-invasive Flumist option to ease the anxiety of both parent and child at vaccination.
ACT Health’s decision to not fund Flumist for our under fives is illustrative how far ACT health service delivery has fallen behind other states.
Anthony Hordern is not a fan of renewable energy. Like Gilbert and Sullivan’s “model of a modern major-general”, he is keen to enlighten his readers with facts “astronomical, meteorological, economical and metallurgical” (“Solar panel waffle ignores the elephant”, letters, CN April 21).
Despite Mr Hordern’s concerns, the world is pushing ahead. In its World Energy Investment 2025 report, the International Energy Agency noted that “around $US2.2 trillion is going collectively to renewables, nuclear, grids, storage, low-emissions fuels, efficiency and electrification, twice as much as the $US1.1 trillion going to oil, natural gas and coal.”
Given the current oil crisis, it’s not hard to imagine that this move away from fossil fuels will only accelerate over the course of the decade.
Rio Tinto, one of the world’s largest metals and mining corporations, is already developing a portfolio of renewable energy projects to supply its aluminium assets in Queensland.
A truly modern major-general would know that “in matters vegetable, animal and mineral”, renewables are the future of all things quite electrical.
Anne O’Hara, Wanniassa
‘Moral obligation’ to compensate businesses
It has been well documented that many small businesses along London Circuit and other construction corridors are suffering from severe downturns in trade.
We see plenty of pretend sympathy and some real sympathy. Sympathy doesn’t pay the bills or wages. What’s missing is fair compensation.
If government activity directly disrupts a business’s ability to trade, compensation should be based on something simple and objective – the revenue that business has lost.
But how much?
The proposed compensation, determined after consulting accountants, would be between $6 million and $12 million. The light rail extension to Commonwealth Park is 1.7kms long and cost is expected to exceed $1.46 billion. That is a cost of almost $1 million per metre.
The compensation proposed would be equivalent to the construction of between 6 metres and 12 metres of track. This compensation seems reasonable given that the losses, if any, made by businesses have been caused by a government decision.
The government is morally obliged to provide fair compensation. Compensation determined by independent experts based on industry benchmarks.
The figure of $12m is a small part of the cost of light rail. The CFMEU and the construction companies make good money from this. The businesses impacted aren’t asking for a profit or a windfall – just compensation.
Peter Strong, Community Economics
Batteries ‘essential’ piece of puzzle
I tend to agree with Anthony Hordern (letters, CN April 21), green hydrogen to power steelworks would only approach economic viability if we had oodles of green power left over.
But it would be a case of baby-out-with-the-bath-water using that equation on which to base objection to solar panels and batteries.
The old “sun-don’t-shine, wind-don’t-blow” argument ignores the crucial element: battery storage. Battery technology has advanced rapidly. Costs continue to fall.
The 2025-26 GenCost reports that “large-scale battery storage systems achieved cost reductions of between 11 per cent and 16 per cent, depending on the duration, in 2024-25, marking the technology’s consistent performance in driving down capital costs over multiple years. This stands in stark contrast to fossil fuel technologies, with large gas open-cycle plants experiencing a 32 per cent cost increase and black coal plants rising by 13 per cent over the same period.”
What are those “more reliable generating systems”?
Fiona Colin, via email
New interchange ignores needs of less mobile
The new Woden bus interchange has finally opened. But it is clear the needs of the less mobile were given a low weighting in its location and design.
It is an inferior location in addressing such needs when compared to the original interchange or even the temporary interchange.
The government needs to provide a transfer service from the interchange to Woden Plaza for those with mobility issues.
Its location is inconsistent with the aims of meeting the needs of an ageing population and the reduction of car use.
Mike Quirk, Garran
Calling for Roger Ramjet!
The elevation of Mark Parton to leader of the Canberra Liberals in our Hare-Clark free-for-all came with the splutter of a Roman candle – much fizz, flutter and hype, reminiscent of radio static.
Following the inevitable burn out of the Roman candle and resulting explosion, the question is: Where to now?
The strategy of Chief Minister Barr and his cohorts in observing innocently from afar is a stroke of brilliance as the vanity tram rattles on and the ratepayers are sucked further and deeper down the debt sinkhole.
Do we not have a Roger Ramjet to rescue us?
John Lawrence via email
To be as kind possible to columnist Moore
To be as kind as possible, columnist Michael Moore (“We’re two-faced when looking away from war crimes”, CN April 23) is an epistemic trespasser, well outside his field of expertise, and, it appears, comprehension, when he declares that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has been “vey clear in declaring Benjamin Netanyahu a war criminal who has oversighted a genocide”.
In January 2024 the ICJ delivered an interim, procedural judgment; one key paragraph from the ruling drew the most attention: “In the Court’s view, the facts and circumstances… are sufficient to conclude that at least some of the rights claimed by South Africa and for which it is seeking protection are plausible.”
This was interpreted by many, including some legal commentators, to mean that the claim that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza was “plausible”.
This interpretation spread quickly, appearing in UN press releases, statements from campaign groups, and many media outlets.
In April 2024, however, Joan Donoghue, the president of the ICJ at the time, said in a BBC interview that this was not what the court had ruled.
Rather, it declared that South Africa had a right to bring its case against Israel, and that Palestinians had “plausible rights to protection from genocide”, rights which were at a real risk of irreparable damage.
The judges had stressed they did not need to say for now whether a genocide had occurred, but concluded that some of the acts, if they were proven, could fall under the United Nations’ Convention on Genocide.
Experts suggest that the final ICJ judgment is not likely before late 2027 or 2028.
For an illustration of the legal shallowness of this interim decision, the UK’s response was that there was no “serious” risk of genocide and therefore the ruling did not meet the threshold for “Responsibility to Prevent” obligations, something which Australia did not take up either.
"Our public events should reflect a common Australian purpose, not one that divides, not one that seeks to prefer one part of the community to others," writes columnist HUGH SELBY.
"An investigation was started. The ANU management stonewalled. The Ombudsman office said to itself: 'Oh dear, what do we do now?' and answered that question with: 'We do nothing'." HUGH SELBY reflects on the failings of a toothless token.
The elevation of Mark Parton to leader of the Canberra Liberals in our Hare-Clark free-for-all came with the splutter of a Roman candle – much fizz, flutter and hype, reminiscent of radio static.
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