“I would have thought that petitions shall be free from any indication that an MLA may have initiated the petition. In my view, that is not the case now,” says letter writer ALISON HUTCHISON, of Coombs.

Labor MLA Dr Marisa Paterson has recently been promoting an e-petition about the need for public toilets in Ruth Park, Coombs. 

She is the only person who has put links to the petition on social media in the Molonglo Valley. No-one has been identified as the principal petitioner. 

Only Dr Paterson has been identified as the MLA sponsoring the petition. This is a pre-election issue in the seat of Murrumbidgee as the Liberal Party is offering to spend money in each electorate.

The e-petition information sheet states that: “As with paper petitions, the principal petitioner is responsible for raising awareness in the community about the availability of the specific e-petition. (The name and address of the principal petitioner will be provided on the website.) The ACT Legislative Assembly’s role is only to facilitate the e-petitions process.”

But it is now possible for the principal petitioner to be anonymous. There is a check-box on the e-petition application form to indicate that anonymity is requested. 

I need to write to Dr Paterson to find out the name of the principal petitioner. Is she under any obligation to tell me? If not, how do I know whether the principal petitioner is a legitimate complainant or just a party hack? As the principal petitioner does not promote the petition themselves in public, I will never know.

I would have thought that petitions shall be free from any indication that an MLA may have initiated the petition. In my view, that is not the case now. Petitions can be abused even more easily for political purposes.

Alison Hutchison, Coombs

What’s become of society and us as individuals?

I will not offer an excuse for Barnaby Joyce’s recent behaviour in a Canberra street. It is certainly not what we expect from public figures, inside or outside Parliament House. He has already attempted to explain himself, whether we accept it or not. 

However, I hope that before we are all too quick to condemn him or anyone else for that matter, no one walks past and films us when we are in need of help and posts our distressing episode all over the internet or sells it to the media for a quick buck or an hour or two of cheap publicity or notoriety. 

We have to ask ourselves, what has become of our society and us as individuals when we consider ourselves so perfect that we have never experienced a lapse in public behaviour, or that we have the right to film others in an embarrassing or distressing situation for our own, or the public’s, enjoyment and entertainment before we lend a kind and helping hand without first judging or prosecuting them via our mobile phone cameras and the internet?

Darryl Johnston, Tuggeranong

Barnaby continues to run amok 

If only (“Scott’s off and Barnaby should follow”, citynews.com.au February 16). Unfortunately, much needed public-interest miracles occur very rarely in our federal political arena.

Barnaby Joyce MP continues to run amok as he wishes, fuelled by his denial of climate science, and now his dismissal of medical and pharmaceutical science and his Coalition leaders’ advice about spending time to recuperate. 

As long as he is treated with kid gloves by the Coalition parties who pat away his barnstorming and his latest behavioural transgressions, this former party leader, deputy prime minister and occasional acting prime minister will simply serve as a bigger turn off to female voters. 

The latter seek more reliable, less arrogant and more stable, intelligent and altruistic representation on any opposition and government front bench . 

Barnaby Joyce and many others in this political cohort also have an unimpressive history over the years of lecturing about family values, women’s roles as parents, and voting against women’s reproductive health choices. They seem selfishly unconcerned that their main talent is their ability to further entrench the Coalition parties’ well recognised “women problem” and make it irreparable.

Sue Dyer, Downer

Peafowl assertions are not correct

After reading the article (CN February 15) by Katarina LLoyd Jones “New petition stirs Narrabundah’s peacock wars”, I felt a need to correct Timothy De Wan who states: “The peafowl have been here for over 30 years, this is not a recent thing and they are valued and loved by the community.” 

I am a Narrabundah resident and live near the Griffith shops. In the past, I lived in the family home, near the intersection of Caley and Carnegie crescents, and this isn’t far from the “Wildlife crossing” and “Peafowl in area” signs and the peafowl regularly seen, primarily on kerbsides along Carnegie Crescent. 

My grandparents immigrated here and they had settled in Red Hill so my father also grew up in this area, near the intersection of La Perouse Street and Carnegie Crescent. 

Memories of visiting my grandmother are crystal clear as she continued to live in the area until she passed away, and I can state from lived experience that peafowl were not in this area before the new millennium.

Timothy De Wan, a member of Save the Narrabundah Peafowl group, is not right. The anonymous Narrabundah resident quoted in the story is correct, the peafowl are currently being managed, if managed at all, as native wildlife and they are not. Please sign the petition here. 

Anita Lacey, Narrabundah

In 1942 Australia faced an actual enemy

Columnist Nichole Overall, in remembering the anniversary of the 1942 bombing of Darwin (“Trenches dud as bomb panic sweeps Canberra”, CN February 22), quotes my book Invading Australia and my argument that it suited John Curtin to maintain the belief that Japanese invasion was expected because an exaggerated fear motivated Australians to “work, fight and save”.

She thinks that today’s “challenging circumstances” – a supposed Chinese military threat – justifies a similar response. But in 1942 Australia faced an actual enemy: today we have no one to “fight”, unless we fall for the drum beats sounded by war-mongering alarmists on both sides of politics. 

Please, Ms Overall, don’t conscript my book to support an argument which makes conflict more, not less, likely.

Prof Peter Stanley, Dickson

Stay calm, the line of succession is assured

Thank you for publishing Anne Twomey’s article (“What happens if the King can’t perform his duties?”, CN February 15).

I feel educated and now unconcerned that the British monarchical rule and line of succession is assured, and that Australia can remain calm. After all, if Prince William and the family sub in for Charles and Camilla’s visit later in 2024, the UK and our own version of Taylor Swift will sweep the land. 

Peter Ellis, Page 

Justin, like Brontë, should still be here

Reading about the death in custody of Justin Cordy at the Alexander Maconochie Centre (AMC) saddened me deeply and left me feeling exasperated.

Justin was only out for three days before he was arrested for numerous offences, including seriously assaulting his partner. 

When Justin was returned to custody, he was placed back into a remand cell, on his own; as opposed to going where he procedurally should have gone to the Crisis Support Unit (CSU), particularly if there were concerns for Justin’s mental health and/or substance use.

Why was the court not informed of Justin’s risk of self-harm? It simply does not make sense. 

It’s been four years this month since I lost my daughter to an alleged suicide. Brontë, like Justin, experienced mental health and substance use issues and ended up spending a stint at the AMC where she was assessed as a prisoner at risk due to reported suicidal ideation.

When Brontë was released on bail, the presiding magistrate was not informed about her suicidal ideation, nor her extensive mental health history; everything was entirely focused on her substance-use issues, which culminated in her breaking the law.

Six days after her release, Brontë was in ICU following an alleged attempted suicide. Nine days after her release, Brontë’s life support was turned off.

We endured a traumatising five-day coronial hearing in February 2022, receiving the findings more than 13 months later.

While not one of our family’s recommendations were endorsed, the coroner also omitted to recommend that information be provided to the relevant court/s when a magistrate/judge is determining an action regarding a person who has been assessed as having compromised mental health.

My heartfelt sympathy and condolences to Justin’s family; Justin, like Brontë, should still be here. That is the truth, and no one has the qualifications to dispute that; no one.

How many more people do we have to lose due to lack of communication and collaboration between service providers and stakeholders?

Janine Haskins, Cook

Not there yet, but we are on the way

David Palmer (“Renewable energy, but not much here”, Letters, CN February 15), it makes sense that the ACT sources green energy outside of its borders . 

This is the nature of the beast. European countries source energy from each other as do Australian states by interconnectors. 

Wind and solar projects are being built where they are best suited and where consultations with communities have resulted in agreement and shared benefits. Agriculture and renewable energy (agrivoltaics) are happily co-exiting all around the country and have been for years.

John Smith (“Jury is still out on the renewable grid”, Letters, CN February 15), just three weeks ago, CEO of the Australian Energy Market Operator Daniel Westerman, said: “Wholesale electricity prices on the east coast have halved from 2022 levels, reflecting the increasing role that low-cost renewables are playing in daily generation.” 

And as reported in the Financial Review in January: “Dylan McConnell, a senior researcher of the University of NSW, expects wholesale prices will fall a bit further in 2024 and the huge falls over the past 18 months to translate into slightly lower retail tariffs when they reset on July 1.”

Yes, it’s early days in the decarbonisation of the grid, and progress is too slow, but more than one-third of Australians are already contributing with their solar panels and home batteries. 

According to Westerman: “We are regularly seeing records set for the higher contribution of renewables, and lower levels of energy drawn from the grid because of rooftop solar.” 

In the recent storm outage in Victoria, household batteries – particularly those participating in virtual power plants – responded to the event and supported the power system as did the state’s five big batteries. We are not there yet, but we are on the way.

Ray Peck, Hawthorn, Victoria

Will spending change a government?

I thank Peter Cain, MLA for Ginninderra, for recently calling on residents in the heat of the day to promote the Canberra Liberals at the next election and to leave informative brochures for our information. 

The side of one brochure had a charming photo of the Liberal Team in Canberra, dubbed by me “the magnificent nine”. 

The other side had a nice photo of Liberal leader Elizabeth Lee with a strong statement “putting your suburb first – pledging $100 million to rectify suburban neglect”.

Pardon my suspicious nature, but my rates notice already has a wagon wheel showing the distribution of the total rates revenue collections, amounting to billions. 

What then is this $100 million really all about and why no statements/promises on stopping marijuana growing in backyards, abandoning the decriminalising of drug usage and supply, improving public housing, making land more affordable/available, improving hospitals, schools or developing a sensible, affordable, workable transport system, and terminating all future alternative dweller rainbow painting in the city?

The promise of $100 million is just a case of getting our money returned that’s already there. Surely the election strategy isn’t to promise them this and the herd will rush and vote us in ? 

John Lawrence, Flynn 

Have they lost their cotton-picking minds?

I am amazed that both ACT Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee and independent senator David Pocock are in favour of the proposed new stadium being built in Civic on the basis that there is a lack of infrastructure such as bars and restaurants in Bruce, the preferred site . Have they both lost their cotton-picking minds?

As the new stadium is not likely to eventuate until 2033 at the earliest, and north Belconnen is undergoing massive development that may very well not be the case by then. 

Also why is that deemed to be a deciding factor for a stadium? 

Civic is a totally inadequate venue, as during the construction stages and when completed, the ensuing traffic to accommodate a 30,000-seat stadium, would be nothing short of chaotic.

However as this ongoing saga about a new stadium has been going on for close to a decade now, I don’t think too many people will be losing too much sleep over it.

Mario Stivala, Belconnen

Get rid of them at the next election

Murray May might as well have posted his I support Labor/Greens credentials at the beginning of his cautionary tale about the Canberra Liberals in his letter (CN February 22). 

The real facts are that the current Green/Labor coalition has achieved nothing in its 20+ years of government other than a last century tram at a horrendous cost to territory residents. 

Don’t fall for it, get rid of them at the next election – quite frankly I don’t care who the new crew are – as long as it isn’t Greens/Labor!

G Hollands, via citynews.com.au

Ugly reminder of the Barr government’s neglect 

In their thorough dissection of the budgetary convolutions of the Barr government “Auditor exposes Barr’s major financial failings” (CN February 22) Jon Stanhope and Khalid Ahmed note that in every major facet, their budget outlays have fallen well short of the estimates. 

This has resulted, more often than not, in failure to provide what should be essential services in the national capital.

Highly visible signs of this neglect include unmown grass, tall weeds — some almost two metres tall. There are even saplings growing in the concrete barriers between the lanes of Morshead Drive between Russell and its intersection with the Majura Parkway.

In Deakin, at the busy intersection of my street with Hopetoun Circuit, there is a large oak tree that is dying from the top down. Dead branches overhang footpaths, and one is detached and poised threateningly over the street, which is a favourite short-cut to West Deakin and on a bus route.

A little farther down the street, there is the sawn-off stump of a very large oak tree that fell across the street near a bus stop during a storm in January 2022. The stump was coppicing vigorously until recently, when it was poisoned. It is now an ugly reminder of the Barr government’s neglect (bar the unwanted tram) of Canberra’s inner suburbs.

Dr Douglas Mackenzie, Deakin

Precedents of excellent histories by journalists 

I refer to VI Evan’s letter in CityNews (February 15) where she disqualifies David Marr’s background (journalism) to write an aspect of his family’s history. 

There are several precedents where established journalists have expanded their endeavours to produce excellent histories, no further qualifications required.

CEW Bean, journalist, wrote the Australian Official History of the 1914-18 War (12 volumes). Bean was the principal author of the work.

If Vi would like to examine Bean’s work, a visit to the Lifeline book fair, or maybe a secondhand bookshop may find a copy of Bean’s short version, Anzac to Amiens, first published in 1946. 

Les Carlyon, also a journalist, published his detailed works, for example, The Great War, in 2006. Les was a member of the Australian War Memorial council.

Underlying the appalling reality of Marr’s story is an excellent analysis of the economic development of colonial NSW (including that of Victoria and Queensland respectively, as they separated from NSW).

Maybe if Vi would like to read the work of a “real” historian in the same vein as Marr, I suggest she examine the writings of Prof Henry Reynolds.

Perhaps it’s a palate problem rather than qualifications.

Claudia Bottrill, Watson 

Australians won’t cop a backyard reactor

I can’t help but be amused when the advocates of nuclear power generation of electricity sprout the benefits of such generation. It’s never going to happen!

As soon as the possibility of its development emerges the inevitable question of where arises. This is when all Australians will revert to type – NIMBY (not in my backyard). 

I’m amazed that the nuclear proponents have not recognised the obvious. It doesn’t matter how good the argument, benefits, savings – you name it – Australians will not wear a reactor in their backyard.

John Quinn, Spence