“I wrote to the ACT Revenue Office and to the ACT Treasurer. I even included a ‘revised’ pie chart. I received an obfuscating, non-answer. Three further times, I politely requested clarification. No acknowledgements. Let alone any response,” says letter writer JOHN MILLER.

The third largest expenditure of taxpayers’ money is the interest payments on ACT Government debt (let alone any repayment of those debts).

Financing costs are currently the fastest-growing sector of ACT government spending. The Select Committee on Estimates highlighted that interest repayments consume 20 per cent of the ACT’s taxation revenue.

Our annual rates notices, “What your rates fund”, includes a pie chart of expenditures. There is no mention of these growing government (debt related) outlays.

I wrote to the ACT Revenue Office and to the ACT Treasurer. I even included a “revised” pie chart. I received an obfuscating, non-answer. Three further times, I politely requested clarification. No acknowledgements. Let alone any response.

Canberra rates notices (with their rate demands) keep coming. Ignoring (hiding?) this important expenditure of our money.

John Miller, Flynn

Debt trap: Steel’s compounding pain as interest takes its toll

Sounded like he meant it

I see the work-experience kid, aka Treasurer Steel, has kiboshed the long-promised Tuggeranong Ice Centre on the grounds that it wasn’t “value for money”.

Said with a straight face, it sounded as if he meant it. I wonder if he applied the same unforgiving test to the 13-year disaster, Rattenbury’s toy tram.

Bob Gardiner, Isabella Plains

KEEPING UP THE ACT

We want a pool not a pop-up cafe 

The news that the owner of Big Splash intends to resolve outstanding lease issues by providing an unlicensed restaurant is unconscionable – and even more so that the ACT Government appears to have accepted this farce. 

For years, Canberrans have watched as this developer plays both the government and the public, steadily eroding the original vision for the site.

There must be a way to insist that the site return to its intended purpose: an adventure-style aquatic facility. The addition of a restaurant – unlicensed, no less – is not a solution; it’s a distraction. No one values a casual dining spot nearly as much as they value a functional, family-friendly pool.

Let’s be clear: outdoor swimming pools have limited use in Canberra’s climate. Jamison Pool, like the Civic Pool, urgently needs a permanent cover so it can be enjoyed year-round. To settle for anything less is an abrogation of the government’s responsibility – one for which we, as citizens, rightly hold them accountable.

Canberrans deserve better. We deserve a pool, not a pop-up café.

Russ Morison, Theodore

Mental jibe deserved an apology

While I am embarrassed at admitting I watched the recent Logie Awards, some of it was quite entertaining. 

However, I found it disturbing to hear comedian Dave Hughes speak about his “mental” uncle. I am not always a bah-humbug kind of person, however, I found it to be a very offensive comment. 

Our society lives with, essentially, an epidemic of people experiencing mental health issues, and I am one of them, as was my daughter, Brontë, who lost her life through her ill mental health and substance misuse.

Would we call someone who suffers from epilepsy a “seizure freak”, or a diabetic a “sugar/lack of sugar freak”? I genuinely doubt it.

Comments made by the likes of Dave Hughes merely compound and amplify the stigmatisation of people experiencing mental health issues.

He should have apologised for his derogatory comments.

Janine Haskins, Cook

Tobacco fears for backward Canberra

The penalties for illicit trade in the ACT are way behind what has happened in NSW, Queensland and Victoria, which raise fears the territory will become a safe haven for organised crime and illegal tobacco. 

Canberra has no closure laws and a fine of only $1600 for its 693 licensed tobacconists. 

Queensland Health can issue an on-the-spot closure order shutting a store for up to 90 days without a court order. Courts can extend the closure for up to 12 months. Breaching a closure order carries a maximum penalty of $33,380. 

In a 10-day enforcement blitz (Operation Major, late 2025), 148 stores were issued three-month closure orders and product worth an estimated $15.7 million was seized.

In NSW, selling illicit tobacco or possessing a commercial quantity can result in up to seven years imprisonment, fines up to $1.54 million, or both.

During 2025, NSW Health inspectors seized over 16.2 million cigarettes, 2650kg of other illicit tobacco, and 215,000 illegal vaping goods, with prosecutions and fines totalling hundreds of thousands of dollars.

In Victoria, anyone found selling illicit tobacco faces fines of up to $370,000 or up to 15 years in jail, while businesses risk fines of more than $1.8 million.

The 2025-26 Victorian Budget included $46 million to establish the new licensing scheme and regulator to oversee the legal supply of tobacco products including licensing, compliance and enforcement. Reports indicate that almost every tobacco store across 110 suburbs was found to be selling illicit nicotine products.

Elizabeth Thurbon, Campbell

Political trust undermined by treats

Prevarication by our deputy prime minister knows no bounds. When defending the recent exposure of the federal transport minister’s acceptance of a lifetime of substantial Qantas platinum club membership benefits, he blithely stated: “This is what happens with airlines. They do this. I don’t think there’s much to see here”. 

Then, when asked whether he had lifetime platinum status himself, Richard Marles said he wasn’t sure. 

Either he was being quite disingenuous, or the comment shows that acceptance of such a highly valuable and exclusive gesture is easily lost sight of among the many offerings that can be snaffled up by ministers, so long as they make a declaration under rubbery requirements linked to the ministerial code of conduct and register of interests. 

It seems that keeping track of one’s “interests” and associated inter-relationships might turn out to be quite a burden for the minds, if not the consciences, of some of our key politicians. 

Given how this might interfere with the need to behave and avoid conflicts of interest in the workplace and public life in general, bestowal of corporate and lobby group largesse on our elected public representatives should not be allowed in any shape or form, including as promised deliverables after leaving politics. 

Sue Dyer, Downer

Stop footy reviews at higher resolution

There have been concerns about the video review system in rugby league.

A possible solution may be to stop reviews at higher-resolution images. Otherwise also, as technology improves, a game can literally be won or lost on a blade of grass!

Moreover, unless a player is injured, a referee or the bunker should no longer be permitted to review footage more than 60 seconds after the incident. Adopting these measures will reduce controversy and help improve the flow of the game.

Herman van de Brug, Holt

Better to restore endangered wildlife

As a Tasmanian, I fully appreciate the fascination with the thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger. 

Colossal Biosciences’ $10 million bid to “de-extinct” the species through genetic engineering is, however, a misplaced priority (“Science on verge of catching a tiger by the gene trail”, citynews.com.au, September 12).

We are living through a sixth mass extinction and more than 2000 Australian species are currently threatened.

Rather than trying to resurrect an animal lost nearly a century ago, our resources would be far better directed towards protecting and restoring the wildlife and ecosystems that still survive.

Conservation should focus on preventing extinctions, not trying to reverse them.

Sharee McCammon, Pelverata, Tasmania

News all day, every day at CityNews.com.au.