Letter writer STEPHEN SAUNDERS, of O’Connor, says endless population growth has always been a hit with Mr Albanese and Mr Barr, but not so with voters generally, who in every reputable poll taken during and since covid, don’t want a return to massive levels of migration.

THE “CityNews” front page of March 16 is deeply concerned about the planning implications of Canberra’s “cancerous growth”. Fair enough.

But there’s only one way the Canberra organism can mutate to “700,000 people by 2050”. That is, via a knee-jerk return to the federal government’s ruinous “Big Australia” program.

To be sure, this endless-growth program has always been a hit with Mr Albanese and Mr Barr. Not with Australian voters generally. In every reputable poll taken during and since covid, they don’t want a return to massive levels of migration. 

Remember also, that the ACT Treasury “forecasts” incorporate data, only as far as October 2022.

At that stage, Albanese was “only” admitting to a net migration target of 235,000. Which is already higher than the annual average, in the “Big Australia” years from 2005 to 2020. Which is also three time, the long-term or historical average.

As we now know from the March ABS release, between them Morrison and Albanese somehow engineered 300,000 net migration, in the year to September 2022. This is a huge turnaround, from negative 85,000 migration, over 2020-21.

Albanese even shows signs he’d like to leave 300,000 in the dust. If “CityNews” is to be part of Canberra’s planning solutions, not problems, don’t sit on the fence about this.

Stephen Saunders, O’Connor

‘Yellow bits’: Looking forward to the stoush

OUR Labor/Greens government has confirmed its delusions of grandeur along Melbourne Avenue in the Draft Canberra Plan for Deakin and Yarralumla. 

Seven diplomatic sites, two ovals and Canberra Girls’ Grammar Junior School are all in the “yellow bits”. I look forward to the stoush.

Greg Cornwell, Yarralumla

Kowen was down for 200,000 residents

ONE thing that puzzled me about Jon Stanhope’s exposure of the Barr-Rattenbury hypocrisy on land development (CN March 16) was his failure to mention Kowen.

In an article published in “CityNews” on October 2, 2019, Jon Stanhope quoted Tony Powell, a former commissioner of the National Capital Development Commission (NCDC) – the original planning body for the ACT – that in early planning work by the NCDC for the city it had assumed a population of 200,000 for the Kowen area. 

In 2019, Chief Minister Andrew Barr said the Kowen forest would not be developed. He said the city needed to be developed, but in a way that had less physical impact on the environment, making higher-density housing the preferred option.

Barr and Rattenbury have yet to produce a convincing argument that their higher-density housing strategy is, in the wider scale of human development, better for the environment.

More likely, the more greenfield development there is in Canberra, the more ridiculous the concept of a light rail network becomes. Or am I being too cynical?

John L Smith, Farrer

What about a women’s Voice to parliament?

THE proponents of recognition of the Voice to parliament misunderstand the purpose of the constitution. 

They talk as though it was supposed to be a grandiose statement about the national identity, or about the significance of this or that group. It isn’t. 

The purpose of the constitution is merely to explain how the machinery of federal government is to work, eg by specifying the subjects on which the federal parliament may legislate, and the powers of the Senate and the House of Representatives. 

In other words, it is merely a technical legal manual, not a piece of rhetoric or a potted history of Australia. 

This is why it doesn’t mention a host of people who have been significant in Australia’s history. It doesn’t mention such people as Capt Cook or Governor Arthur Phillip and the convicts, or famous explorers such as Bass and Flinders – not because we’re trying to belittle their work, or pretend that they never existed, but because the constitution isn’t the place to discuss their activities.

If you are going to have a special Voice for Aboriginals on the basis of their supposed worthiness, then every other group with a high opinion of itself will jump up and demand the same thing. 

For instance, why not have a multicultural Voice to parliament and recognition of multiculturalism in the constitution? Why not have a working-class Voice? And seeing that we keep hearing about women being the victims of domestic violence and other disadvantages, should there be a women’s Voice to parliament, and recognition of women in the constitution? What about a disabled people’s Voice? There is just no end to the groups who could claim they deserve recognition.

Malcolm Brandon, Merimbula

Got the buses, what about the chargers?

IN response to Dr Douglas Mackenzie’s letter (“Better still, how about electric buses?”, CN March 9), I have been informed by a friend that the ACT Barr government has already bought, in 2022, a quantity of electric buses.

However, according to my source, there are insufficient charging stations and available on-site electricity to charge them all.

Therefore, the ACT government has to install additional alternate methods of electrical supply. This is going to cost residents. 

So much for Andrew Barr’s direction of an all-EV territory by 2035!

Ross E Smith, Richardson

More accountability from service providers 

l’VE been working in the drug and alcohol sector for more than 25 years, assisting young and older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

During this time I’ve made numerous visits to the old Belconnen Remand Centre, the Quamby Youth Centre and, now, the Alexander Maconochie Centre.

We had issues with the lack of services then and it continues today.

I was transporting individuals and families to interstate rehabilitation centres in parts of NSW, Victoria and Queensland. On most occasions, our mob would’ve failed in completing their program.

In early 2003, the Ngunnawal Elders Council approached then chief minister Jon Stanhope to fund and establish a rehabilitation centre in the ACT.

Over a period of 20-plus years, we finally got the funding from the ACT government with support from the federal government to start the Ngunnawal Bush Healing Farm.

Along with Roslyn Brown and our late senior elder Aunty Agnes Shea, I had numerous meetings with the ACT government Health Directorate and the local farmers.

We were given the run around for years, but we finally got our healing centre.

We need to make the service providers to be more accountable.

Fred Monaghan, via email

No religious recruiting on the streets, please

I am appalled at allowing the Islam community to recruit for new members to join their organisation on the streets of Gungahlin Village.

They have their mosque in a prominent position in Gungahlin. If they want to recruit they put signs up at their building to allow prospective members to look it over. 

It’s against my principles to see religion on the streets. I believe it’s wrong. You don’t see other religions promoting, why should they be allowed?

BJ Pearson, via email

We have the technology to ditch ‘the fossils’

PAUL Costigan (“Welcome to heat-island hell, biodiversity forgotten”, CN March 23) warns us of heat islands and loss of biodiversity that today’s version of urban and suburban development is remorselessly foisting upon us. 

He mentions in particular “outrageous clearances”: the total removal of vegetation by today’s developers to make room for unnecessarily enormous houses sited so that they almost touch each other.

Mr Costigan should also have mentioned the removal of soil, in some cases down to, or even into, bedrock. Soil is a living ecosystem and takes many decades to form. Without it, no useful or productive plant will survive, let alone grow.

The heat-island effect will only become worse as global heating continues relentlessly: we may have passed the point of no return. CSIRO scientists have found that Australia, and therefore much of the world, has warmed by 1.47±0.24°C since records began in 1910. We have already passed, within the margin of error, the 2015 Paris Accords limit of 1.5°C by 2030, and are fast approaching the absolute limit of 2°C.

By 2060, or even 2050, humans could be suffering a near-permanent heat wave, and heat-related fatalities. As the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns, we must cease burning fossil as soon as possible. We already have the technology to replace “the fossils”: renewable energy with the latest versions of battery storage.

Dr Douglas Mackenzie, Deakin

Wow, the letters get more realistic!

MOVE the airport? Move the tram? Wow, the letters to “CityNews” are just getting more and more realistic every week!

Danny Corvini, Deakin