17 minute read
Letters
from CityNews 200813
LETTERS Write to us: editor@citynews.com.au Come October, I’m giving Mr Coe a go
On July 23, I wrote to “CityNews” voicing my annoyance at the Barr government with regard to the poor state of footpaths in one of the Hughes park commons.
I had initially responded to the government’s invitation to suggest ideas to make Hughes more “age savvy” back in 2018 and the resulting effort was zip.
I persisted with submissions to the Fix My Street portal via Access Canberra and the result was arrow indicators being spray painted on the footpaths for those segments that needed replacing.
That took place back at the beginning of 2019. Over a year later – July, 2020 – workmen appeared to finally replace these cement areas. I could hear a bit of their discussion about which areas were to be replaced – no wonder – the paint had since all but worn off the surfaces over the past year.
With the looming election in October, I can’t help but think that the Barr government is trying to buy my vote: “Look what we’ve done for you! Aren’t we fabulous!”
Well, too little, way too late, Mr Barr. I feel like the Barr government is trying to get my vote by finally performing this long-awaited work and that is insulting to say the least.
Come October, I’m going to give Mr Coe a go. I don’t think my vote would lead me away from the frying pan and into the fire but, at worst, perhaps just a different type of frying pan.
At this stage, I just want the Barr government gone. All Alistair Coe needs to do to be an effective leader of Canberra is to listen to the community eg. when a master plan is drafted after intensive community consultation, don’t change it to suit developers!
Unlike the Barr government, hopefully Mr Coe won’t yield to the grubby, greedy developers that are systematically stripping away our precious bushland replacing it with concrete and sardine-tin residential development.
Oh, and Mr Rattenbury? I hope your time in bed with Labor was cosy because hopefully come October, the doona will be flung off!
Bec Henson, Hughes
Clubs caused gaming problem WHO could disagree with ClubsACT chief executive Gwyn Rees when he says: “It is time for the hypocrisy to end” (CN, Letters, July 30). However, when it comes to hypocrisy, it is ClubsACT that is the primary culprit.
The fact that ACT gaming venues contribute money to problem-gambling funds may make these clubs feel more virtuous, but this does nothing to detract from the fact that it is the clubs who have created, and who are perpetuating, the problem in the first place.
The ANU’s “2019 ACT Gambling Survey” reported that 17.3 per cent of gamblers in the ACT were at-risk and problem gamblers, including more than 25 per cent of high-frequency gamblers. Nearly 16 per cent of all gamblers in the ACT experienced at least one gambling-related harm in the previous 12 months. More than 5 per cent of the ACT adult population were adversely affected by someone else’s gambling.
Poker machines were significantly associated with gambling-related harm. This is no surprise – poker machines are deliberately designed to be psychologically manipulative and addictive.
Imagine a group of restaurants that sold food that made their biggest-spending customers sick. Imagine also that these restaurants justified this food poisoning on the grounds that they provided financial contributions to a fund that provided information and counselling to people suffering from food poisoning. Imagine further that these restaurants argued that their practices were justified because their profits helped to support community activities, such as grassroots sport. Would we allow this to continue?
There are better ways to support community sport than through gambling losses, and responsibility for problem gambling is not erased by contributing to funds designed to help people struggling with the problems that are perpetuated because of clubs’ reliance on poker machine revenue.
If Mr Rees and the clubs sector were genuine about these concerns, and not just crying crocodile tears, they would commit to the types of meaningful reforms that would actually make a difference to problem gamblers and their families.
Karina Morris, Weetangera
ABC Radio’s ‘Cone of Silence’ WITH all the light Jon Stanhope and colleague Dr Khalid Ahmed have, for some months now, been shining (via “CityNews” and University of Canberra Policy Space) on the ACT’s precarious pre and post-COVID, significantly tram-driven, budgetary black hole, I’m completely at a loss and baffled as to why ABC Radio Canberra (“our” community station) has apparently been studiously ignoring their damning and scary budgetary revelations.
If Stanhope and colleague are talking BS, I would expect the ABC to have at least challenged them (is this silence because their critique and analysis is largely factually-based?).
I can only conclude that an ABC Canberra “Cone of Silence” has descended over Messrs Stanhope and Ahmed (as with many other high-priority, publicinterest issues more broadly across “our” ABC).
Wayne Fyffe, Cook
Disincentives to covid testing ACTIVE travellers of all ages and backgrounds, encouraged and lauded as the necessary backbone of the “new improved” April 29, 2019 public transport network, seem to be forgotten when coronavirus testing centres are set up and skewed towards those who own or can access private transport.
This may prove to be a very costly oversight. Should local transmission of coronavirus and testing take off in Canberra, health and transport officials need to wake up to the fact that the limited July 18, 2020 public transport changes mean that many inner-north residents, for example, still need to make a lengthy two or three-trip bus or bus/rail journey to and from a walk-in testing centre in Crace, Garran or Weston.
Recent media coverage also revealed how those turning up to the Garran centre were forced to wait for an hour or more outside in wet, cold weather. Why would seeking out such a destination be a motivating undertaking if only “the sniffles” are being experienced, let alone if more debilitating symptoms are evident or if small children are in tow?
Those who do set off might try to avoid others by using local buses at off-peak times. However, these operate at the pre-2019 half-hour frequency during the daytime on week days and only offer very unsupportive two-hourly services all weekend.
Trips that still take longer than those scheduled pre-2019 and routes that still involve longer walks to and from transport stops would be more off-putting if feeling unwell. Taxi fares for long trips to testing centres would be out of the question for the majority, especially for those now unemployed or on reduced hours. Might not too many end up opting for selftreatment in the hope that symptoms will just go away and be passed off as a cold? What are we learning from Victoria in this regard?
Sue Dyer, Downer
Labor’s ‘lost the plot’ WITH ACT Labor’s election pitch on interest-free loans for solar panels, a quick look in my analytical database reveals block-titled, detached houses with market values of $1 million-$1.5 million will qualify, but unit-titled townhouses with market values around $500,000 will not.
A political party that discriminates on an irrelevant, administrative variable rather than something like market value or household income has lost the plot.
Peter Bradbury, Holt
advertising feature CAPITAL REGION COMMUNITY SERVICES Programs to keep seniors connected to the community
DURING what can be an isolating time, Capital Region Community Services (CRCS) is reintroducing its INVOLVE programs to help older Canberrans connect with the community.
Social isolation is one of the tough things about getting older, particularly at a time where people have been asked to isolate because of a pandemic, says the CRCS executive manager of programs and services Jenelle Tinham.
The INVOLVE programs, which are for people aged over 65, originally started in February but were paused due to COVID-19. They’re now back, and over the next 12 months, Jenelle says they’ll be introducing some new ideas, too.
INVOLVE coordinator Claire Manning says the program has a wellbeing, creative and social focus, and includes building skills and knowledge around health and fitness, movie reviewing, IT skills, intergenerational storytelling, the creative arts, and opportunities to use state-of-the-art virtual reality technology.
“The program supports seniors through a wide range of engaging and fun activities that will keep older Canberrans moving, connected to their community, interested in life and expanding their horizons as well as maintaining social connectedness and beating isolation,” Claire says.
“As we age we tend to lose touch with our community and regular contacts and as we may no longer be able to confidently drive and remain actively engaged in work,
isolation can mean loneliness and inactivity.”
The INVOLVE program in August includes the sessions “Walkie Talkies”, a social walking program; “I Can Do ‘IT’ Myself”, where participants learn more about computers; “Not So Rotten Tomatoes”, which involves movie outings; and “Taste of Art” is about the creative process.
From September it will include virtual reality experiences in “Virtually Here, There and Everywhere”, “Timeless Stories”, which includes intergenerational storytelling with schools, and “I’ve Got a Plan”, which features guest speakers and opportunities to learn more about wellbeing.
The program varies, with something to suit everyone, according to Claire, who says that some of the stand-out experiences so far have been walking around the Jerrabomberra Wetlands, hearing “Timeless Stories” from Ireland, Singapore, Sydney and Queensland, building relationships with schools, and taking time to be creative.
“All our programs have something different to offer,” she says.
“We know that our over-65 community value their social interactions and have done a wonderful job coping with all the restrictions that have come their way this year.
“We encourage everyone to come along and try one or two of our programs that might fit with their interests.
“Active engagement and connection with others is vital to keeping well and interested in life.”
Capital Region Community Services. Visit crcs.com.au or call 6264 0200.
OVER 65 AND LOOKING FOR SOMETHING EXCITING TO DO? THERE'S SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE AT ... INVOLVE
OPINION / Health of ACT hospitals Hospital beds lost as Labor dumps health plan
IN January my colleague Dr Khalid Ahmed and I posted a blog to the Policy Space at the University of Canberra in which we explored the causes of the extremely poor performance of the ACT’s public hospitals.
Our interest in doing so was sparked by claims by the Minister for Health, Rachel Stephen-Smith, that the increasingly poor outcomes were a consequence, in her words, of “not only increased presentations but more complex patients”.
On our analysis of the publicly available data, we found no evidence to support either of these claims and concluded that an assessment made at the time by the ACT AMA president Dr Antonio Di Dio, that the Minister’s claims were merely a distraction, were valid, and that the decline in the performance of Canberra’s public hospitals was a result of inadequate staffing, too few beds and the failure to invest in the physical upgrading and enhancement of health infrastructure.
We noted that as early as 2008 the then Minister for Health, Katy Gallagher had, with the full support of the ACT cabinet, developed a detailed plan to meet the future health needs of the territory.
The plan was known as the ACT Health Capital Asset Development Plan (CADP) and it was developed as part of an exhaustive examination of the future health needs of Canberra based on an analysis of population growth, the ageing of the community and all other factors relevant to an increase in demand for health services and inflation in health costs. It was estimated at the
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time that there would be a 50 per cent increase in admissions over the decade to 2022.
The ACT government was, therefore, well aware, over a decade ago, of the expected increase in demand and was cognisant of the capacity limitations of the health system to meet that demand.
As a consequence, in 2010 Gallagher committed, as part of a range of initiatives, to provide an additional 400 public hospital beds by 2022.
In our paper Dr Ahmed and I noted that on the data then available from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) that up until 2015- 16 the level of demand for public hospital beds was closely aligned to the annual increase in bed numbers consistent with the CADP.
However, the AIHW has recently published further data on bed numbers in the ACT and across Australia and it is now clear that a decision was taken by Labor and the Greens in 2015, following the departure of Gallagher to the Senate and the elevation of Andrew Barr to Chief Minister, to abandon not just the commitment to increase bed numbers but to the CADP as a whole.
However, more alarming is that not only did the ALP and the Greens decide to call a halt to the scheduled increase in beds but they actually began to close existing beds.
The chart above, constructed from data included in the latest AIHW report, reveals not only a significant reduction in public hospital beds between 2016-17 and 2017-2018 but that, as at the end of 2018-19, there were 132 public hospital beds fewer than the number projected through the detailed analysis commissioned by Gallagher, and incorporated in the CADP, as the minimum required to meet the needs of the ACT community.
The 2008-09 Budget allocated $300 million as a first tranche of $1 billion that the then government had committed to the implementation of the CAPD. The Budget also included $63.8 million for feasibility and forward design for a number of projects including the full redevelopment of the Canberra Hospital site.
I recently made an FOI request of ACT At the end of 2018-19, there were 132 public hospital beds fewer than the number projected in the ACT Health
Capital Asset Development Plan of 2008 as the minimum required to meet the needs of the ACT community.
Health for a copy of the CADP. I was hoping to better understand the extent to which the current government had departed from the construction timeline which ACT Health believed, a decade ago, was required to ensure that the people of Canberra who depended on public health services, i.e. the poor and powerless, pensioners, the working class, battlers and others who once trusted the ALP for support, had the level and range of health services that ALP governments traditionally prioritised.
I received the following response:
Jon Stanhope was chief minister from 2001 to 2011 and represented Ginninderra for the Labor Party from 1998. He is the only chief minister to have governed with a majority in the Assembly.
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OPINION / Gungahlin North’s dormitory suburbs wake with a roar
I WAS sitting on my own in a gutter, eating a pie from the Mitchell Caltex, wondering what on earth I had done with my life.
That was me on the day I moved to Canberra.
It was a wet Friday in April, 2014. I’d booked two nights at a motel and was banking on my ability to find a more permanent home very quickly.
After visiting my new workplace in Mitchell, I had arranged to see two prospective share houses that evening, both just up the road in Franklin. There was a bit of time in between visiting each house, so I figured I’d grab something to eat.
So there I am, walking the streets of Franklin in search of food, crossing the roundabout into Mitchell, wandering past the cemetery, and eventually finding that only one eatery was open – the servo! Moving to the ACT was starting to seem like a mistake.
Anyway, I had my pie and wandered back to the next share house, which I moved into two days later. I still live in Franklin, albeit in a different share house. And it’s been interesting to watch the growth of the suburb, and the wider Gungahlin area, over the past six years.
Franklin and Harrison were basically dormitories when I arrived in 2014. People slept there and that was about it. Aside from the Harrison School and the Franklin Early Childhood School, the suburbs were purely full of homes, with not a shop or restaurant in sight.
How things have changed. Franklin now boasts a supermarket, café, Indian grocer, GP, chemist, hairdresser, Singaporean restaurant and two takeaways. On the other side of the tracks, Harrison has its own dentist, Thai restaurant and Indian restaurant. And don’t forget the drones!
The growth of the Gungahlin Town Centre is plain to see, too – in the past six years, the swimming pool has opened, Eastlake Gungahlin has arrived, and the Marketplace has undergone a significant expansion, with more to come.
The more established Gungahlin suburb of Amaroo has recently added Dormitory days... Harrison in the foreground, Franklin beyond and Mitchell on the left, pictured in 2009.
an Aldi to its local shops. New businesses have also opened in Mitchell, including a second petrol station (I might have to try one of their pies).
The region’s population was one of the fastest growing in the country even before light rail, and the tram has surely accelerated its development.
I know many Canberrans feel the ACT government focuses too much on Gungahlin. In a lot of respects, though, Gungahlin is still playing catch up to the rest of Canberra when it comes to infrastructure and community facilities (admittedly, with the exception of light rail). Major roads have only recently been duplicated, the cinema is still coming soon, the police station could use an upgrade and the variety of shops is tiny compared to what you find in other town centres. And like much of the ACT, there’s a shortage of sporting facilities, particularly for indoor sports.
Unfortunately, all is not necessarily well in the town centre. Two eateries on Hibberson Street have been vacant for about 12 months and the Intersport store on Gribble Street has closed its doors permanently, citing the impact of the coronavirus – or as they described it in an email to customers, “a result of recent events”.
So, what will it all look like in another six years? Is Gungahlin out of the gutter, or is it starting to get cold and soggy in the rain? With Yerrabi set to be a key seat in the upcoming ACT election, let’s hope we see candidates putting forward their visions for the Gungahlin of the future.
Eddie Williams is an award winning producer at 2CC.
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