LETTERS
Sydney Morning Herald
Monday January 24, 2011
Airport fares reform would make traffic flySydney Airport has no responsibility for setting the station access fee or any train or bus fare (Letters, January 22-23).The provision of adequate and affordable public transport is a core responsibility of the NSW government. Sydney Airport continues to seek reformed rail fares and additional bus services from the NSW government for passengers travelling to and from the airport.A study by Booz & Co has shown that reforming the rail fare on the Airport Line would immediately boost rail patronage by 1.5 million journeys each year, which would make a significant contribution to easing traffic congestion on the M5 and other arterial roads.Russell BaldingChief ExecutiveSydney AirportAt a little over twice the price of the Airport to Central Station rail fare you can fly from Sydney to Melbourne on Jetstar or Tiger. Could the Airport Link company please explain?John Malian Bondi BeachFair go for rentsAdele Horin ("Social housing not code for estate", January 22-23) praises the federal government's National Rental Affordability Scheme, but criticises the NSW government for the low take-up here. This scheme imposes rent control on participating landlords in return for an annual federal subsidy.Rents in Sydney are 50-60 per cent higher than those in Adelaide and Hobart, but the subsidy is the same flat $9100 across Australia. Sydney landlords are expected to give up more money under rent control, but they aren't compensated with a higher grant.The scheme works best in exactly the wrong places: cities with low rents. Without a significant redesign, this program offers little hope for more affordable housing. The best thing governments can do is boost the overall supply of new housing, in both inner and outer suburbs.Aaron GadielChief executiveUrban Taskforce, SydneyI own and run a caravan park that used to have 50 families of the so called "economically and socially disadvantaged" living in it when I bought the park six years ago.It did not take long to figure out that welfare dependent single mothers and their ilk with varying degrees of alcohol, substance abuse and mental-health issues who owned their own caravans could upset, intimidate, harass and assault other residents and my family with impunity.The state Labor government introduced the 1998 Residential Parks Act and created the Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal which enforces this act.It took some time for caravan park owners and operators to realise the implications of this act, however we are all fully aware now.No matter what a resident does, no matter how vile, no matter how many times they are found in breach of their residential site agreement, the Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal will never allow their removal.Not hard to figure now that I only have six residents left who own their own dwellings and no new ones will ever be accepted.The government and the rest of the community can put up with them as I for one definitely don't want them.Glen Wright South BallinaWay out for feesIt seems that bank chief executives don't understand their own businesses ("Kelly warns of over-regulation", January 22-23). When it comes to exit fees, for example, the best explanation seems to be that "as a principle we don't think the government should be banning a particular fee".Until the early 1990s, a housing loan attracted an upfront establishment fee and an interest rate applicable at the time. Exit fees did not exist. But in order to be competitive, banks began offering housing loans with the establishment fee waived and a discounted (honeymoon) rate offered for the first 12 months.Borrowers, who by this time had become more inquisitive in these matters, realised they could take out a loan with a bank with the aforementioned benefits then at the end of 12 months they would refinance the loan with another bank, again with the same benefits. They would continue repeating this with different banks every 12 months.This churning was costly for the banks, hence the introduction of exit fees.The simple answer would be for the banks to return to the way they did business prior to the early 1990s and that way exit fees could be abolished.Robert Alan Parmeter Russell LeaUniversal issueSo the US Department of Commerce is to become the internet sheriff, to be responsible for "universal" digital IDs ("No country for cyber outlaws", January 22-23)? I'm sure they will be just as effective as the US transport safety authority is at protecting us from bottled water on aircraft.We already have a similar technology: PKI (Public Key Infrastructure), which has proved useless for personal identification. Suppose I have a device or a computer file saying I am so and so; all this proves is that I have access to the device/file, it doesn't prove I am the person "identified" by it.However it would provide a handy way for the US government (and no doubt corporations and advertisers) to track internet users. And the ID would be a juicy target for online criminals.This new system might work, should computer operating systems and applications become genuinely secure - a very unlikely prospect. Currently the only way to remove this sort of criminal activity from the net would be to ban financial transactions altogether.Attractive as I find that personally - after all the internet has become suborned by corporate interests - it is really up to individuals and companies to protect themselves, and for the police to become more active and more effective in cyberspace.Phil Crooker Bridgewater, SABroken linksI am astonished to read that the NSW Coalition is abandoning the Parramatta to Epping rail link ("Coalition backs off rail link", January 22-23).The people of western Sydney were hoping that their transport woes will be over once this vital rail link was complete, but now it seems that the NSW Coalition has a slap in the face for everyone living in western Sydney. They hardly care about these people, who spend more time in transport than with their families.I strongly urge the NSW Coalition to rethink this decision.Moninder Singh Quakers HillWhenever I witness Barry O'Farrell being righteously outraged, I am suspicious. Let there be no mistake, the NSW Liberals are in favour of privatisation of NSW electricity. They always have been, although, a few years back, as a matter of political opportunism, they voted with the Greens against the plan.To any good conservative privatisation is ideological. Mike Baird has said that selling off Sydney's iconic ferries would be a good idea. Money for all their numerous promises must come about somehow after all.So as Richard Ackland ("If he wins, O'Farrell can pull the plug - on his own terms," January 21) says, for all the outrage, O'Farrell has not suggested reversing contracts. He is into more inquiries after election. It is such brilliant publicity.Margaret Millar CollaroyPost office claimsI take issue with Lynda Newnam, (Letters, January 21) and would be disappointed if it led to other readers of this page being misled.To set the record straight, I've not written to Ms Newnam on the issue of post offices at all, and secondly, all correspondence to my constituents concerning post office closures has never included the words or suggestions Ms Newnam writes of.In fact, I've consistently made representations for my constituents because I'm acutely aware of the importance of local communities having good access to their postal facilities.Peter GarrettMP for Kingsford SmithSalvia dangerThe article "Shootings put focus on use of herb" (January 22-23) about the use of Salvia divinorum contributing to Jared Loughner's rampage is confusing, as it implies that Salvia divinorum and Datura, or angel's trumpet, are the same plant.Salvia divinorum is diviner's sage (aka seer's sage), a Mexican hybrid that has hallucinogenic properties not contained in other sages, including Salvia officinalis, which is commonly used for sage and onion stuffing. Angel's trumpet is a common name given to the Brugmansia genus and the closely related Datura genus, which belong to the highly toxic members of the nightshade family of plants that contain the drug atropine (belladonna).Although the use of any mind-altering drug is best avoided, it would be especially tragic if some experimental adolescent thought that angel's trumpet could be substituted for diviner's sage, as the result would most likely be fatal.Lyn Bagnall MondrookFlagging equalityI noticed that Channel Seven put an Australian flag icon beside the names of the Aussie tennis players at the Australian Tennis Open, but did not put any other flags besides any other names.Presumably everyone else comes from a different country, so either that should be acknowledged or the Australian flag removed. The lone flag placement is jingoistic at best and downright insulting at worst.Andrew Roberts Warners Bay
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