Proposal to sidestep planning rules could ruin our cities

The Grattan Institute proposal to circumvent planning rules “anywhere” in capital cities to build townhouses and three-storey flats is reckless (“Radical plan to revamp nation’s capital cities – and shave $100,000 off house prices”, November 6). It is indeed necessary to build more housing, and crucially, affordable housing, but it must be done right. Communities have rights and we must not go over the heads of locals. So long as people live in them, cities are not the playthings of developers and eager urban planners. Build on top of shopfronts on Parramatta Road, and in empty plots. Knock down buildings that are ugly or lack Victorian or Edwardian credentials. Just do not be reckless with our cities. Will Thorpe, Haberfield

The whole idea of dividing sites into zones of one-storey and two-storey and three-storey etc buildings is fundamentally absurd. Proper neighbourhoods should include all varieties of households, which is exactly what our present system prevents. However, the crucial success factor lies in applying proper performance standards. There is no indication that all the magic-bullet solutions being put forward to tackle the housing crisis have given any thought to this aspect of the situation. In fact, there seems to be a stampede towards cruder and poorer controls in the sacred name of stimulating the commercial housing sector into producing more but worse housing than it has to date. If we are ever to solve the housing problem, it shouldn’t be at the cost of degraded urban environments and diminished living conditions. A variety of choice for all should be our watchword. Bruce Hyland, Woy Woy

It’s hard to know if the Grattan Institute report suggesting a way to reduce house prices by about 1 per cent a year over 10 years is serious. One per cent a year is hardly solving the affordability problem, but allowing three-storey apartments and townhouses to be built anywhere in Australia’s capital cities will damage the green lungs of cities by removing urban gardens and trees. Moving people closer to transport only works if such transport can be provided, the cost of which would be born by the taxpayer, not the developer. And what about the social infrastructure? It’s not just the cost, which developer contributions to councils do not fully cover, but also the real estate required for playing fields and parks, and service facilities. Dick Clarke, Elanora Heights

Fossilised support

The most disturbing aspect of the Nationals’ decision – possibly soon to be joined by the hapless Liberals – is that walking away from their commitment to net zero by 2050 is complete capitulation to the relentless demands of the dying fossil fuel industry (“Australia is now watching the Coalition break down in real time”, November 6). Our politicians should be showing real leadership by levelling with the Australian public and explaining that there will be continuing costs, for everyone, in saving ourselves from the climate mess, but the cost of not acting will be far greater. Deloitte research has predicted a $43 trillion boost to the global economy if we can implement a rapid transition to net zero by mid-century. So how can Nationals’ leader David Littleproud promise Australians a “better, fairer and cheaper way” of providing electricity by using more greenhouse-gas-emitting coal, more gas and expensive nuclear power? It’s nonsense, and he and Sussan Ley should reject, outright, the antics of the handful of diehards still spruiking fossil fuels and playing political games with the climate crisis. Rob Firth, Red Hill (ACT)

It’s time for Sussan Ley to stop kidding herself that she can sit down with the Nationals and agree on policies and stop the Coalition infighting and disloyalty (“Ley urged to defy Nats on net zero”, November 5). She needs to dissolve the Coalition and send the Nationals to the backbenches as the minor party that it is. Then she needs to read the riot act to the Liberals, demand loyalty and, most importantly, produce a climate policy embracing the Paris Agreement, net zero, renewables and emissions reduction. She can then attempt to lead the Liberals to improvement in electoral performance and eventually success. It will take years, but for the Liberals, it’s the only way to go. Ken Butler, Mount Colah

Christmas has come early for Albo. The coal-fired implosion within the Coalition is a gift that keeps giving. The plain facts are that the Liberals cannot win government by themselves and the Nationals are dinosaurs waiting to be wiped out. But neither can politically exist without the other, in the vain hoping of securing an election win sometime before 2050. Michael Blissenden, Dural

Why are politicians arguing over net zero by 2050? Australia is forecast to lose 25 per cent of its coal-fired power generators in five years and 60 per cent in 10 years. Nobody is going to fund another coal-fired power station. Nuclear power would take 15 years – if it was ever attempted. And all the while, the demand for electricity is increasing. The question is not whether we believe in climate change or not, but what’s going to power the air-conditioner or heater when the weather turns bad? Dick Barker, Epping

Back-up needed

Non-interruptible loads on the power system, such as hospitals, install back-up generators. The Tomago smelter has not done that, relying on the interruptibility of its potlines and its electricity supplier’s reserve capacity to support it. It is time for Tomago to start covering its own back-up requirements if it wishes to continue to enjoy its rock-bottom power pricing. Michael Britt, MacMasters Beach

Perhaps it is Terry Cook who needs a reality check (Letters, November 6). To dismiss renewable energy as a way of supporting the Tomago smelter ignores what Rio Tinto is doing and has done with its aluminium smelter in Gladstone, Queensland. Ditto BHP with its Olympic Dam mine and smelter in SA. Each have contracts to secure supply from firmed renewables. Unfortunately, NSW’s planned energy transition just seems to have hit too many procedural or political hurdles, leading to crisis management. Jim Allen, Panorama (SA)

Lift solar rate

Correspondents are suggesting that Joseph Ting is being selfish for suggesting a means test before receiving three hours of free power, because the plan will cost him nothing (Letters, November 6). What is being overlooked is the investment in his system, which will take many years to pay off, and also the fact that he most likely will not benefit from the free grid power unless he is at home on a dull day. Giving free power from those who have spent a lot of money on panels and batteries to those who have not will also discourage take-up of solar – why install panels when you can get free power from someone else’s investment? To make the scheme fair, the rate paid for feeding solar back into the grid needs to be substantially increased from its current low level to help recoup the cost of private systems. Alynn Pratt, Grenfell

Lab experiment

It wasn’t quite “time out” in their bedroom”, as Barbara Tregear wrote (Letters, November 6), yet our kids learnt the basics of gentleness and consent from something we called “tufting”. The game was that you removed the loose fur from our nicely rotund labrador as she slept in front of the heater – without waking her. The largest pile won, but if her eyes opened, you forfeited. She would sometimes wake and let the kids know “I do not consent to this” by gently grabbing a wrist to signify “I’ll rip your bloody arm off”. But she never, ever relinquished her heater. The kids respected Big Sister’s rights. Ronald Elliott, Sandringham (Vic)

Fast train coming

Why is the planned high-speed train route only from Newcastle to Sydney (“High speed train route revealed”, November 6)? Back of an envelope calculation … Brisbane to Sydney to Melbourne is 1800 kilometres. In the space of 16 years, China has built a high-speed train network of 25,000 kilometres. That works out at 1500 kilometres a year. At that rate, it should take us two years at most to build a route that people badly need. My wife and I regularly travel to Melbourne and are tired of being held hostage by the airlines. So why does it take us so long? Perhaps a chairman’s lounge at Sydney Central station will get the politicians on board. Tim Douglas, Hurlstone Park

After spending quite a lot of rail travel time in Europe recently, I reflected with embarrassment on the tired old network we are offered in this wide brown land. So it is with great relief to read that the wheels are beginning to turn to show travellers, at least to Newcastle, just what is possible in a modern rail system. To travel to Melbourne from (nearby) Moss Vale at the moment is an antiquated nightmare, belonging well back into the last century. I guess I will not see a fast interstate train any time soon. But a 21st-century link to Melbourne would give rail travel a whole new image, as patrons see and enjoy just what is possible. Let’s hope the Newcastle link will get things moving. Greg Vale, Kiama

Not so Aussie, Pauline

Pauline Hanson is paid well to be an MP, but she has been absent from the last two sitting weeks of parliament. Instead, she has been swanning around Florida, attending a Halloween party and giving lectures about the ruinous state of Australia while holding up Trump as a beacon to follow. This seems to undermine her image of Australia’s ultimate “patriot” (“Hanson attacks Coalition at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago as she closes on Ley in polls”, November 6). Toni Lorentzen, Fennell Bay

Hanson is back to her dog-whistling best, casting an unreasonably wide net as she claims “Australia is taking in the same hateful, radical migrants from countries that are having an enormous impact on the UK and so many European nations”. She condemns pro-Palestine protesters yet says nothing about the rise of neo-Nazis and other right-wing extremists in Australia. Ever the opportunist, she now takes exception, stating that “if you speak out about it, you’re branded Islamophobic or racist.” Well, if the cap fits. Tim Overland, Castle Hill

Minimal Minns

Chris Minns has been a disappointment since the day he became premier (“Is NSW now Labor’s problem child?” November 6). He has proven to be a friend of developers and Clubs NSW, as well as being anti-protests. And who put the Israeli flag on the Opera House? An insensitive act in a migrant country composed of communities from all over the world. Why not a dove of peace symbol or something similar? I am a Labor voter, but Chris Minns is sinking the ship by himself. Bring on the state election. Michael McMullan, Avoca Beach

Prioritise uni funding

I completely agree with Alison Stewart (Letters, November 6) that universities need more public funding. My four-year-old grandson will be 40 when AUKUS is supposed to be finalised. Imagine all the changes in that time. Better to spend money now on much-needed projects such as improving universities, building housing, healthcare and countless other more important things. Valerie Hoogstad, Clontarf

Consider all mothers

The proposal for legislation regarding birth doulas needs to take into account Indigenous Australian women in remote communities who may not have the option of home care but who wish, for cultural reasons, to give birth on Country (“Victoria and NSW consider laws to restrict rogue birth workers”, November 4). They also need to be considered before this legislation is passed, or they or their family risk being penalised for assisting with the birth. This could potentially lead to maternal or child mortality if they feel that must hide the birth from the authorities. Karen Weiss, Bondi

History more complex

In his victory speech, New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani proclaimed “New York will remain a city of immigrants, built by immigrants, powered by immigrants – and [now], led by an immigrant” (“Zohran Mamdani’s four words for Trump after historic win”, November 6) I have a reminder for Mamdani and a takeaway for Australians. First, the land where New York City stands was originally owned by the Indigenous Lenape people, fraudulently taken in the early 17th century by the Dutch, then seized by the British a few decades later. So, including an acknowledgement that New York City is built on land misappropriated from its original owners would have given a more nuanced overview, the kind of awareness gradually developing in Australians. Second, Australia today is also partly powered by immigrants, something to be kept in mind in the often-emotional debates over levels of immigration. Paul Casey, Callala Bay

New York has a new mayor who won more than 50 per cent of the vote in a multi-racial, progressive and young electorate. Many of them are renters who are struggling financially. This could happen in Australia, where 87 per cent of the population live in urban areas. The Coalition has no chance in the future if they do not understand the changing demographics of this country. Someone, somewhere needs to explain it to them, or they are truly dead in the water. Wendy Atkins, Cooks Hill

Fee inflation

What’s wrong with parents sending their kid to a high-fee private school they perceive to be a good choice, for whatever reason, if they can afford to (“Shore School bumps fees to over $50k a year”, November 6)? Everything’s gone up – wages and costs – so why not fees? Tim Egan, Mosman

Off the radar

More fuel for the Bureau of Meteorology debate. Every time I log onto the upgraded site it asks me to use my “current address”. When I do, it gives me the weather in Greystanes. I’m sure that is a nice place – but it’s 700 kilometres due south of me. Nicolas Harrison, Evans Head

• To submit a letter to the Sydney Morning Herald, email letters@smh.com.au. Click here for tips on how to submit letters.
• The Opinion newsletter is a weekly wrap of views that will challenge, champion and inform. Sign up here.