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Your views: on Pirie St heritage, bikeways, nuclear waste, Aquatic Centre and Centrelink

Today, readers comment on how local heritage listings are bulldozed, council dithering over CBD bikeways, why subsidising the city’s public pool is now seen as bad policy, and new welfare rules.

Feb 28, 2020, updated Feb 28, 2020
The former Bank of SA building will be demolished to make way for the Hyatt Regency hotel. Photo: Stephanie Richards/InDaily

The former Bank of SA building will be demolished to make way for the Hyatt Regency hotel. Photo: Stephanie Richards/InDaily

Commenting on the story: Pirie St hotel on heritage site facing construction delays

There was good reason why demolition was “Non-Complying”, particularly in the CBD, before John Rau’s Capital City anything goes  Ministerial Development Plan Amendments, which apart from relating height limit only to airport flight path limit, made demolition of Local Heritage Items “On Merit”.

This local heritage item had been agreed to be listed by the previous owner, and was sold to the current owner on this basis that it was listed and that a tower would have to be set back at least 8m behind the Local Heritage-listed facade, which is all that had to be kept.

Instead, heritage consultants were shopped to get one to support a minimal setback, and now total demolition on the merit argument that the inside was gutted and the brutalist extension off the side to the corner.

A pathetic and irrelevant excuse, but one clearly good enough for the SCAP who seem to see the merit in almost everything batted up to them.

Heritage needs to be forever, not considered on merit, or this is where we end up.

The Hyatt in Sydney incorporates the historic building on the site, so should the Hyatt in Pirie Street in Adelaide.

The new Planning Code will make all demolition of Local Heritage on merit;  this case in Pirie Street is the clear reason why on merit consideration of Local Heritage doesn’t work, as it doesn’t definitively protect our heritage.

I can only hope that the delay enables a reconsideration by the Hyatt to incorporate and capitalise on the magnificent Local Heritage Facade on Pirie Street, and perhaps develop the vacant site behind to enable a substantial north-facing terrace, with swimming pool behind the parapet. – Sandy Wilkinson

If it’s heritage listed, it’s heritage listed, end of story. – Julie Hayes

Commenting on the story: City council planners back Flinders-Franklin bikeway route

I’d like to comment on your story as a cyclist with children.

For many years the city has had a problem with providing safe travel options for cyclists.

The assessment that a bike path separated from the car traffic is and feels safer is correct, and should be pursued.

With a number of high schools and university campuses  in the city, one can argue we should always try to opt for the safer option, enabling a broad future use. 

To speed things up, there should also be a possibility of sharing existing footpaths where there is the opportunity to do so. 

Unfortunately planning seems to take forever and meanwhile children have to rely on their parents to drop them off at school and grow up without being able to increase their self reponsibility by making their trip to school alone.

With the terrain and the weather Adelaide has, it seems such a waste to wait forever until this gets constructed. 

The councillors should take on the Nike slogan and “just do it”.   Anja Dickel 

Commenting on the opinion piece: Kimba nuke decision dumps on Indigenous rights

I refer to Dave Sweeney’s comments (Your views, Feb 21) regarding the National Radioactive Waste Management Facility (NRWMF).

Radioactive waste is currently stored at more than 100 locations around Australia, including at facilities like the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), the CSIRO, the Department of Defence, hospitals, and universities.

The majority of this waste arises from the production of nuclear medicines, from which two in three Australians on average will benefit during their lifetime.

For example, in hospitals and nuclear medicine clinics around the country, special devices called Gentech Generators, which contain the radioactive compound, sodium pertechnetate [99mTc] are used for imaging of the brain, thyroid, liver, lungs, bones, and kidneys to determine their function and health.

Other radioactive materials, of longer life, are or were formerly used in the treatment of cancers through techniques such as brachytherapy and radiotherapy.

In universities, for example, radioactive waste is produced in laboratories as a result of historical and current research activities – this typically is of a low level of radioactivity and may comprise contaminated laboratory equipment, glassware, liquid waste from historical experiments, and material test samples.

Once the NRWMF is established, it is expected that about a dozen university stores, as well as the CSIRO’s Woomera waste storage facility, other CSIRO sites in New South Wales and Victoria, several defence facilities, and a number of other sites would no longer be needed for the storage of radioactive waste.

The move away from multiple storage sites is aligned with international best practice for the long-term management of radioactive waste, as recognised by the Commonwealth radiation protection and nuclear safety regulator, ARPANSA.

I would also note that continuing access to nuclear medicine is dependent on Australia responsibly and safely managing the radioactive waste arising from its production in accordance with our international obligations and Australian regulatory requirements.

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More information is available at www.radioactivewaste.gov.au

– Sam Chard, General Manager, National Radioactive Waste Management Taskforce

Commenting on the opinion piece: Look beyond the Crows – the parka lands are in the sights of an interstate corporate

Some facilities in a city inevitably run at a loss. The Aquatic Centre is a prime and sensible example.

A city needs a pool. It’s beholden to maintain it , yes, at a loss.

So tired of argument that this is an excuse to monopolise parklands.

Also I fear it will take ovals from multicultural cricket – which  is a wonderful use of parklands.

I just don’t trust guarantees. Other sites available. – Bill Botten

Commenting on the story: New Centrelink income rules now law after illegal robo-debt scandal

I’m startled by the new system coming out.

I for one would not think the estimate of a fortnight’s reported income would be acceptable.

But now it will be mandatory to have exact information. – Earle Sing

Maybe there should be an overhaul of how employment providers make their money.

They are parasites. They get paid for doing nothing. – Janelle Molloy

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We’ll publish the best comments in a regular “Reader Views” post. Your comments can be brief, or we can accept up to 350 words, or thereabouts.

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