Just as in Darwin, the residents of Canberra who have suffered from the catastrophe ought to be given social and economic support, and a great deal of compassionate sympathy - but this should not lead to a repetition of the Darwin white elephant. Clearly, the bushfire disaster has to be sourced in mistaken policy. The creation of Canberra as a supposedly well-planned "green" city, or rather a collection of suburbs amongst bush and pine plantations, was always misconceived.

The much-praised National Capital Development Commission which developed this model was the chief culprit. It was living out a middle-class fantasy, much of which was financed by taxpayers. The second major error was the creation of the "toytown" government, totally incompetent and unable to plan for even the most obvious contingencies. But there was an even more fundamental error, which goes back to the rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne which led to the creation of an artificial capital, which was then not even located on the coast.

This error was exacerbated by the early empire builders. The former Treasury secretary John Stone gave an important paper at a Samuel Griffiths Society conference some years ago in which he pointed out that the constitutional provision for the ACT does not require it to extend over the present 2428 square kilometres, but only over 260 square kilometres. This would be enough for the parliamentary triangle, the major administrative buildings, the High Court and Government House and the immediate hinterland, which would then include some 20,000 voters. Most of the ACT could be given back to NSW. Even the NSW Government could administer it much better than does the joke ACT Government. In the context of the bushfires, it is quite clear that NSW is much better prepared to fight fires, as well as being much more knowledgeable. It also means that expensive equipment could be better utilised and deployed over a much greater area.

Most of those who work in the ACT would be better governed within the local government structures of NSW, and represented through its federal and state electorates. The Walter Burley Griffin plan for Canberra was always misconceived. But it would matter less if it had been allowed to develop into a small city, with a true commercial and industrial centre. Instead, successive planners wanted a series of widely separated leafy suburbs surrounded by fire traps (though they did not realise that that was what they were creating), on spurious aesthetic grounds. The trouble in Canberra has always been that upper-level bureaucrats and academics have had too much input into the planning process, and as always created a dysfunctional socialist Utopia.

Less planning, not more, would have improved Canberra. There has been an artificially sponsored belief among Canberra residents that they could work in highly paid urban conditions while enjoying the benefits of a semi-rural, or at least fringe bush, lifestyle. The bill for this is now in.

The best thing that could be done now, after the victims of the fires are helped to rebuild their lives (though the uninsured should have to bear the cost of their own folly), is to abolish the ACT as it exists, pare it right back to essentials, and let most of its citizens lead normal lives within NSW. But, of course, there will be noisy vested interests which will demand that more good money be sent after the bad. ppmcg@ozemail.com.au