Do you have an opinion to share? Submit a Letter to the Editor at Sunshine Coast News via news@sunshinecoastnews.com.au. You must include your name and suburb.
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Read the article: ‘Clogged’ pipeline puts heat on Sunshine Coast Rail
Rail compromise
On a positive note, the Commonwealth made an election promise of $1.6 billion towards infrastructure on the Sunshine Coast, which was half of what it would cost. The state was happy about this.
If the Commonwealth pulls out, the state should still be able to invest $1.6 billion and will get us heavy rail to Caloundra, the hub of the Sunshine Coast. Maroochydore is the spoke. There should still be money left to have some light rail from Maroochydore to Kawana.
Will it look like the Gold Coast: progressive and modern, where businesses want to invest? Let’s hope so.
Lee Butt, Kawana Island
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Read the article: Government unlocks a further 1100 lots in booming area
Infrastructure strain
Full disclosure, I got mine: I live in a unit at Caloundra near Happy Valley and love it.
So it would be spurious and selfish of me to whinge about all this development, I guess. Still, the strain on the infrastructure, the impact upon the paddocks and trees that not that long ago held koalas and kangaroos has seriously diminished our little slice of heaven. Just getting to the Bruce Highway now requires leaving a lot of extra time to negotiate the potential gridlock.
When is it enough? How much can the area endure? Will accommodating demand require destroying the very thing that makes our location desirable?
Jeff Tuttle, Caloundra
Koala impact
I just wanted to share my concerns on the new 1100-lot housing development on the Sunshine Coast approved by the Palaszczuk Government. It appears no thought has gone into the environmental impact this would have had on the already threatened koala population.
Another blunder by a hopeless government. They will then spend millions doing a study to find out why we have none.
Neil Waterman
Rethink required
That last thing we need is more investment properties. It does not help the rental market as renters cannot afford the overpriced rent charged by the wealthy owners. Having owned property to rent, I kept the rent affordable as I was happy to have long-term happy tenants.
Our infrastructure cannot take 1100 more homes, the Bruce Highway cannot handle more traffic. The council and government need to think with their heads, not their pockets.
Simon Lattimer
Wrong priorities
It’s all well and good to add extra dwellings to this new area, however the road infrastructure is not keeping up. Residents are already experiencing delays and frustration. They have it in reverse, it should be all the infrastructure first, then the housing.
Come on local and state government, get your act together.
Ian King
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Read the article: Why desalination plant rumours continue to flow
Too many risks
The unpalatable issue of recycled drinking water issue has resurfaced, once again. Question: shouldn’t we all drink and enjoy recycled water processed from human faeces and from industrial, hospital and mortuary effluent?
Let’s revisit this issue: due to the bright idea of recycling mammalian protein as animal food in Britain, the highly transmissible bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, aka mad cow disease) made its unwelcome appearance, costing Britain 4.4 million cattle. A similar outbreak of disease, caused by the ingestion of mammalian proteins from recycled human excrement, is not a long bow to draw.
Aside from the woes of the BSE epidemic, we know that antibiotics, various chemicals and hormones cannot be removed from recycled drinking water. Reverse osmosis is unable to remove these residual chemical and hormonal contaminants. Cancer rates from hormones and toxic contaminants will consequently soar. And, despite the cocktail of antibiotics in recycled water, ingesting methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus from human wastes does not appeal to me and, I suspect, nor does it appeal to the majority of Australians.
Subsequent health risks arise when pharmaceutical, industrial and human wastes pollute community water supplies. One has only to look at Third World countries to note skin complaints and allergies caused by showering in polluted water: the skin absorbs a significant amount of water. Further, should we accept assurances that recycled effluent comes with an infallible warranty, free from breakdowns, ineptitude and safety risks? In a word, ‘no’ – I wouldn’t bank on it.
Consider: the human body is approximately 75 per cent water. Polluted streams and rivers cannot support life; likewise, only pure clean water can provide optimal health and wellbeing. Clean water is a basic human right. Every household needs a water tank. Desalination is a viable solution, especially with rising seas resulting from climate change. In Australia, we have the benefit of an infinite source of renewable energy: we can and should harness solar energy to power desalination.
Christine Bennett, Burnside
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Read the article: ‘Doesn’t make sense’: mayor meets minister over valuations
Equitable distribution
As a local government, planning and environment lawyer of over 25 years standing, I can say that Noosa Mayor Clare Stewart is lying to her constituents about the connection between state land valuations and council rates.
Council rates are calculated using a multiplier, determined by the council, against land value decided from time to time by the state government. If values go up, the multiplier can be decreased to offset the rates to be paid. It’s simple mathematics.
This ruse run by the mayor is a deceitful attempt to cover up the real reason for any increase in council rates coming this year.
For those annoyed about the Queensland Government revisiting land valuations in places like Noosa more regularly, the state will (rightly) take the view that those areas where values are increasing at a higher rate (in real dollars or as a percentage) will require more regular revaluation to ensure that land tax obligations are equitably distributed across the state. Owners of properties that are rapidly rising in value should not get a substantial discount, relative to others, of land tax simply by reason of the failure of the department to keep on top of rapid changes in values in those areas.
Andrew Davis, Brisbane
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Stark contrast
I couldn’t help but notice the irony and contradiction of two headlines in today’s (May 4) edition of Sunshine Coast News: ‘Buyers jostling for place on prestigious street‘ and ‘‘This isn’t living’: renters speak out over crisis‘.
John McCartney, Mount Coolum
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Read the article: Council votes to remove wreck in interests of safety
Lasting monument
Where has the SS Dicky gone? To the tip? If it was declared dangerous, council should have dug it out and put it on a stand at the Dicky monument, and not just the propeller.
Angelo Calleja, Wurtulla
Poetic tribute
I see that the Dicky is back in the news again.
I remember playing on it in the 1940s and 1950s, and my mother told me about dances being held on her deck in earlier times.
Here’s a poem about the Dicky that I wrote a few years back.
THE SS DICKY
The Dicky was built in eighteen eighty-three
In the city of Kiel in old Germany
She wasn’t the biggest or even the best
But this little ship was as proud as the rest.
A little steam ship with its hull made of iron
With sails and propeller to surge through the brine
She came to Australia to sail up the coast
And take her cargo where they needed it most.
She had lots of stories that she could have told
Of numerous voyages in days of old
And also a tale of a murder on board
Whilst in Brisbane River the Dicky was moored.
Then one fateful day in eighteen ninety-three
She ran into storms and a furious sea
The captain tried hard to sail round Moffatt Head
But winds blew the Dicky up on shore instead.
They tried to re-float her again and again
But efforts to save her would all be in vain
She ended up stranded right there on the beach
With the ocean she once sailed now out of her reach.
They stripped out her engines to add to her pain
And Dicky then knew she would ne’er sail again
So there in the end the cruel sea had its way
And Dicky was left there to just rust away.
From far and wide folk came to look at the wreck
And dances were held right up there on her deck
It was a great place on which children could play
And quite an attraction back there in those days.
The years have gone by but the Dicky remains
For people to visit again and again
Admiring her rusting and skeletal frame
A tribute to Dicky and her lasting fame.
So hail to the brave SS Dicky
Caloundra’s favourite icon
Her sailing days may be long over
But her legend still lives on and on.
Noel Williams, Buderim
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News funding
An open letter to Treasurer Jim Chalmers regarding the budget.
Dear Dr Chalmers,
There’s a crisis in our country you can fix in your first budget, at no extra cost.
With the stroke of a pen you could help secure the future of critical regional news services, using money already allocated in the budget.
All you need to do is allocate a fairer percentage of the federal government’s advertising budget to local and regional news services, rather than spending almost all of it with corporate capital city media and foreign-owned digital platforms (which don’t produce any content or employ any journalists).
This can be achieved by simply adopting the Victorian Government policy that mandates a weekly full-page government advertisement in every regional and community paper.
Local and regional newspapers connect more than 80 per cent of the country, but they get almost 0 per cent of the government advertising spend.
In an era where false news spreads faster on social media than the truth does, trusted local news services reach more regional Australians than any other medium.
And unlike other media, every government dollar spent with a local newspaper is also an investment in regional journalism jobs.
This shouldn’t be controversial.
A recent parliamentary inquiry recommended that a minimum of 20 per cent of government print advertising should be placed with regional news services. A recent study conducted by Deakin University recommended the same thing. In fact, the Minister for Communications, Michelle Rowland, has been advocating for more regional newspaper advertising for many years.
We know there may be bigger budget issues, but this small policy change would be a simple and fair solution to a growing problem for regional Australia.
A policy that ensures weekly federal government advertising is placed in regional newspapers would be great news for the country.
And it won’t cost you a cent.
Yours sincerely,
Andrew Manuel, Country Press Australia president, and Tony Kendall, Australian Community Media managing director
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Constitutional importance
As the coronation of King Charles III takes place, we are reminded of the importance of our system of government here in Australia.
Our constitutional monarchy, with its inherent checks and balances of power, has been a tried and true system for more than 120 years.
Our founding fathers worked on the preparation of the document for about a decade before it eventually came into use on the first day of the 20th Century. They considered the types of governance in different countries, including Canada and the United States, and ultimately rejected the republican system in favour of a constitutional monarchy.
Before the proposed referendum takes place, please take the time to read the short document, the Australian Constitution. It is not about race.
M Keen, Beachmere
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Read the article: ‘I saw myself owning my own home … not a caravan’
Situation out of control
I read with interest your story on the Sunshine Coast housing situation.
This year and last I have experienced the problem first-hand. No, I am not homeless, but my cousins had to move from Tasmania because they were homeless. If I hadn’t offered them rooms in my house they still would be.
My friend of 10 years was recently evicted from her rented unit. Her dream was to own her own unit or townhouse. She quickly got her finances in order to be in a position to buy. She put offers on every townhouse in her price range but nothing was successful. She then tried putting offers on other rentals but was unsuccessful. She ended up having to quit her secure government job of 30 years, put her belongings in storage and move to Tasmania to live in a shed with two friends. Her dream shattered.
This is not right.
I also think the problem is the people moving from the southern states to Queensland for the lifestyle. They come here with plenty of money from their extensive houses and price the Queenslanders out of the market.
The other problem is the government lets too many migrants in and they take homes away from Australians. They also take jobs away. These are skilled workers coming in. Why not train Australians for these jobs? So many of us are unemployed and would love the chance to train for a career.
This is my opinion of the homeless and unemployment crisis at present. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to give my thoughts.
Rebekkha Partis, Brisbane
Do you have an opinion to share? Submit a Letter to the Editor at Sunshine Coast News via news@sunshinecoastnews.com.au. You must include your name and suburb.
