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 for accountability, credibility and transparency. Preference will be give to letters of 100 words or less.
- Read the story: Start date for foreshore project work pushed back
It is pleasing to see the new council is waiting until next year to proceed with this very controversial and seriously inappropriate project.
To call it a “revitalisation” is a misnomer and an insult to the community’s collective intelligence. It is a project which will have huge and potentially very disruptive effects on the local environment across all dimensions: socially, ecologically and economically. The obvious need to renovate the Loo appears to be a Trojan horse to initiate an overkill hard-engineering “solution” with attendant beach concourse features similar to other more northern Queensland beaches like Yeppoon, Townsville and Cairns foreshores. They are in very different environments of course.
I would much prefer to see council take the time to secure funding for a contemporary and extensive study of the circumstances using local independent expertise as we already have at UniSC and UQ to fully understand the environment before designing any infrastructure changes.
Peter Bradford, Nambour
- Read the story: Scooter riders blamed for footy ground mess
Before moving to Queensland I coached junior rugby league for 35 years and during that time I was president of a club for eight years.
I was disgusted reading your article regarding damage to fields. It is hard enough to try and build a new club without idiots like this. The idea that the club might have to pay for the repair of the field is beyond intolerable: the club is not responsible for ground damage that they are not responsible for. I read one of the idiots has been identified, so get him to pay for it.
Please help this club. Everybody should be supporting this club. The Queensland Rugby League should be helping.
Terry Rankin, Kingaroy
- Read the story: Council agrees to foot bill for mayor’s Paris accommodation
I’m fascinated to see what event transportation insights Rosanna comes back with from her $1000 a night trip to Paris.
How we have ever held an event on the Sunshine Coast over the past four decades without such insights is astonishing. Here’s hoping we can promptly construct a metro line to rival Paris. Otherwise, we may just have to go with plan B – gifting all Games attendees an e-scooter to travel to and from events on.
Tom Fitzpatrick, Buderim
As a ratepayer and voter here on the Sunshine Coast, I am appalled that any costs for the mayor’s accommodation and business trip to the Olympics will be funded by council.
We have so many people on the Sunshine Coast who are doing it tough. Surely the mayor’s substantial salary should make it possible that she does not burden the Coast with this cost. I would ask where on earth is she staying that costs $7500? It’s outrageous. Put Queenslanders on the Sunshine Coast ahead of yourself, mayor.
Remember, it’s the Sunshine Coast voters who helped put you in office.
Rosemary McMaster, Tewantin
Rosanna Natoli says she is paying for her flight to the Paris Olympics, and accommodation, to gather information for our Olympics in 2032.
I would insist on seeing some form of proof for that. I voted for her but not for a flight of fancy which, by the time the Olympics in eight years comes around, she no doubt will not be mayor. I volunteered for Paris 2024 Olympics and have to pay for flights, accommodation and everything in between.
S. Faux, Beerwah
- Read the story: Missing link: land earmarked for future road
Honestly, for residents of Pelican Waters, joining a road from Aura to Pelican Waters Boulevard will only create a bigger problem than already exists.
It is already extremely busy on both Pelican Waters Boulevard and Burke Street. Another solution needs to be found. Pelican Waters has already developed into an extremely busy area traffic wise. With so many new buildings popping up, plus the residential development by Palm Lake Resort that will house hundreds more residents, our roads will be even more impossible to use at different times of the day.
Diane Garvey, Pelican Waters
- Read the story: MP’s speech sparks walkout at energy event
I can only thank God for the fact that this MP has the insight and courage to speak out about the obvious failings of this Greens delusion which the current federal Labor government is pandering to.
Any person with an IQ over five can see what this reckless and blind farce of an initiative is doing and will do to Australia: abject harm!
Thank you Ted, please keep up the fight.
Mike Stevens, Buderim
We should not pursue the nuclear power push that Dutton is voicing loudly and clearly and that Ted shared at the conference.
Experts have said that it is expensive to set up, and bringing it online would take years to do, even with the small reactors that Dutton is advocating. The most important reason I’m against going nuclear is the life span of the nuclear waste. Where do we store it?
Why is it that many European countries are shutting down their nuclear reactors in favour of renewables?
Jan Jarman, Buderim
- Read the story: Closing down: another suburb set to lose major bank
Everyone needs money. Money makes the world go around. Cash is excellent, card is okay. Please let the banks remain open, in person and on the phone and at the ATM. It is extremely important.
Samantha See, Kedron
I cannot believe that Buderim locals think “I want to go to the bank, I’ll just pop across to Nambour or Caloundra”. Utterly ridiculous.
The Buderim branch is always busy and to shut it reveals a mindless decision for profit over service. Despite having been a loyal Commonwealth Bank customer since primary school (60 years ago), I, for one, will be voting with my feet (and bank balance).
P. Edwards, Buderim
- Read the story: Group campaigns for changes to tiny homes law
I believe, at this time of housing shortage, that tiny homes are one solution, and I support a change to the local laws to permit this to happen.
Councils duck for cover and blame the state laws for not facilitating the tiny homes on rural land, however that does not seem to be the case as, in response to this question, the Queensland Premier said: “Under Queensland legislation, the Queensland Government has limited power to intervene or direct any council in relation to operational matters, including decisions made by the council about local planning and local laws. It is at the discretion of each council to make the decisions that it considers appropriate for the needs and views of its community.”
Ball’s in your court, Sunshine Coast Council. Please help the housing situation by amending your local laws to permit multiple tiny homes on rural land. And stop ripping these people off with excessive fees.
Tom Swann, Currimundi
I consider that landholders, rural or metropolitan, should be able to establish tiny homes on their properties.
My aim would be a little different but could be protected under the same legislation as long as government did not get excited at the prospect of making costs prohibitive. I would love to put two or three tiny homes on a town block of land. My son is disabled. I would like to occupy one dwelling, and he with his support staff could occupy the other. One of his sisters could occupy the other if there are three small houses.
My son would be safe. We would have contact with my son and his staff, while maintaining his independence with choice and control. As my husband and I age and are forced to retire, our own supports could be conveniently added. We are already in our 70s but work full-time. A tiny home would allow my son to own his dwelling, keeping him safe when we die. A lovely garden could be established for the enjoyment of all, adding to independence and associated wellness of each stakeholder.
This model is family, services, cost and safety friendly, and socio-economically achievable. It avoids institutions and their associated rorts and abuse while supporting family members to maintain independence, safety and non-invasive connection.
Purely in regard to the socio-economic status of the above model, the tiny houses would provide children with an opportunity to pay rent when they wanted to move beyond the family unit, providing the option to save for longer to invest in their own futures.
Jennifer Cannon-Galvin
The defensive responses by council spokespersons reveal the underlying problem in seeing changes to state and local government law.
The plea to accommodate tiny homes on rural properties is not only motivated by recent disappointing decisions but by the broader issue of generational change to better fit laws to modern-day visions. Tiny houses of current-day design, including off-grid features (electricity, water, composting toilets and so on) were not the norm when the law was written. Nowadays, a healthy lifestyle should be recognised and encouraged by authorities charged with overseeing our safety and peace of mind.
This demands a flexible thought process that looks to modern science rather than an inflexible, stubborn attitude rooted in the past, however altruistic at the beginning.
Ken Dove, Little Mountain
- Read the story: Passengers in limbo as planes grounded for longer
Why would the public purse be expected to bail out a fiscally irresponsible company?
The budget airline model is dead. The model was based on government largesse and is an environmental disaster. Time for people to wake up and live differently if they want their children to have any hope of a life. Might be time to ask private equity firm Palisade Investment Partners, who were gifted our airport, how Bonza’s loss will affect their bottom line.
Gerard Joyce, Verrierdale
- Read the story: Critical road with long crash history to get $20m upgrade
In your article about upgrades to Eumundi-Noosa Road, the Department of Transport and Main Roads North Coast regional director Scott Whitaker said road safety was the department’s “top priority”.
I want him to extend the 60kmh speed limit at the Eumundi end of Eumundi-Noosa Road and create bike and pedestrian lanes on the outdated and narrow bridge over the North Maroochy River. The funding for the bridge was announced years ago yet nothing has been done to rectify the bridge and make it safe for cyclists and pedestrians.
This bridge and the Seib Road junction are hazardous for all, pedestrians and cyclists especially. There are 15,000 cars daily on Eumundi-Noosa Road and no one honours the 60kmh speed limit in the section between the roundabout and Cash Road. Put a speed camera there and you’ll pay for the upgrades swiftly.
Name and address withheld
- Read the story: Jobs bonanza as key details of $14b hydro project revealed
Back 20 years ago, when the Traveston Dam was proposed, the residents of Gympie were initially ecstatic at the prospect that at last something would be done to ameliorate the regular flooding of the CBD, but then a few affected landowners put their own comfort above the dire needs of the city, despite the generous buy-out terms they were offered by the government. The objectors at Traveston seized on the bum-breathing turtle as their reason to block the project, despite the fact that the dam would have greatly benefited the turtle by expanding its habitat 100-fold.
And now, we have another example of a similar campaign to stop the Eungella hydro dam project, only this time the objection is based on saving the platypus, which would also benefit from an expanded habitat. No doubt the people objecting to the Borumba hydro project will also find a rare and precious frog or similar creature to block that project.
However, these new projects have a better chance of coming to fruition than Traveston, as this time the Labor state and federal governments are both highly in favour, in their quest for net-zero carbon emissions.
If only the LNP would show some guts and progress into the new century, by offering bi-partisan support, but we know they will work surreptitiously to undermine these important projects by pandering to a noisy minority of extremists in their quest for votes.
Alan Ward, Buderim
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 for accountability, credibility and transparency. Preference will be give to letters of 100 words or less.
