I usually write a heartfelt column about the Easter holidays and what it has meant to me – as a child, all the way through to having a family – and what a special time of year it is.
I didn’t do it this time as there are a few things spoiling it: D. Trump, A. Albanese and P. Dutton and their associated gangs of head-nodding sycophants.
Trump has caused chaos endlessly but his latest effort with the tariffs has sent the media and the markets wild, and, in my view, has highlighted what Easter is not about.
Closer to home, the pork barrelling by the incumbent and the promises by the challenger are a little bit like Easter, particularly if last Saturday night you stayed up to try and catch the Easter Bunny delivering the eggs. The eggs did arrive, but guess who paid for them? Sound familiar?
Even closer to home, the thing that did not enhance my Easter was all the candidate signs around the Sunshine Coast. Yes, I know: “Pot, kettle, black” – I did it when I ran for mayor and yes, I know I have a bad head, so it was visual pollution to the max.
But I always believed that the federal and state governments, local council and Electoral Commission should get together and put a stop to the blatant waste of money.
Why can’t they identify an area in the community for temporary billboards so that candidates can put up signage all together and nowhere else. It would be much tidier and way fairer in regard to different budgets for various candidates.
Placing all that aside, I hope you did have a good Easter. It always reminds me of some wonderful memories of spending Easter at Picnic Point every year until I was a teenager.
As a family man, we had some fantastic holidays with the kids trying to find that bloody rabbit and then surfing as they got older. And there was the occasional camping trip which sometimes ended in sleeping in the car after a storm. All in all, great memories of a special time of year.
My very last official outing with my mum Edna was to church on Easter Sunday and I will always cherish that. It is something not even the aforementioned ‘three amigos’ can spoil for me.
Easter is about family and friends, and I really hope you created some memories. I know we did at our place with our grandkids. As they say: “The great gift of Easter is hope.”
Ashley Robinson is chairman of the Sunshine Coast Falcons and Sunshine Coast Thunder Netball, and a lifetime Sunshine Coast resident.
