100% Locally Owned, Independent and Free

100% Locally Owned, Independent and Free

Your say: pet resort, island repair, social housing and more

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Office tower expansion proposed for high-profile site

A seven-storey building in the heart of the Sunshine Coast’s business district could be set for a major expansion. A development application has been lodged More

Council releases new draft planning scheme

Sunshine Coast Council's proposed new planning scheme is now open for public feedback. The scheme outlines suggested changes to zoning, building heights, design, green space More

‘Debated’ childcare centre wins court battle

A judge has ruled in favour of a new childcare centre for a growing business hub following its rejection by a local council. In June More

Photo of the day: fading sun

Tom Regener captured this winter sunset over Pelican Waters. If you have a photo of the day offering, email photo@sunshinecoastnews.com.au. Photos must be horizontal/landscape and More

Fatally stabbed man may have disturbed burglary attempt

A husband found dead with multiple stab wounds at a suburban home may have disturbed a break-and-enter attempt, police say. The 57-year-old man's body was More

‘Incredible talent’: beloved radio host announces departure

Popular radio host Todd Widdicombe is stepping down from his role on the Sunshine Coast airwaves. Widdicombe has been the co-host of 92.7 Mix FM’s More

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 given to letters of 100 words or less.

Someone buys a property near a kennel then complains about the noise, how unusual.

Mark Taxis, Kureelpa

This is another example of bureaucratic overreach and why business and national progress are hampered by egos and very narrow-minded public servants.

Richard Blaxland, Clifton

This is ridiculous. A complaining ratepayer purchased beside or close to a licensed property. The licensed property owner, if they reduce the number of pens and dogs, will still have noise travel. Kennels are noisy. More outdoor areas are healthy and will make the kennel quieter because the dogs will be exercised and happy.

If you want the dogs sitting in their kennels all day then watch the noise go up. Be reasonable.

Sharon Farrow, Whiteside

Do you really think that the centre of Tewantin is the correct place for social housing?

I live on four acres at Tewantin and this property is unable to be developed for social housing. The property is for one dwelling only plus granny flat.

We would certainly consider this property for social housing.

Annabel Naus, Tewantin 

Instead of having to appoint designers and architects to start from scratch, why not ask established unit and townhouse builders to tender for the project using some of their stock-standard designs?

This would come out much cheaper, I’m sure.

Jim Gibson

I’m very keen to see all these monster ugly and dangerous vehicles banned from all beaches, particularly the North Shore in the Noosa area.

It’s not the place for them. Beaches are for birds, wildlife and turtles, and for enjoyment and relaxation in a calm and safe environment, not highways where one has to look out and watch for speeding vehicles. It’s ludicrous and highly unpleasant.

Councils and highway authorities should seriously ban them altogether from our beaches and find an alternative safe site for those who want to drive on sand.

Mary Durie, Black Mountain

One suggestion is to build a road from Pelican Waters to Bells Creek Arterial Road. This would take 25 per cent of the Caloundra Road traffic south and away from Nicklin Way and Caloundra Road during construction.

The second suggestion is to build a bridge over the roundabout on Caloundra Road.

Ralph Coulson, Golden Beach

One bad road is Beerburrum Street, Dicky Beach. It’s a race track and hardly anyone does the speed limit of 60km/h or 40km/h out the front of Dicky Beach Caravan Park.

Neil Chapman, Dicky Beach 

Instead of the waste of money that will be incurred to try and repair the island, just help homeless people.

Nature will always take back, so inevitably it will be an ongoing concern.

Just leave nature alone.

Bryan Peck, Caboolture 

I have witnessed the desecration and destruction of the northern Pumicestone Passage and Golden Beach since holidaying with my parents in 1967 in a little cottage at Golden Beach called St Ives, which is now the site of Gemini Towers.

Many can remember the 40-foot deep ‘Blue Hole’ against Bribie and the channel that ran past Bulcock Beach over the Caloundra Bar. When the Pelican Waters suburb was built, the runoff of dirt/sand filled the passage and that water, with nowhere to go, scoured Bribie and we now see the result. Aura further exacerbates this problem.

The Caloundra Bar should have stabilised in the 1980s (see Southport Seaway and South Straddy). Good luck with a 1km seawall as this will just push the problem elsewhere.

Collective greed has caused this problem and nature will find its own solution, without our consultation.

Paul Chittick, Camp Hill 

So much emphasis is being placed on the 2022 breakthrough of the Caloundra Bar.

The local council and state members should know that this is where the bar was for at least 100 years. I have photos to prove this. The reason it broke through was man-made. When you cut a track through the undergrowth to go to the surf and don’t stop traffic, like what is happening right now on the northern tip each day, what do you expect?

Who in their right mind approved the expansion of the power boat club dining room to a few metres of the water’s edge? Of course the waves are going to splash on the windows,  as they were before the cyclone and will to continue to do so. I just hope that they don’t turn it into another Noosa stuff-up, which also was designed a project.

Alan Cutts, Golden Beach

I’m sorry to say you are flogging a dead horse. What a complete waste of taxpayers’ money.

I’ve said in the past and I will say now: you cannot flirt with Mother Nature.

Rudy Formigoni, Brisbane

A very shortsighted approach. Unfortunately, none will be built until the council allows a separate title to be obtained.

Without that you can’t borrow and they add little or no value to the existing home.

Bill LeMass

  • Moulding our kids’ culture

I am a 75-year-old grandfather and ex-teacher who still loves being with young people chatting casually, absorbing ideas and their culture like a senior sponge.

In response to their questions about my younger days, I tell them that when I was brought up, the message from home that was reinforced in the classroom was always do your best, take pride in your family and being Australian, while remaining humble personally.

Another message that was repeated at home, in sporting teams and class was: “Don’t think you’re any more important than the person next to you.”

Jacinta, one of my former senior economics students, handed me a card that said the most important thing she learned from me was, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade”.

Don’t just look to bounce back, but bounce forward.

Today, I sense from their reactions in chats that many young people live in a different universe where they are the centre of that universe.

They seem to isolate themselves in a virtual realm of self-entitlement, with peers and their opinions reinforced by constant mobile phone chats and texts.

Amid the confusion of all the online chatter, there is little time left for quiet individual reflection and family sharing of wisdom to purposefully address problems like identity, loneliness and peer pressure rather than wallow in woe-is-me.

Providing teens with a refuge in the mobile phone could be one of the major mistakes we have made as a community, opening the door to the ideas of exploitative influencers outside of our homes and schools, where new ideas can be examined in a safe environment around a sound moral compass.

Chatting to my GP, she mentioned that when her family of four, including two young boys, gathers at mealtime, the television and music are turned off and no phones are brought to the table.

“We have lots of discussions,” she says, adding, “That doesn’t mean we agree all the time, but we leave the table knowing the family comes first, not those at the end of the phone.”

Gary Reynolds, Peregian Springs

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 given to letters of 100 words or less.

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