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.
- Read the story: Initial work begins on 450-home development
I wanted to write to you to highlight my concerns about the new fence that has been erected around the land that has been approved for new housing at Twin Waters.
I am very worried about the kangaroo population after what I witnessed today. We have been given an update by the local councillor on the plans for looking after, and directing, the kangaroos to a new grazing area but I’m not sure that is what’s happening.
I have seen all the kangaroos in a circle inside the fence. They were coming through the gaps in the fence onto the road. People were all over the road trying to slow traffic to save them. It was chaos!
Why are they fenced in, encouraging them to panic and head for the road? This plan of redirecting the kangaroos we have been informed of doesn’t seem to be working. Why are they herded together inside the fence?
We are worried about what is going to happen to them.
Carl Hamp, Kuluin
Traffic management plan? How are they going to manage all the vehicles, from a site with 450 new homes, on to the only possible exit route? There will be a minimum of 450 and up to 900 new vehicles entering the motorway daily.
And that residential mob of kangaroos is now basically locked inside. They travel down Ocean Drive to Twin Waters resort and across the road. I sat and watched a dozen up against fence looking out.
Ray Carson, Twin Waters
I use the motorway every day. I wondered why there are so many dead kangaroos, especially the huge one I saw on Sunday.
Very disappointing.
Jane Smith, Yaroomba
- Read the story: Petition urges national park backflip at former airstrip
Why, after 79 years, is there a problem?
As normal, it seems the Sunshine Coast is trying to close another sport club. We need facilities like this.
John Borrill, Little Mountain
- Read the story: Plan revised for development on high-profile site
I am a former resident of Marcoola and played bowls at Pacific Paradise and had many meals at the North Shore Tavern.
I enjoyed your article on the development and feel it would be great for the area. I do have a question on parking for the tavern as the area to be used for short-term accommodation is the car park area and wondered where the parking would be.
Graeme Corps, Pacific Paradise
I’m writing to query the proposed building reduction heights in this development.
Yes, a reduced number of dwellings, but the heights appear nearly the same and I can’t seem to see any tavern parking. Can anyone explain?
Sharyn Lea
- Read the story: Plan to reshape transport along beach strip
On the surface, the active street project pilot in a straight 800m section of Lorikeet Drive, Peregian Beach, seems to be a good idea. However, dig a little deeper into what is being proposed within Noosa Council’s Cycling and Walking Strategy and Transport Strategy related collateral and you quickly acquire a very different perspective.
Most Peregian Family and Friends members do not live in the streets targeted for conversion to active streets and are not intimately aware of the local topology, challenges and issues. The only organisation that provided a balanced, suitably cautious and reserved response to this project was the Peregian Beach Community Association.
I do not live in Lorikeet Drive but in a street that council has indicated will be a potential target for future conversion to an active street. I only found out about this project by accident through a casual chat with another resident last month. Since then, I have spent weeks looking into the detail, analysing council’s walking, cycling and transport strategy collateral and investigating the so-called safety and amenity benefits promoted by council. I’ve also looked into the viability and impacts of implementing the proposed active street design in additional streets through to the Peregian Beach Village.
I do not agree with the questionable benefits associated with on-road cycle priority zones and would not want to live on a street where an active street of the design proposed by council is implemented. I do not have an issue with the implementation of off-road shared pathways, given there are no footpaths in many local streets today, nor am I overly concerned with a decreased speed limit, assuming it can be enforced. I do, however, have some reservations about the use of chicanes as a traffic-calming measure in combination with on-road cycle priority zones but will wait for the detailed design before making further comment. I do, however, seriously question and oppose the use of on-road cycle priority zones in the Peregian Beach context.
This funding could otherwise be used to help address more pressing and urgent road repairs and upgrades and housing issues.
Randal Delaney, Peregian Beach
- Read the story: Public transport plan given $5.5b budget kickstart
It is a toss-up which is more cringeworthy: the LNP’s mendacity about the $5.5 billion that was already committed by the previous Labor government to get the heavy rail spur as far as Caloundra, or the enthusiasm with which it is applauded.
Peter Baulch, North Arm
- Read the story: Pothole saga leaves driver deflated
I experienced a similar problem as Simon Riordan while driving on Pioneer Road, Yandina, and hitting a pothole.
On Old Gympie Road, Yandina, a few days previously, I had a flat tyre caused by a piece of sharp metal on the road. While driving to the tyre place on Pioneer Road to collect the repaired tyre, during rain, I was driving about 40km/h to get ready to turn around to the tyre place and I drove into a deep pothole which was not obvious as it was filled with water. The result was a damaged tyre: the cost $250.
I contacted the council and was advised that they could not reimburse me but I should claim it on my insurance, which I did not. It was another problem I had to deal with at the time, when my husband had a cardiac arrest and I was on my way to SCUH, so I had two new tyres and a $500 bill in a week.
Marlene, Yandina
- Challenging toxic teen masculinity
Our news is frequently peppered with stories of teenage boys behaving outrageously. They are often encouraged by toxic online influencers, but hope is growing to address the challenge of filling the gaps at home or in school that are letting these nasty mean-spirited influencers into the minds of the boys.
The Queensland community has shown by its voting that it wants the downward spiral of juvenile repeat offenders brought to account.
While Queensland’s laws have been tightened with adult crime, adult time legislation, early intervention approaches are growing interstate with increasing success.
Queenslanders want to see teenage boys pointed in the right direction to avoid them going off the rails in the first place.
Without early intervention, certain boys are willing to do anything to seek validation from their peers.
Anti-social behaviours range from stealing cars and invading family homes to being incredibly disrespectful towards women and the elderly.
In a move to break the vicious cycle, 13,000 boys in the ACT have been through the Menslink charity’s TRIBE program, developing trust, resilience, independence, bravery and empathy on their journey to manhood.
Confidential workshops encourage participants to consider what sort of men they want to be, by tackling harmful social expectations, loneliness, and anger, along with sexism and racism.
During one of the sessions, the students are asked about someone in their life to whom they owe an apology.
One of the boys started crying when he admitted he wanted to say sorry to his dad.
“I’ve put him through some stuff,” he said, before being comforted by his peers.
The boys in groups of 12 meet once a week in the playground to reinforce the positive messages from their workshops and support each other without adult intervention.
They are owning the challenge of stepping up to a higher path to manhood.
Hopefully, these positive lessons can be adapted to complement youth programs in
Queensland.
Garry 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.
