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: Crackdown on illegal camping resumes and Locals fume as van dwellers overrun town’s beach car parks
I agree that some of the campers leave a disgusting mess but the majority do the right thing.
Most of the vans are either homeless people or backpackers. The backpackers try to get work in the area and, when I was managing a resort in Noosaville, we had a steady stream of backpackers coming in to ask for work.
The council should arrange for sites in the area at a reasonable cost. They park there because they cannot afford to pay the rates of some caravan sites.
To all that do park illegally, I wish you well in your travels and please take your rubbish away. You will not curry favour with locals if this practice does not stop.
I would also like to add that we employed travellers on occasions and they were helpful and grateful for the opportunity.
We now live in Peregian Springs and there are, on occasions, vans that park in Peregian Beach. We hope the council can find a solution because the tourism industry is suffering at the present time and all councils do is try to increase rates above affordable rates.
Sue and Geoff Barden, Peregian Springs
When the parks are charging $135 per night, that’s why people are free camping.
Alan Dell, Torquay, Victoria
I am a homeless female forced to live in a shared car with an abusive partner since August.
The reality of living on the streets is hard: unable to access food, toilets are closed between 10pm and 4am as the council locks them, no access to gas barbecues as the council has turned them off, and the ongoing risk of a $700 fine for camping on council land by council rangers.
Life is hard, especially for women like me in the 40-plus age group, as all the help out there is either full or not available. I feel for those who are genuinely homeless as it is not our fault we have been forced to sleep in council areas. Ultimately, we the homeless are being discriminated against by our own government.
A change of Premier has seen a change of focus on homelessness in a very negative way.
Alison, Margate
I have personally observed some people struggling to live with the high cost of rent and being moved on by council but these people were not hurting anyone and they were respectful of the environment.
You wouldn’t even know they were there but the council doesn’t want to impose fines as it will take money away from the community.
Robert M, Nambour
These overnight crackdowns are now happening throughout Australia. We have a fully self-contained caravan and have always, and still prefer not to stay in a caravan park, not because of cost but we prefer the wide open spaces.
Maybe you can answer this: why is it that you can stay all day sitting or sleeping in your vehicle, before dawn and after dark, but not throughout the night?
Lewis, Black Mountain
If councils that go fining so-called “free campers” who make use of areas that are not being used during the night had any common sense and intelligence they would work with the campers who do put funds into those communities when they buy supplies.
It is obvious that not everyone has the funds to stay in a motel or hotel. These people sometimes do casual work while in the area and spend some money here while camped. Maybe if the various councils around Australia stopped overcharged for camping sites, so they can fine campers for “free camping”, they and their communities may actually encourage more people to come and stay and spend more money in their communities.
Food for thought for these poorly-minded councils to properly consider and reflect on.
Wayne, Leichhardt, NSW
I am a tax-paying, house-owning long-term resident of Noosa.
I have no problem with real campers staying in a designated campground with facilities. What we have happening now is a lot of lowlifes taking advantage of those paying the costs. All it takes is a day at Noosa Spit to see the destruction of the national wonder: hundreds of people defecating in the bush, having long showers, washing dishes and babies’ bums in the public showers.
A tax-paying resident can no longer head down for a surf as there is a battle for car parks and a feeling of lack of safety with all the lowlifes hanging around. If they are truly short of money, why would they go to the most expensive suburb in Australia, crying poor and become a burden to everyday folk?
Yes, Noosa is a wonderful place but if you can’t afford to stay there find somewhere that you can afford. I would love to go to Monaco and stay on the beachfront with the billionaires and, as I can’t afford to, simple, I don’t go there. This is exactly how many places in the world have been destroyed. Take a look at the video on YouTube “The death of Seattle”. This is exactly how it started and now this, and many cities around the world, have no-go zones. Hawaii decided to turn a blind eye to “camping” and now even the police can’t go to these areas as their vehicles get stoned.
We still have a chance to save Noosa.
Alex Springer, Noosa
Being a regular camper ourselves I disagree with illegal camping.
I feel that a lot of homeless are taking over free camping spots, which I don’t have a problem with if they respect them and keep them clean. But the majority are not doing that and it makes it bad for those of us who do. I understand that sometimes if you’re really stuck for somewhere to stay for the occasional night and you don’t have any other options then stay. I find it’s harder to find spots around the coasts as most are not dog-friendly.
I believe if it says 24 hours that’s what you should respect so that others have a chance to use the facilities too. Caravans are getting pricy and free camping is always a great option.
All campers need to do the right thing so we don’t have closures of camping spots.
Jan Connelly, Palmview
I think it’s disgusting that there is no place in Australia that homeless people can go to, with only help for women and children, and not even all of those. Where do the rest go?
They try to hide the fact that it’s just disgusting and ultimately just greed-based – everything is for tourism and making money so people on the streets get double-screwed over, for what? Just revenue raising. But it only targets those who can’t afford to pay. It’s truly disgusting. I understand if there are issues, like the particular individual camping creates mess or dangers to the public, then I’m all for removal but nine out of 10 homeless people are doing the best they can with a bad situation and at every turn they’re victimised and made out to be a criminal just for trying to survive.
Joshua Roy, Victor Harbour, SA
I, first of all, have to say I live in a motorhome.
To all the people that are complaining about motorhomes, I agree that many motorhomes are not fully equipped and do the wrong thing and spoil it for everybody else. However, there are people out there in motorhomes who do the right thing by not littering, dropping their grey waste or defecating in the bush. There is a massive humane issue in this state and the people that complain need to step into those people’s shoes who are doing it rough. Also, your circumstances could change in a heartbeat. I’m one of those people.
I, personally, think it is ridiculous the way people carry on.
Desmond Wright
I travelled for about 10 years with my wife and young daughter.
We have a motorhome and have almost exclusively free camped. We were fortunate to be self-contained and never left any mess behind. In our time, we rarely had interactions with authorities as we didn’t cause noise nor mess. We didn’t stay in the one spot for too long.
We chose to travel, it was a great experience that sadly most people will never get the opportunity to do, we met some interesting people from all over the world and are still in contact with them even now. Many were backpackers visiting Australia.
Yes, we did see people leaving behind them some horrible mess. Yes, we did see people living permanently or semi-permanently in parks and, in some cases, it was an eyesore. Yes, we saw some people who appeared to be a worry but when we got to meet them, they were fine.
The problem is not so much that people are free camping – Australia has more than enough space to allow free camps. The problem is the attitude of these people. Some think it’s acceptable to leave behind a mess, no different to those who pull up their car to beach car park, eat their takeaway meal, then open their door, lean out and leave their rubbish next to their door and drive off, leaving it to someone else to put in the rubbish bin.
Today, we have cameras everywhere, put up signs advising they are being recorded and fines will be issued to those breaking the rules. But give them somewhere to stay, it doesn’t have to be on the main beach, it doesn’t even have to be on the beach, but take away all options then people will make their own.
Husam, Bundaberg
I think a lot of us forget what it’s like to be young when we criticise those camping in vans at our national park car parks overnight.
It’s a rite of passage many of us would have taken for granted at a similar age. Plus, you can’t really blame the tourists for parking where they do, when there’s nowhere else to park. It’s an easy out to call them lazy on the basis that they ‘haven’t bothered’ to look anywhere else. There is nowhere else nearby that offered affordable onsite stays overnight.
It seems a major oversight on the part of council and town planners that there is nowhere else for affordable camping nearby.
I, for one, love walking past the tourists at the car park at the river mouth. There’s a sense of vibrancy and a sense of urgency and community there among the tourists that is very infectious. People are cooking together, playing music, milling around and having fun, and they bring a sense of youthful vitality to the area that seems to be lacking elsewhere.
In the absence of a dedicated parking space elsewhere, put in an accessible toilet block and cooking facilities and let them have their fun. Many of these same tourists cook in local cafes and restaurants, wait tables, turn down bed sheets in hotels etc. It’s not their fault that there’s an affordable housing crisis.
At the same age, I slept on the beach locally a few times overnight in a sleeping bag and no one seemed to mind. Let them have their fun.
Maybe repurposing the old TAFE in Tewantin to affordable onsite accommodation would have been a better use of the space. I’m sure there are other parcels of land locally that could be repurposed? Instead of shooting the messenger it would be great if local or state governments could pull their finger out and create some affordable onsite accommodation options. Until then heaven forbid that young people should have some fun.
Get a grip Noosa and let people live their best lives. We took it for granted at a similar age that it was our right of passage to do so.
Pat, Noosa
A country called Australia: it was the land of free and freedom.
People lived innocently in homes they built with blood sweat, tears and hard yakka: some with the hands of our own fathers. It was a world away from the world, providing stability, security and dreams. The citizens worked five days a week, paid their mortgage, paid their bills and budgeted for holidays: holidays that were considered real Australian, holidays that consisted of hitching the Jayco caravan to the back of the station wagon and driving off before the roosters crowed to a new adventure. If you couldn’t afford a Jayco, you’d be packing your tent and gas cooker and leaving the hustle and bustles of city life for the country: fresh air, rivers running, fishing rods ready to bait and beer in the eskies. The serenity is felt from the freedom experienced.
Life was good, or so we thought. Life was indeed enjoyed, until recently, until now.
Those days have become a memory for us older generations, and a dream for the younger ones. The dream has now become a nightmare. Today, people are forced to pay more to camp than to pay rent. Today, renting is the dream, for those who are able to even obtain a rental.
When our society is struggling to put a roof over our heads, the land surrounding us becomes valued: valued to live on and hold on top for some sort of stability and dignity. The land that belongs to everyone has now become a tool for war with greedy councils and other governments, placing more stress and strain upon an already strained community.
Let people live, let them camp where they need to, let them sleep and rest and raise peacefully. Camping is not illegal. It’s a safety net for the homeless, it’s a lifestyle for the grey nomads, it’s accommodation for the millions of tourists yearly that bring in revenue.
It’s our right, it’s our backyard.
Patricia Morrison, Blue Mountains
People lived in shacks and tents after the First Fleet landed.
So much Australian folklore idolised the necessity and/or joy in camping. The fire, billy and tales told.
Now it is demonised as our country is hijacked and addicted to the new religion of ‘unreal’ estate investment.
Homelessness is a blight on this great country, and the fastest-growing affected demographic is women over 60. It’s a travesty like DV, and a shame of all governments.
Van, Coolum Beach
We had illegal parking in the southern suburbs of Wollongong but the state member got involved.
We now have no illegal camping in southern suburbs. Of course, the illegal campers whinged. They can go to a caravan park or pay rent. They don’t want that. That’s why they whinged. Everyone else pays rates or rent. Why should we pay rates?
The other part of the story is Wollongong Council moved the illegal campers on in southern areas but has done nothing about it in the northern suburbs. So they have different policies in one council.
Ray Jaeger, Wollongong, NSW
I prefer to free or budget camp as most van parks are too crowded, very expensive and you need to book way in advance.
I would rather spend my money at the local shops instead of giving it to the large companies that own the parks.
Noosa has no free/budget camps. Give people options. There are many places such as the AFL grounds, the old bowls club and the old TAFE. The TAFE has great facilities already, is wasting away and not being used. Open this as low budget or free camping and put rules in place, like a 48-hour stay only. Employ a homeless person to act as caretaker of the facilities at no cost.
If people have options most will do the right thing.
Ria, Noosa shire
I don’t understand why the government doesn’t address this issue.
Special camp areas with toilet/shower facilities, jobs for people, to put these poor souls on a homeless register and report others who have a roof over their heads.
When the weather is inclement I often think of these poor people. I am also horrified at some responses from people who don’t have this problem. Maybe they should try being homeless for a week. We own our home and often comment on how hard it must be for most people to afford to survive while paying such exorbitant rents.
If politicians paid themselves less ridiculous incomes it would go towards setting up these camping areas and/or supplying people with swags so they are least dry and warmer.
Unconscionable behaviour all-round.
Donna Beattie, Brighton
- Read the story: High-tech trolleys to be rolled out at major supermarket
I live near Woolworths’ head office in Sydney. My local store is where most ideas are trialled, proven, then rolled out or abandoned. Scan and go is one which was trialled here around a year ago. It’s quite functional. It has stayed: I don’t see it going but fewer people seem to stick with it.
Each new recycled green plastic trolley appeared overnight and each has a small iPad-style device you collect on store entry. You scan your rewards card to access one. Initially, staff are helpful but I think they were sacked soon after and most checkouts were removed. You can see where this is going.
Click it to the trolley then shop, taking care to scan each item’s barcode. Under the iPad is a small barcode device on a short cable. The progressive cost shows on the screen. You can also run an app list sorted by aisle which is helpful but the device doesn’t help find anything.
For fruit and veg, you pick your product and, at a weighing device, it produces a bar code: scan that. When shopping is done, you must go to self-checkouts and scan a barcode and pay. Then hand the device back and be on your way. Just don’t forget bags.
Downsides? It doesn’t save time and you feel like you are being played by Woolworths, who now have unpaid workers who are its customers. Meanwhile, the staff clutter the aisles picking shoppers’ orders, obstructing all aisles. It’s really bad now. Coles and Aldi look more attractive each day.
And what’s next? The butcher counter is gone and so has most of the deli and seafood. In its place is more plastic packaged meats, fish and deli items and far less staff. Want 300g of ham? No, sorry, it’s our packed sizes or nothing. Soon, the deli will be gone. Frankly, the deli has dropped its quality and freshness and the staff member or two are hard to find.
Its all DIY and it’s not great. Be warned. Your are now a part-time worker. The one service desk staff member is often very busy or missing.
Paul Gerrard, Kellyville
This is yet another strategy for increasing profits from customers.
Companies will lay off several employees, resulting in significant long-term savings, while simultaneously raising their fees under the pretext of improved performance.
While progress is important, in a declining economy where job opportunities are scarce, this approach will ultimately lead to thousands fewer jobs in supermarkets.
Yannick, Cotton Tree
I just used the new scan and go at Currimundi Woolworths.
I got help at the door, staff waited for me to show interest, and then helped me, and I needed a Rewards card to even begin, and I really liked the fact that I could pack my bags directly into my shopping bags, in the trolley, instead of having to unpack again at the register, and re-pack, which has always been a frustration.
I know there is a lot of theft with self-service these day, and I think this new system will also be subject to abuse but, frankly, thinking that anything that is not nailed down is free to walk off with – well that is a juvenile mindset and nothing to be proud of.
Yes, some junior labour may be impacted by this, but I think it’s more about increasing stickiness for their customers, than cutting staff costs. The sort of staff who would line up in rows at cash registers, well they are NDIS support staff now, that’s a new industry, economies change.
Michelle, Battery Hill
- Read the story: Tough calls and tighter belts in council budget shake-up
So the mayor thinks the ‘fix” for this is to increase rates and service charges while the bloated bureaucracy at the Maroochydore just keeps on keeping on? What incredible leadership.
Can we please stop referring to it as a $1 billion budget – that includes both income and expenses. In any business that’s a roughly half billion at best. No wonder they can’t get their numbers right.
How about some downsizing and eliminate some current costs instead of temporary measures that will kick back in again when you think we’ve all forgotten? Make the CEO (or is that two CEOs?) and the expanded leadership team earn their generous incomes by slashing expenses to align with income as any “business” would do.
What a disgraceful response from an inept bunch.
Glenn Bunney, Woombye
With the council planning for another 100,000 people over the next 10 years, where is the treated sewerage effluent to be disposed of and is it to be dispersed through the Kawana deep ocean outfall? What is the sustainable population level for the Sunshine Coast, taking into account water, sewerage, power and infrastructure such as roads and bridges? With so many Sunshine Coast residents facing continually rising costs of living, where every dollar counts, why does the council continue to charge an Arts and Heritage Levy and separate Environment Levy?
In 2007, the state government passed an act to take over South-East Queensland councils’ water infrastructure. Councils can no longer use profits from selling water to prop up their budgets. Instead, residents on the Sunshine Coast are now paying high prices for Unitywater to supply their water.
Another question is where is the Sunshine Coast’s future drinking water supplies to come from now that the Queensland LNP state government has rejected the construction of a desalination plant?
Laurence Jones, Parrearra
Maybe the Sunshine Coast Council can cut the salaries and perks of the hierarchy to save an extra couple of million dollars.
Keith Pohlmann, Warana
- Read the story: Property boom continues but affordability slows growth
Rising values are just great for sellers.
Councils and governments also profit but because Centrelink does not increase the Asset Test Limit for indexation purposes by the same per cent, pensions and part pensions decrease rapidly. So who gains? As callous as Robodebt ever was.
E.E. McPherson, Glass House Mountains
- Read the story: Council pushes ahead with bypass despite review calls
Please go ahead with the independent review of the Caloundra Road-Omrah Avenue project.
Let’s face it, the council’s scorecard is not great on this longest car park in Queensland.
Mike Hickson, Little Mountain
- Read the story: Plans lodged for 12-storey development on main street
No, no, no. Who in their right mind would be involved in this proposed development? Whoever you are, it’s quite obvious you’ve never driven along Bulcock Street. Where and how are the additional vehicles supposed to access their new home? Surely not via Bulcock Street: it is constantly blocked with traffic already.
However, the worst part of this new development is taking away the village atmosphere of Caloundra. Do we not see the sun in the main street again?
I am a very disgruntled resident of Caloundra who does not like to see our little township ruined completely. I first lived on the Sunny Coast in 1948 and, sure, I’ve seen a lot of change in that time. However, this is just over the top.
Jean Stringer, Caloundra West
That’s how it starts. As long as building heights are kept within the Sunshine Coast Council mandate.
As we keep reiterating, we live on the Sunshine Coast because we love it here.
Mrs Van De Kamp, Mountain Creek
My wife and I live in Palm Village on Caloundra Road at Little Mountain.
I really can’t understand all these new buildings are going up while the roads in the area are so bad and congested, Caloundra Road especially.
It sometimes takes people that are in the village that long to even get out.
All council seems to do is build houses or apartments instead of fixing up road problems.
G.H. Laws, Caloundra
The photo and description for a new development at 126-140 Bulcock Street, Caloundra, looks lovely.
I am for mixed-use, high-density housing, generally. However, we still don’t have answers about the additional traffic and what is being done to ease the strain we already have here. The traffic going out to the highway and back is terrible and getting worse. The traffic on Nicklin Way is bad as well especially when working hours commence or end and when school drop-offs or pick-ups occur. Don’t get me started on holiday traffic too.
We need a plan but what I’d like to see is a remedy that is implemented prior to more development and more cars and more people.
We are turning our little paradise into another grid locked rat maze.
Jeff Tuttle, Caloundra
- Read the story: ‘Dangerous and inadequate’: main road rattles locals
I live in Parklakes II and travel these roads every day.
I would like to comment on the state of Camp Flat Road and the Nambour-Bli Bli Rd. They both are very dangerous roads with no shoulders and dangerous sharp edges on the bitumen. Tyres have been destroyed and the drains run alongside with no room to move. We are all living with the fear of a dangerous incident here.
We would like an upgrade ASAP, before we have a fatality.
Lynn Turner, Bli Bli
Why do people have to whine continuously about roads provided to them by TMR?
I have travelled this road many times and have not had a problem with it. If you stick to the speed limits and use a little common sense and drive to the conditions there should be no problems.
I find this is a nice country road to be driven at a leisurely pace to take in the scenery. There’s going to be accidents on any road. If people want to speed or not drive to the local conditions there will be accidents.
If all the so-called roadworks/improvements go ahead, the next thing the Coolum Residents Association will be whining about will be all the increased traffic, noise, speeding and so on.
What do you expect? You would have to be driving like an idiot to crack your head on your cab roof.
Rudy Formigoni, Brisbane
- Read the story: Millions spent on harbour entrance amid lack of options
It seems the existing breakwaters need adjustment in length and maybe direction to counter the northwards flow of sand.
Modelling at, say, UQ Civil Engineering, would be worth pursuing and maybe show that by changing the shape of the southern oceanside breakwater, either extension seaward in a straight line or curving it outwards to deflect drifting sand, might solve the problem.
These problems have been overcome at the Gold Coast entrances to the Tweed and Nerang rivers after extensive modelling.
Brian Becconsall, Kenmore
- Read the story: Parking fines up 45 per cent in two years
Great to see so many junior sporting events around the Coast.
Apologies to the participants for lack of parking available and the council parking inspectors cashing in on your misfortune.
Daniel Greaves, Cotton Tree
- Embracing change
The news brings us so many changes in the world that are beyond our control.
But there is hope on the personal front through changing our mindset. It is said that our life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change. Ironically, what we do not change, we are choosing. Do we want to be a bird born to fly, confining ourselves to a self-imposed cage? Change is difficult, but being frank with ourselves can galvanise us into self-improvement, liberating us to grow and make better choices.
Great minds in history tell us we are not alone in facing this challenge. Abraham Lincoln put it this way, “You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by escaping it today.” Marianne Williamson emphasises, “You must learn a new way to think before you can master a new way to be.” Thomas Jefferson observes, “If you want something you never had, you must be willing to do something you have never done.”
Essentially, if we want success and growth, we need to step out of our comfort zone, or what we allow is what will continue. By being honest with ourselves, we can avoid the mistake of listening to people who have given up on their dreams, telling us to give up on ours.
It makes sense to surround ourselves with uplifting people rather than those who project their fears onto us. Poet John Whittier wrote, “Of all the sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest words are these ‘It might have been.’ C.S. Lewis summed it up saying, “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.”
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.
