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: ‘Life savings at risk’: park residents protest proposed changes
Jenny Law, Maleny: I read with dismay that Dicky Beach permanent sites are under threat of becoming worthless as an asset to the people who own and live in them. These dwelling offer permanent, safe housing for those residents. This would be very bad planning in the middle of the housing crisis we are in.
Peter Baulch, North Arm: Could council really be so tin-earred as to think that now is a good time to remove affordable housing from the market? And to wipe out people’s capacity to contribute to the cost of their residential aged care?
L. Fletcher: Why have councils everywhere become so greedy and heartless towards residents in these times, with affordable housing shortage and cost of living stress getting worse? The changes pending to “penalise” long-term residents living in certain caravan parks is just another kick in the guts to those who chose to make themselves a home in a caravan park when they couldn’t afford the standard great Australian dream of a house and land in suburbia.
Councils wanting to change the rules so they can take back control and ownership of the permanent sites is yet another appalling example of their unjustified show of power and a greedy revenue grab from residents in favour of tourists. Even if they offered to pay the market price to each resident, where is the affordable alternative home for them to buy? Out the back of ‘Woop Woop’ is the only option and that is just not fair.
Norm Brennan, Lyneham, ACT: This is another case of bureaucrats trying to look busy by interfering with people who want to live a quiet and peaceful life in caravans instead of occupying a three or four-bedroom house that can be used by families.
- Read the story: Terminal transformation plans revealed in flythrough
Phillip Adamson, Maroochydore: Congratulations to the Sunshine Coast Airport company for finally enlarging and modernising the existing passenger terminal. I look forward to it being completed. I trust that airport management will increase the ground staff numbers from its current level to a level where passengers can disembark their flights without having to wait to find a ground staff employee to push stairs to the aircraft’s door. I have flown into the airport on five separate occasions and each time we, the passengers, have had to wait up to 20 minutes to disembark the plane for the lack of stairs being quickly rolled to the plane’s doors.
As for the baggage carousel fiasco, when is this going to finally be sorted out by airport management? The time that it takes to deliver the bags from the aircraft to the baggage claim carousel is totally unacceptable. In September a full plane of passengers had to wait a good 17 minutes before the first bag arrived in the baggage claim hall. To add insult to injury, an airport message announced, without an apology to the waiting passengers for the long wait, that our bags were held up and we would have to wait longer for them, and within 10 seconds of this announcement, the siren rang, the red light started to flash and the first piece of baggage appeared. One passenger was so frustrated by the wait time and inappropriate timing of the announcement that he said out loud, with a tone of deja vu: “Well folks, welcome to the Sunshine Coast.”
The unacceptable waiting time for incoming passengers to be able to get off the plane and collect their bags and get on with their lives has happened on every one of my five arrivals at the airport. The situation is also a nightmare for friends and family waiting up pick up passengers as the airport parking ‘police’ have no time for vehicle owners who outstay their limit even due to the fact that the problem is an airport management one and not at all the fault of the passengers and waiting drivers. This is certainly not a positive experience for the locals and visitors to the Sunshine Coast and certainly highlights, for me personally, poor airport management.
We are told that our regional airport is the “Gateway to the Sunshine Coast”. Well, what a negative experience most travellers currently experience when arriving and leaving. All the PR in the world promoting an “overly” expensive expansion will come to nothing if airport management fails to ensure that all runs smoothly and efficiently at all times.
- Read the story: State agency advises against festival site for 35,000
Peter Baulch, North Arm: Given SARA’s track record of waving through development applications that are hotly opposed by their host communities, if they are recommending refusal of this one in the public interest and in the face of the Minister’s obvious predisposition to approve it, everyone – including Minister Bleijie – should take notice.
Read the stories: Jane Stephens: clocking up time in the sun and Ashley Robinson: footy should decide daylight saving debate
Kaz Washbourne, Mountain Creek: I agree with daylight savings being introduced in Queensland (at least South-East Queensland). I also agree with a referendum being held if needed.
John Leal, Caloundra: The daylight savings issue has raised its ugly head again. Businesses aren’t happy because Queensland refuses to fiddle with its clocks and put them forward, disrupting business dealings between states. There are two sensible remedies here. One is that the southern states leave their clocks alone, the other is that affected businesses simply change their working hours to suit. As for having to check TV programming, that’s no worry because now that the rugby league season is finished, there’s nothing worth watching. Finally, who wants an extra hour of Queensland heat at teatime while dripping sweat onto your curried sausages?
- Read the story: Company warns projects could suffer if expansion bid fails
Burnice Starkey, Glass House Mountains: The proposed expansion of Heidelberg Materials’ quarry operations in the Glass House Mountains is unnecessary and potentially harmful to the community for several reasons. The community is not opposed to progress; rather, it advocates for considerations related to health, safety and heritage. Issues such as dust and silica exposure, blasting vibrations, increased truck traffic and potential ecological impacts warrant careful attention and should not be minimised. Consider this: Heidelberg Materials is one of the largest building materials companies in the world. With shares costing $335, its prime objective is making more acquisitions. Heidelberg Materials Australia currently operates 71 quarries and it is now the largest cement company in Australia. In Germany, its claims to be reducing its carbon footprint using concrete recyclates, but here in the Glass House Mountains it mines beside Mount Coonowrin.
I take exception to the statement “that an expanded quarry was vital for the fast-growing region in the lead-up to the 2032 Olympics”. Using the accelerated densification of our region, the housing prices and the railway link is disingenuous. Firstly, the Sunshine Coast has over 10 quarries. Council’s quarries are situated at Image Flat and Dulong. Currently, these facilities supply high-quality rock products for the construction, maintenance and repair of 2597km of sealed roads and 474km of unsealed roads throughout the region, resulting in notable cost savings for both council and ratepayers. The Parklands Quarry, located 4km north of Nambour, delivers a comprehensive range of blue metal products to the local market, complemented by additional operations in the Yandina area. Secondly, despite the alleged significance of Glasshouse Quarry products to the Sunshine Coast, there is observable transport of Heidelberg double trucks through the Moreton Bay Council region. Why? Were they heading to the Cement Australia plant in Pinkenba, another Heidelberg concern? Not very local.
- Read the story: Council backs graffiti removal efforts as resident slams delay
Elizabeth Somerville: I am bewildered to read about locals passing discriminating and negative comments on graffiti on skate park walls. How is this affecting those that complain, or anyone for that matter? This is where graffiti should be. It’s all part of a culture that involves various types of creative endeavours such as art, graffiti, skate, scoot, fun, pain, perseverance, courage and self-expression. It’s necessary for those who do engage in this culture to use up all that boundless amount of energy they have in this highly safe and creative way that’s actually good for your body, mind and soul. Youth need somewhere to express themselves or they will do it in a less savoury way. So I say cover the skate park in art, yes please, and be safe.
- Read the story: Another whale calf rescued from region’s shark nets
David Jenkins, Spit Junction, NSW: I’m writing about your recent reporting on the 13 whales that became entangled in shark nets along the Queensland coast and statements made on this subject by the Queensland Premier David Crisafulli. The Premier states he is not prepared “to risk a single person’s life” by removing the shark nets. Yet by leaving them in place during whale migration, he is in fact endangering and risking the lives of all the people who then have to go out and undertake the extremely dangerous work of disentangling them. Surely this also breaches Queensland occupational health and safety laws that you cannot continue to wilfully endanger peoples’ lives by not providing a safe work environment?
- Read the story: Your say: graffiti removal, bowls club site and more
Robyn Deane, Nambour: I agree with Garry Reynolds regarding the significant impact of dementia. Unfortunately, many seniors report a greater fear of dementia than cancer. Often described as the “long goodbye”, dementia gradually erodes cherished memories, profoundly affecting both individuals and their loved ones. Garry said “we fear it and make nervous jokes when we misplace our keys or forget a name”. Comfortingly, consultant psychiatrist and psychogeriatrician Dr Kailas Roberts wrote, and I paraphrase, that misplacing car keys is not a symptom of dementia, looking at the keys and not knowing what they are for is.
As a nation we all need to be aware of the impact it is having on too many Australians and unless we educate ourselves about how to prevent or slow its progress, future generations are going to be saddled with the increasing cost of looking after those afflicted and too many will go through the heartache of watching over a loved one slipping away.
- Marital loneliness
Garry Reynolds, Peregian Springs: Marital loneliness is a common but unspoken challenge for people who fell in love years ago. We see it exposed dramatically in surprising celebrity splits. Therapists say that just below the surface in outwardly happy partnerships, when a spouse is living with someone who won’t truly communicate, it feels lonelier than really being alone.
On the surface, marriages may notionally appear to function, but it can be in the atmosphere of a dimly sensed rift as physical and emotional intimacy erodes. Transactional daily living conversations increasingly elbow aside engaging romance, warmth and playfulness that predominated in the early years. Downplaying a sense of unease can feel like a way to hold things together, even though it means ignoring what’s really going on inside, which will take its toll.
Outwardly, the goodbye kiss has been reduced to a quick peck, and those desperately trying to relight the flame with a shoulder massage that causes recoil and a “don’t be silly” retort can be shattering. Partners seem relieved when a shared activity is cancelled due to external circumstances. The unspoken agreement is that if we don’t make waves, things might get better. But they don’t, as uncomfortable topics are blithely shunted aside.
Therapists say that these behaviours don’t automatically mean the relationship is beyond repair, but honest conversations and possibly professional help are needed if there’s to be a chance of avoiding emotional icebergs and turning the ship around. They emphasise that the crucial thing is recognising the difference between temporary rough seas and genuine emotional withdrawal. It’s important for spouses to keep checking in with one another to see if they’re on the same page and how they’re feeling. Regular small kindnesses reduce uncertainty and provide a sense of emotional security.
Some marriages end with dramatic fights or shocking betrayals, which create celebrity headlines. But more marriages just fade away. Sadly, divorce after a couple has been together for decades signifies one of life’s most profound losses. It leaves an emotional and financial toll on each other, with collateral damage for family, friends and the community.
I’ve experienced it and learned that understanding why divorce happens can help couples recognise warning signs before they become the Titanic sinking. Thankfully, early recognition can become the chart to help navigate a course back to serving each other while serving themselves. When couples stop making the effort to sail together, they drift apart. The harsh truth is that marriage doesn’t run on autopilot. The moment you stop nurturing your relationship, it begins to deteriorate.
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.
