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: Coast’s major transport projects ramp up
Andrew Moran, Battery Hill: The state government’s update on local transport projects offered more slogans than substance. Officials highlighted “major milestones”, but the activities described – geotechnical work at Aroona Station, tenders opening for part of the Caloundra Transport Corridor Upgrade, and early works on the Mooloolah River Interchange – are still preparatory steps, not delivery.
The community again heard familiar phrases: “starting soon”, “it’s complicated”, “transform the network”, and “significant economic benefits”, along with a new assurance about “getting the Sunshine Coast moving again”. What remains unclear is the core information people need: what will be built, when it will be delivered, what it will cost, who will pay, and what those dollars will actually buy.
These projects are large, interdependent, and competing with other Olympic‑related works for skilled labour and funding. With 2032 still a long way off, residents want more than announcements – they want transparent timelines, realistic staging and evidence of progress that matches the scale of the promises.
- Read the story: Concerns sign could ‘dominate’ town’s streetscape
Peter Baulch, North Arm: There remains the small matter of failure to heed the Planning and Environment Court’s condition that required the applicant to “submit and have endorsed by Council, a detailed Advertising Signage Strategy that considers the site’s location as identified within the Character Area and on a Scenic Route”.
- Read the story: Roads to close as event lures thousands
Rob Hewitt, Buddina: It is unbelievable that the motorway is totally closed for the triathlon. Surely the western lane could remain open with lane markers to allow motorists (residents and visitors) to travel freely between north and south? The eastern lane plus the existing bike path should be more than adequate to cater for the competitors?
- Read the story: Push to plan extra lanes on busy highway stretch
Andrew Moran, Battery Hill: The population boom putting pressure on the Bruce Highway isn’t a future challenge (5/3/26) – it has already happened. The planning and preparatory work needed to manage it should have been done years ago, and it wasn’t.
The Minister’s comments about “understanding what it’s like”, “delivering the biggest ever investment”, and “keeping on working” offer sympathy but no clear commitments. That reflects a real constraint: construction capacity is already stretched, and even current projects are struggling to stay on schedule.
Long‑term planning is welcome, but it must appear – and be implemented – before the next wave of growth arrives. If planning continues to lag behind population, the community will keep getting solutions years after the problems have already taken hold. Perhaps this time, we may see the plan long before we see the outcomes it’s meant to deliver.
Read the story: Popular headland path about to be revamped
Greg Sheather, Buderim: As a cyclist I am looking forward to the opening of the new foreshore bikeway. The sweeping bends just draw you in. I hope it won’t be too popular with walkers who just get in the way (tongue in cheek)!
Unfortunately, the new walkway will become a bike raceway unless the council bites the bullet and acts to preserve the safety of walkers (and bikers) on this new facility. This could be done by simply requiring cyclists to dismount when using the walkway, not an act of discrimination in so far as it requires them to just do what everybody else is doing ie walking.
We no longer take our guests, particularly elderly ones, on these walkways on the weekend as we spend too much time looking over our shoulders and shepherding them to the side. They have become a tourism disincentive and the council needs to think a bit more deeply about its ‘duty of care’ to the users of public walkways.
And, just in case you’re wondering, we own four bikes (two electric), however the Sunshine Coast has hundreds of kilometres of cycleways that don’t involve navigating dense pedestrian traffic.
- Read the story: Council defends action against brewery after open letter appeal
Glen Lait, Valdora: This council is a pack of nannies. Why close a venture that is employing people and providing families with children a place to play on the grass? Some families live in units with no yards. I have been told one woman made noise complaints and does not even live at the property. Noise stops at 7 o’clock at the latest, so no issue. The whole Sunshine Coast should be ashamed.
- Preventing child drownings
Garry Reynolds, Peregian Springs: There has been a concerning increase in child drownings across our state in recent years. Thankfully, my two-year-old grandson is progressing enthusiastically at his swimming lessons, but the broader picture of children’s swimming ability is alarming. One in four schools no longer holds a swimming carnival as too many children can’t swim well enough to participate. At most carnivals, children from about Year 2 upward are invited to swim one length of an Olympic pool if they believe they can.
Increasingly, they can’t. A 2025 Royal Life Saving Australia report revealed that almost half of Year 6 students cannot swim 50m and tread water for two minutes, the minimum safety benchmark for their age. Even more concerning, nearly half of children aged 7–14 don’t meet the minimum safety skills expected of a six-year-old. Worryingly, research shows parents often overestimate their child’s ability and underestimate their drowning risk – a sure recipe for a family tragedy. So how does a nation that prides itself on being a “country of swimmers” turn the tide?
I suggest we stop treating swimming as an optional sport, but as a non-negotiable life skill. If a child is already in high school, skills can still be learned and improved. This isn’t about becoming a nanny state. It’s about giving not only our children the best chance to stay safe, but also the lives of desperate family members who try to rescue youngsters when they get into difficulties
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.
