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. Some of the opinions below are comments from SCN’s Facebook and Instagram pages.
- Read the story: Dozens of boats removed from river under new rules
Bruce Revie: Council has the power to ” move on” boats but doesn’t seem to have the same vigour when it comes to “moving on” illegal campers squatting under the guise of self-identified homeless persons. Double standards on display.
Russell Sharpe: I have owned several boats over the years both moored and trailered. The most recent a 34ft flybridge cruiser, which I was forced to sell due to Parkinson’s. It amazes me that people leave expensive vessels, left for years to deteriorate sometimes beyond salvaging. My take on this is, if that boat were a bag of cash to the value of the vessel, would the owner leave it sit unattended?
- Read the story: Beachgoers get a glimpse of what seawall will look like
Phil Dance, Mooloolaba: Looks disgusting. They must be looking for lots of bums to sit on those uninviting tiers of concrete. Ugh!
Graham Lockey: I hope that council is going to install some handrails to get down these large steps, or they had better have some good public liability insurance. The design is fine unless you’re young, old, have a young child, a beach trolley or are not too steady on your feet.
It appears that there will be large sections of the so-called ‘beach access’, which will, in fact, be completely inaccessible to many people. It’s bad enough that the once family/disability friendly parking spaces are gone now we have a massive barrier too. Obviously designed by a young, fit person with no regard for any other group of people. I wish the esplanade shopkeepers well, I think they’re going to bear the brunt of the reduction in use of the area courtesy of this barrier design.
Andy McMahon: Council should be held accountable and offer compensation, free rates and free permits associated with business.
Jovian Haidle: It’s the cost of preserving the area. Would have been cheaper and easier to rip the trees out but no one wanted that, so be patient.
Bill Chaplin: Council should stick to fixing potholes and leave major construction projects to companies that know what they’re doing.
Peter McBow: This is why local councils should never be allowed to run / destroy projects. Wasting ratepayers money fixing something that wasn’t broken.
Andy Good: Great to see the town investing in climate resilience.
- Read the story: Sprawling sand fence installed to help protect coastline
Bob Higgs, Little Mountain: The current Bribie breakthrough remediation activity is impressive to watch (thank you Droner.au YouTube channel).
Closing the large channel and reopening the original Caloundra bar would take away Happy Valley beach, now one of best and most enjoyable beaches on the coast with its walkable island paradise from the valley beach. While the Caloundra bar made it easier for a few tinnies and even fewer Pelican Waters cruisers to get into the ocean, removing this new tourism asset would be madness.
- Read the story: Traffic lights proposed for two key intersections
Pat Pauli, Mooloolaba: I read today that new traffic lights are to be installed at both ends of Mayfield Street because they are considered to be a high crash areas.
Have you ever tried to turn right from Palm Drive into Buderim Avenue? It’s pretty much impossible especially during daylight hours. Traffic is seeking different alternatives to get in and out of the Mooloolaba Emerald Woods Estate, one of them being Mayfield Street.
Do you know of any plans to improve the intersection of Palm Drive and Buderim Avenue?
Jennifer Nash: This is going to cause traffic to back up, adding to that, people stopping to reverse park (no doubt all those parking spots will be taken) not to mention the extra noise of cars stopping and starting for the residents in the units nearby. There are lights on Pacific Terrace. Drive a couple streets over and use those lights like us locals already do.
James Fraser: Like we need more traffic lights on the Coast. I’m sure they can throw some redlight cameras on them just to make more money while they’re at it.
Ryno Hayman: Is this the same idiot who thought we needed traffic lights at the intersection of Beerburrum Street and Cooroy Street at Dicky Beach?
- Read the story: Budget changes spark warning over Coast housing supply
Louise Somerville: I am a retiree and a Baby Boomer. The tax system has been out of whack for decades and I support the new 2026 budget. Labor is trying to better align fairness and level the playing field to change a status quo that doesn’t work anymore.
We have a housing system that’s busted and Labor recognises that and is working to address that issue. Our housing crisis has been building over a 40-year period. Kids who can’t leave home because there is no housing and elderly needing help to find a safe home tells us something is wrong.
Investors who have enjoyed negative gearing for so long are outbidding our kids. The changes by Labor in the budget will help address that. Rental organisations are very happy with the changes to help allow renters to join the home ownership market.
It’s better to get the right outcome and cop a bit of political flack with the ‘broken promises’ tack by the Right than to kick a broken system down the road and have things get much worse. Angus Taylor spends all his time trying to be more One Nation than One Nation.
Australia is not facing a housing crisis because migrants exist. Australia is facing a housing crisis because successive governments – state and federal – have failed for decades to build enough housing and to invest sufficiently in public housing. They allowed tax distortions to inflate speculative investment and treated housing as an asset class first and shelter and home second.
Migration did not invent negative gearing or create capital gains tax concessions or privatise public planning capacity or allow infrastructure bottlenecks to get out of control. These parties that lead by fear, hate and division are not decent and fair parties. Thankfully the adults are managing the nation.
Simon Jacques: So, pushing investors into new builds will mean “fewer homes”? The fire sale before the CGT changes will result in “fewer homes”?
Gail Podberscek: What? Hasn’t anyone noticed the “housing crisis” is due to affordability?! Building more expensive homes, charging ever higher rents won’t solve the problem. Young families can’t afford the excessive profits of landlords who are expecting their tenants to pay their mortgage as well as benefit from capital gain!
The way we build communities needs a reset. I’m so tired of the loudest, greediest voices getting attention. Have a real look at how young families – and elderly women – are struggling! The media needs to do a bit of research and cover the uncomfortable truth.
Read the story: Push grows to save vital Coast service
Janine Goldhardt: I worked as a hospice trained registered nurse in Utah, USA for seven years. I encourage our interested politicians to research this model. All citizens diagnosed with six months or less to live, receive free in-home end-of-life care fully funded by the government, through their Medicare. It is far cheaper for the government to provide funding through registered hospice agencies, than using hospital admissions and hospital care.
Hospitals cannot provide the specialised in-home care. In-home care includes a hospital bed and all necessary equipment, incontinence supplies and a team – a visiting doctor, registered nurse, social worker, chaplain and medications. Total holistic care.
The nurse trains the family and coordinates all the care. This system is far more efficient and effective than all the expensive Home Care packages and the current mess that system is in, here in Australia, in my opinion. Katie Rose Cottage provides the specialised care for the more needy patients and their families. At this point, it fills a huge gap in end-of-life-life care in a perfect environment.Â
- Read the story: Eight-storey apartment block proposed at height limit
Gail Podberscek: The best urban planning happens when a diversity of built form complement each other. There are so many recent developments which take away the visual amenity of others. Is that element part of the planning code for this site? Nice looking building.
Voni De Lussanet: OMG 32 units on two residential blocks!
- Read the story: Beach works delay adds to business pain
jess_the_waterman: This is an absolute joke. Half the time they’re not even there or sitting around on permanent smoko. (They) move rocks from one side to the other side and back again.
jamiewilson.co: We need to get behind and support the local businesses.
- Read the story: Police clarify rules on in-car touch screens as concerns grow
Ross Buchanan, Harrington Park, NSW: I truly believe that touchscreens are dangerous while driving. I have a Mazda and the dial is much safer! A lot of manufacturers are reverting to switches etc and getting rid of touchscreens. As far as phones are concerned they should be hands free and rarely to be used whilst driving!
- Read the story: Ashley Robinson: what a ‘joke’ government is
Graham Lockey, Coolum Beach: Well said, Ashley. However, the attack on hard working Aussies isn’t restricted to the more ‘mature’ amongst us.
As younger generations start to build their future financial security these tax thefts will impact them more than us ‘oldies’. So-called ‘generational inequality’ is pollie speak for ‘what can we grab in tax next’. They’ve already attacked your super (note – it doesn’t apply to pollies!). What’s next: the family home, inheritance tax, unused bedroom tax? These election lies are queue jumping good sense and will leave future generations in poverty. The single age pension is about $1200 per fortnight plus a few dollars if you rent: good luck buying food after you’ve paid the rent/electricity on your room in a shared unit/house as there’s no way you’ll be able to afford your own place.
We need to have several years of minus net migration plus a huge increase in housing stock to help solve the housing crisis. For the alarmists ‘minus net migration’ does not mean no migration, it’s simply ‘ten out, nine in’. Thousands of people do choose to go overseas each year to live to study, work or retire to a less expensive country.
How about a Federal Treasury housing bond that pays a market rate, tax free, to fund the massive housing stock increase we need? No ‘McMansions’, just sensible basic units/townhouses/houses that regular people can afford. So, sorry, no double garages, ensuites or ‘butler’s pantries!
We need time to allow housing and services to catch up, not tax, tax and more tax with no plan.
- Dicky Beach traffic woes
Geoff Lindfield, Meridan Plains: Once again council in its wisdom has decided to stuff up the flow of traffic. Why could they have not put a ‘turn left at any time with care’ sign up at the junction and kept the traffic moving off from Cooroy Street on to Beerburrum Street (at Dicky Beach)? Busses now have to go wide to get around. I suppose now we will have to try and get used to it until they finally find out that it was a backward step and have a study costing thousands and spend another million odd dollars to rectify it as they did at the lights at Moffat Beach.
- Risky intersection
Kevin Brake: Since all the developments around Palmwoods, the increased traffic on Woombye-Palmwoods Road has made it very risky to enter that road from Taintons Road. The infrastructure on that road should have been done before all the development. It’s a wonder there hasn’t been a serious crash at the intersection. It doesn’t matter which way you are turning. Maybe traffic lights or another roundabout?
- Constructive journalism
Gary Reynolds, Peregian Springs: Many Australians are switching off the news, not because they don’t care, but because they’re exhausted by conflict‑driven coverage. The old ‘if it bleeds, it leads’ approach might grab attention, but it no longer serves communities like ours, who want clarity, not combat.
That’s why the Sunshine Coast News’s constructive journalism matters. It doesn’t sugarcoat the news or avoid hard issues. It simply provides nuance, context and solutions – serving as a compass rather than a megaphone.
Readers don’t just want information; we want connection. We respond to journalism that listens, that reflects our lived experience, treating us as partners rather than spectators. Constructive journalism doesn’t t fix everything, but it helps restore something we’re losing: calmer conversations, broader perspectives and a sense that we’re still in this together. At a time when many Australians are tuning out, constructive journalism offers a way to tune back in – not just to the news, but to each other. Please keep doing it.
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.
