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: Unused cemetery plots to be reclaimed under new policy
Bella Morris: My parents’ grave (not in this area) was redone in 1975. The original burial was in 1915. When redone, two pipes were put under the concrete slab with caps on that could be undone and eight lots of ashes put in the grave. At the head of the grave is the headstone and a small white stoned area with matting under it that can be pulled back. Two caps can be undone to add new ashes. There is a main headstone, however the concrete surround is wide enough for future plaques. It is all council approved. To add more ashes, the council needs to be contacted. The one stipulation is that any new plaques don’t overhang the concrete edges. Perhaps something like this might be considered when space is getting short?
Graham Lockey, Coolum Beach: The periodic review of plot reservations should be a set annual task for all local councils, not just Noosa. I would suggest that when a vacant plot reaches a decade past its original reservation date, a response should be sought as to whether the reservation is still needed, or not. If the plot reservation requirement is not confirmed, then it should be returned to the available stock of plots. Also, the original reservation fee should be refunded by council.
Care must be taken not to include plots where the plot is a dual plot, and one burial has already taken place.
There are, no doubt, thousands of plots that are reserved where the beneficial owners have no longer any wish to be buried, as more and more people opt to be cremated, or seek alternative disposal methods of their mortal remains.
- Read the story: Trailblazer: incinerator toilet a Coast first
Margie Tankey: My GP in Victoria had an incinerator toilet in his surgery almost 45 years ago.
- Read the story: Glamping boom heads to farm paddocks
Lynette Saxton, Yaroomba: I don’t object to some glamping tents on rural land, but I think you should only be able to use a certain percentage of the land, say five-or-10 per cent for uses other than rural. That could be for tourism, or it could be for tiny homes. Having said that, the primary use of the land should always remain rural and they should not be situated in flood areas.
- Read the story: Divisions proposal emerges
Phil Broad, Nambour: On December the 2nd 2022, I sent a letter to the editor of another publication, where I stated there is a case to relook at reinstating divisions and divisional councillors in the Noosa Shire. This would ensure the elected representatives’ first loyalty is to their local constituents and their concerns, in a myriad of issues affecting them, instead of a disproportionate number of councillors garnering votes from the larger populations situated on the coastal regions and a death of local residing representatives with a day-to-day personal touch with their neighbours.
Put the ‘local’ back into local government.
It is gratifying to see after three and a half years since, this is now being raised.
- Read the story: Transport project under scrutiny
Graham Lockey, Coolum Beach: Congratulations to councillor Amelia Lorentson and the other councillors who rejected this ridiculous scheme. For once the people who actually pay the rates and live on the affected street have been listened to. For years both Noosa and the SCRC have been spending millions of dollars creating cycle paths, road markings, cycling signposts and other items for what is a tiny minority of the ratepaying population, who don’t, as cyclists, pay a cent towards these expenditures. I would suggest that the majority of Sunshine Coast ratepayers would overwhelmingly vote to solve traffic problems before the adoption of any more of these undemocratic seizures of public land and facilities which only benefit a tiny minority of the population.
- Read the story: Council lifts rates and confronts ‘beyond its means’ spending
Neil McNeill, Buderim: Further to my letter last week, a great deal has happened here in Queensland with our neighbouring councils, and it raises serious questions for those of us living under the Sunshine Coast Council.
Our mayor, who may be very good at presenting news programs on our nightly television and can ‘talk the walk and walk the talk’ still hasn’t answered the question that matters most to ratepayers like me: why are our neighbouring councils increasing their rates by half the amount of ours?
The Sunshine Coast Council has imposed a whopping 9.5 per cent rate rise. Meanwhile, Gold Coast City Council has adopted an average general rate increase of just 4.7 per cent. Brisbane City Council is delivering a rate rise below inflation at 3.97 per cent: around 77 cents per week for minimum general rates or $1.22 per week for average owner‑occupiers.
And to rub salt into the wound, Brisbane proudly tells its residents that it will continue to offer the most generous pensioner rebate in South East Queensland, increasing it by $52 to $1350 per year.
Meanwhile, the Sunshine Coast Council has taken away my pensioner discount entirely.
So I ask again: why are Sunshine Coast residents being asked to shoulder the heaviest burden in the region? Why are pensioners here treated less generously than those in Brisbane? Am I alone in feeling this way, or are there others who share my concern about the direction our council is taking?
- Read the story: Approval recommended for taller 5-star hotel
Gary Ryan, Caloundra: I write concerning what appears to be becoming standard procedure with development applications lodged with Sunshine Coast Council. Recently, approval was granted by the Queensland Government for basically a camping and cabin area to be developed in Pumicestone Passage, and while we were informed by the relevant minister that strict environmental and other conditions were imposed on the approval, within a very short time the developers applied for a number of these conditions to be relaxed.
Following development approval recently granted for a high rise hotel in the new Maroochydore city centre, the developer promptly sought approval to add an additional story for additional hotel rooms, no extra car parking spaces, and the overall building height would exceed town planning requirements.
Development approval also was granted for a high rise hotel to be constructed on the esplanade at Mooloolaba. The developer has now applied for new approvals to add extra floor levels, more hotel rooms, no extra car parking spaces, height exceeding town planning requirements, and has generously offered to pay for foreshore redevelopment. Their plans require removal of mature trees on beachside public land. No doubt these plans will also optimise views from the lower level hotel rooms. These plans have been recommended to council for acceptance.
It is obvious to any person with even rudimentary construction knowledge that adding additional floor levels to any building requires considerable strengthening of foundations, load bearing walls etc, all the way to the top floor.
Constructions such as these hotels are usually overseen by quantity surveyor firms which itemise building costs down to the last nut and bolt, and it is with these costings that initial development viability is decided. Regarding the cost of building materials and labour, no building would be designed to be constructed with what would entail very considerable ‘over built’ costings. A caveat to this could be the developers were positive that approval for what effectively becomes a relaxation approval would be subsequently granted.
My question is, how is it that developers appear to almost routinely plan, design and cost buildings for their preferred outcome but only apply for an outcome within guidelines in the first instance?
- Read the story: Apartment sells for $700k more just months after purchase
Anne Benn: I am not saying I don’t like the look of the Maroochy apartment, but to be honest it doesn’t appear to have any ambience at all. Just another box in the sky sold for an excess price?
- Read the story: Developer seeks more height for luxury hotel tower
Hugh Lloyd-Pryce: It seems reasonable and would add to the skyline of this holiday area. It should be approved.
Jeff Tuttle, Caloundra: Ever hear the adage: “don’t let the camel stick its nose under the tent”? The implication, of course, is a bit of indulgence leads to a lot of abuse. I fear developers have been pushing it here on the Sunshine Coast for some time and it is a trend that doesn’t seem as if it will end any time soon. The Sunny Coast won’t be the place we know and love if it slowly becomes the Gold Coast. Over-development will change the appeal, I think. It has already bogged down traffic.
Diane Derby, Marcoola: What is the point any more of having height restrictions when council is employing height relaxation when developers submit their plans? The plans would be within the restrictions, then after approval, council would amend it with an increase in height.
- Read the story: Doctors question watered-down e-bike reforms
John Hall: To be 100 per cent honest, I don’t believe anything is going to change under these ‘revised laws’. I’d dearly like to see change. I truly believe e-scooters and bikes are a good thing when used within the guidelines set down by the law. However, the existing laws were never enforced by police for whatever reason – likely under-resourced, so one suspects that young riders will continue to do what they do and sales outlets will continue to sell non-compliant bikes.
- Read the story: Sami Muirhead: life was so much simpler then
Patricia Palmer: Thank you Sami for sharing your memories of a simpler way of life compared to today’s daily stresses, iphones, computers etc … Your reminiscing brought back my wonderful childhood memories. Yes, we were so lucky.
- Read the story: Council stands by dog fee hike amid backlash
Dr John Thorogood, Maroochydore: Dogs have been a welcome addition to ‘family’ for millennia, today recognised for the social and health benefits they confer on their custodians. By council’s reckoning, there are currently 57,000 registered dogs within Maroochy Shire – the actual number is likely to be significantly higher. Yet council, by its actions, views dogs (and by association, their owners) simply as a ‘problem’ to be managed.
Council’s recently ratified revised dog management plan in practice increasingly restricts areas where owners may enjoy the Coast with their family. Now, dog owners are seen as an easy target for enhanced revenue, “to align with the cost of delivering related services and infrastructure”. What services and what infrastructure? Living just off Duporth Avenue, the ’services’ I receive are limited to the occasionally serviced ‘poop bag’ dispensers; and the infrastructure I can access is a poorly designed off-leash area that turns into a mud-bath after rain that’s a 15-minute drive away.
- I’m so worried…
Margaret Wilkie, Peregian Beach: When Australia now rates as the third most affluent country in the world, and is in the top 10 for life’s satisfaction, is it just Australia’s 170 billionaires and foreign-owned companies who whinge, moan and complain about paying taxes? Just asking.
- Restaurant etiquette
Keith Steele: Since COVID many restaurants have introduced time limits on how long dinners can occupy a table. On Saturday night, and for the first time at any restaurant, we were asked to leave our table and shift to the high stalls in the bar, before all our meal had been served. The thought of shifting to high stalls was amusing as were all elderly and getting onto high stalls may have provided considerable entertainment to other diners.
We had only ordered a main, a desert and coffee and the service of the meals was so slow that we were asked to leave our table before the desert arrived. This was apparently because we had exceeded the allotted time. This occurred at a Caloundra restaurant.
As Sunshine Coast locals, we have dined there on numerous occasions. What made it worse was that the manager showed no interest, did not stop what she was doing to speak to us, or offer an apology. The attitude displayed was that she didn’t care. The food was excellent, but the gloss was removed from the evening as the restaurant could not serve two courses in the time they allotted to the table. As restaurants focus on quick turnover of tables, has the experience of enjoyable, un-rushed dining died forever? It prevents diners from enjoying their meals.
- The importance of handwriting
Gary Reynolds, Peregian Springs: There is something sacred about the way grandmothers write. The slow curve of a letter. The quiet pause before a thought becomes ink.
Dr Hiroshi Tanaka never set out to study grandmothers. He wanted to understand why some seniors in Kyoto – well into their eighties – remained so mentally sharp. He expected genetics, diet or perhaps some rare herb grown on a misty mountainside. But the secret was far more familiar. They wrote. Every day. Ten to fifteen minutes. Ink on paper.
Tanaka’s brain scans revealed what many families have felt all along: handwriting awakens the mind. It strengthens memory, focus and clarity. It keeps the inner world alive. When he tested it, older adults who wrote by hand for six months showed stronger recall and quicker thinking than those who typed the same words. The pen wasn’t preserving memories. It was nurturing the mind. Perhaps that’s why his research feels so deeply connected to grandmothers.
Grandmothers have always written. Letters to loved ones far away. Recipes passed down with smudges of butter. Birthday cards with a five-dollar note tucked inside. Little reminders stuck to fridges and mirrors. Stories scribbled in notebooks no one else has seen. Their handwriting is more than ink. It is presence. It is love made visible.
In a world that rushes, grandmothers slow down. In a world that forgets, they remember. In a world that taps and swipes, they still choose the steady honesty of a pen. Maybe that’s the quiet lesson Tanaka uncovered – the mind stays alive when the heart stays involved.
So, to every grandmother who picks up a pen to write a note, a memory, a prayer, a recipe, a reminder – thank you. You are not just keeping track of life. You are keeping your mind awake to it. And the generations who love you are grateful for your every word.
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.
