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 home insurance premiums on the up and up
What complicates the situation is that floodproofing measures implemented by local authorities, which demonstrate the non-risky nature of your property, often go unnoticed by insurance companies. These companies tend to assess risk based on broader areas rather than individual properties.
Furthermore, as flood insurance becomes increasingly mandatory for all policies, insurance companies are either denying claims or imposing exorbitant premiums.
Despite providing maps prepared by hydro engineers that substantiate the non-risky nature of my property, it appears that insurance companies prefer to disregard these claims and direct policy holders to seek alternative options.
If an insurance company were to adopt a more thorough approach and examine each property individually, it could potentially benefit all parties involved.
Raymond Abi-fares, Mountain Creek
- Read the story: Unheralded Sunshine Coast suburb set to boom
I’m a resident at Plantation Resort on Petrie Creek Road. You should look at the downside (to buying and living in Rosemount).
We’ve been asking for public transport for years, plus the dreadful condition of Petrie Creek Road, with potholes and a poor surface every time the rainy weather occurs.
Ken Guy, Rosemount
- Read the story: Australians to cast federal election vote on May 3
The election has brought a wave of promised tomorrows from our politicians.
They are often accompanied by unsubstantiated accusations, dodgy statistics, and misinformation, reflecting Mark Twain’s statement that “It’s easier to fool people than to convince them they have been fooled.”
President John F Kennedy observed, “Too often we prefer the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”
In the struggle to win power, President Ronald Reagan noted, “Governments tend to solve problems only to rearrange them.
He added, “Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: if it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidise it.”
William Mackenzie agreed that “The promises of yesterday are the taxes of today.”
Emma Goldman said, “Politicians promise you heaven before the election and give you hell after.”
Mark Twain observed, “A man is never more truthful than when he acknowledges himself a liar.”
He offered a solution when he said wryly, “Politicians and diapers must be changed often and for the same reason.”
Garry Reynolds, Peregian Springs
- Short stay accommodation woes
There is a huge issue with interstate people purchasing houses and apartments on the Sunshine Coast then ‘grafting’ them into Airbnb profit.
The Coast is not short of houses, it is short of homes. Rental house prices are being heated up beyond sustainability by local and interstate buyers who are being allowed to profit through the misery of others. Our government and councils are complicit in this. Communities are obviously suffering.
Noosa had 4500 of these Air dwellings. Through recent regulation changes it is now 3200 (figures available on Noosa Shire Council website). Though l understand that many have since moved to cash only.
Spain recently proposed 100 per cent tax on foreign buyers. It is my belief that interstate purchasers should be treated to the same medicine. Absentee and overseas landlords even more so.
In Amsterdam, a property owner must live in their home for five consecutive years before being allowed a four-week Air rental opportunity. That is how you stop the fragmentation and degradation of community.
If the Coast and hinterland is continually allowed to be the pincushion for interstate and local greed the social outcomes will be significant and escalate rapidly. Watch this space.
Some cost is already being borne by rate payers with the upkeep of barbecues, toilets, showers etc up 25 per cent year on year.
Homelessness is a damning indictment on local and state government. If politicians are not qualified to understand basic economics and social engineering, they should steer well clear and let those who are do the job. The implications of doing nothing are vast and destructive. More and more homeless people will gravitate toward the Coast in the coming years. Afterall, why be homeless and cold.
PS Building Aura and its kin is not the answer. One extreme weather event will have insurance companies running for the hills. I have yet to meet anyone (including those who build there) who thinks Aura is any more than a purpose-built future ghetto.
Someone needs to wake up.
Gary Bellamy, Buderim
- Julius Trump Reigns
Donald Trump may be following the path of dictator, Julius Caesar, in overreaching and losing his empire.
Like Ceasar’s military exploits, fear, trepidation, and loathing are now America’s top exports with Trump exercising his ego through tariff warfare.
Ancient Rome used high tariffs to raise money too, creating rampant inflation and black markets.
This economic hubris contributed to the fall of the Roman Empire after Julius Caesar was assassinated by 60 senators when he failed to heed the warning ‘Beware the Ides of March.’
Already escaping an assassination attempt, Donald Trump is emboldened to cross bridges that were too far in his first-term efforts to subjugate the world as Caesar crossed the Rubicon to subjugate Rome.
By overriding the US Senate, Trump is setting himself on a path to becoming a dictator like Julius Caesar who overreached by taking on democracy and declaring himself a king like Donald Trump.
Today, the world is a lot bigger place and nations’ economies are more interdependent than in the times of Ancient Rome.
Now, everyday citizens in Australia are fearing for their livelihoods, savings, and superannuation from the repercussions of the actions of a foreign dictatorial emperor – Julius Trump.
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.
