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: Couple parts with home of 53 years for road upgrade
Christel Waters, suburb: Your story on Mr and Mrs Fuller was very sad. We all know progress is inevitable and important for our Coast’s development, but people’s lives are important also and compassion for those who have a lifetime of memories tied up in their homes is not too much to ask for. We knew when Fatty was on his morning adventure flying overhead as you recognised his distinctive call, letting us all know when he was going back home. We haven’t heard him for a while, so now we know why. I wish the Fullers all the very best.
Gwen, Glass House Mountains: One would hope Mr and Mrs Fuller have kept abreast of the most recent value of such homes so that council compensation enables them to find a replacement at same value.
- Read the story: MP urged to reject tourist park after agency response
Peter Baulch, North Arm: The minister called in this project precisely because “there is not an overriding need in the public interest for the proposed development”. The State Assessment and Referral Agency was always going to come to that view, as were the conservation groups and ratepayer organisations. He could not count on Sunshine Coast Council to turn a blind eye to its inappropriateness, so he took the decision out of their hands.
Name withheld, Woodford: Following the surprising actions of Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie to “call in” the proposed Comiskey Group development of a tourist park that nobody needs, as determined by the State Assessment and Referral Agency, within the crucial inter-urban break zone and on the banks of our internationally significant Ramsar-listed wetlands area for migratory species, further investigation is clearly required, nay, demanded by the public of Mr Bleijie.
This “heavy-handed” ministerial action seriously calls into question the integrity of the Member for Kawana and why, following the council’s concerns over the development application on sound grounds, he had to use his privileged ministerial position to circumvent the environmental, community and local government checks and balances our democracy has in place, only to make himself the sole decision-maker around this development.
This is to say nothing of the short-sighted risks of destruction of important flood and storm surge protection for all our SEQ coastal communities afforded by these wetland areas, only to house communities that will be the first to complain when their homes/investments are impacted by the now-annual summer climate disasters Queensland hosts following a decade of inaction on climate planning and protection. As an environmental educator working within and for the protection of the Ramsar-listed wetlands, I believe I have seen this kind of “cautionary tale” before with proposed developments further south in our region.
In the Member for Kawana securing the the ministerial portfolio for planning, one gets the distinct and uncomfortable impression that the fox has been given the keys to the hen house.
- Read the story: ‘Grey spots’ spark call for phone network upgrades
Alan Ward, Buderim: I live in Nara Court in Buderim, where mobile phone reception is lucky to be half a bar on a good day. The Headland Park estate between Wises Road and Mooloolaba Road is urgently in need of another tower. In my street there are no secrets, as residents have to go outdoors to make or receive calls. There is nothing worse than the line dropping out halfway through a call if the caller thinks you have hung up on them. Disgusted.
- Read the story: ‘Suicide Hill: safety probe launched at junction
Marko Cimesa, Nambour: Would it be too much to ask if they can’t put a roundabout in, would it not be feasible place two spaced speed humps on the main road before and after the intersection, and also one speed hump on the side road, and drop the speed limit down to 20km/h or 40 km/h? In my opinion, from what I’ve seen and experienced, this would possibly be the cheapest and most appropriate action. Montville’s main street is an example. Sure, some motorists won’t be happy, but we do get used to it, or find an alternative route.
- Read the story: Ashley Robinson: Foiled again on the home front
Trevor Till, Kings Beach: I thought I was the only one who was subject to harassment over bringing home the wrong item, or not being able to find it. My family is well versed in my experiences. I now have my wife message me an image of what is required so I, and the Coles staff member, get it right.
- Read the story: Development with 152 units proposed for CBD
Craig Hickson, Image Flat: I’m concerned a ghetto will be built. After 30 years as a paramedic, I know first-hand the drug and alcohol problems in and around the Sunshine Coast, not just Nambour. The police and ambulance will be there day and night. Car parking is another problem. Nambour wants the homelessness problem fixed but not a ghetto drawing people from all over the Coast and further afield.
- Read the story: Council pushes ahead with bypass despite review calls
Ray Earle, Pelican Waters: We have seen proposals over several years for the Nicklin Way-Third Avenue junction. At present, this section of Nicklin Way is the only free-flowing section of the entire road and is working well with its 100km/h speed zone. Despite taking a lot of traffic, this open section of Nicklin Way is only impeded at the intersection with Caloundra Road, which everyone knows is a nightmare and needs resolution as a separate exercise.
Many Pelican Waters and Golden Beach residents (most of us, I expect) are dismayed at the new Third Avenue junction proposal. We would agree that another entry to Caloundra is obviously necessary, it’s just the proposed form of the new junction with a level signalised intersection that creates opposition. This form of intersection immediately introduces stop-start traffic flow and guarantees the end of our much-treasured 100km/h zone. An alternative junction design is warranted (and feasible) with long slip lane cloverleaf ramps and overpasses, but most importantly without traffic signals (don’t get me started on the debacle of the Bruce Highway-Caloundra Road signalised switch-back intersection). It’s obviously more expensive to construct, but we are worth it.
I have raised this on every occasion that I have seen opportunity to make comment and I have not received one iota of response from the planning authorities. I guarantee that although the good residents of our most southern suburbs are conservatively quiet, there is a massive groundswell of opinion against the proposed signalised intersection and the inevitable ruination of this only good section of Nicklin Way. Please consider this and push authorities for a better road junction design that does not hinder flow on this section of Nicklin Way.
- Read the story: Key roads to close for wide-ranging sports event
Lu Diamond, Maroochydore: Is there a bit of overkill with the amount of sporting events we have on the Coast, to the detriment of locals? When the Greyhound bus cancels scheduled stops and bypasses the Coast because of road closures, that didn’t make any sense. I’m all about tourism for the Coast, but when it comes to closing roads/bridges, I think it needs more strategic planning. Maybe both councils could synchronise events biannually? The Sunny Coast is a holiday destination and to block off extra roads when we already are struggling with Parkyn Parade, the Esplanade, Duporth Avenue and Bradman Avenue, it doesn’t make any practical sense and it’s a constant struggle for people who need to get to work on those days or at Christmas with all that congestion. Just a thought.
- Read the story: Push for urgent upgrades to ignored unsealed road
Mike Hancock, Noosa North Shore: I would like to point out that there are many much-used unsealed roads in the Noosa Shire. For example, there are three communities on Noosa North Shore that have unsealed access roads used daily by residents to commute to their workplaces, medical centres, shops and so on. We get a grade strictly only twice a year and often put up with dangerous conditions after heavy rain events. I guess it is a sacrifice by those who wish to live in a bucolic lifestyle area without road-racing idiots that can’t do “smokies” on these dirt roads. Noosa Council obviously does vehicle counts to assess the sealing priorities, so we all just have to wait our turn.
- Child homelessness
Garry Reynolds, Peregian Springs: With the rising cost of living, we see homeless adults desperately trying to seek shelter in our communities every day. Yet, homeless children seem invisible compared to Charles Dickens’ time when writing Oliver Twist. The famous author wanted to publicise the desperate circumstances of homeless children in his novel. Later, it was romanticised in the musical Oliver.
We are not Victorian England but Australia today, where the rate of child homelessness is increasing alarmingly. It’s troubling to find how heartless and neglectful our society has become, despite the advances in our standard of living since Dickens’ time. Desperate unaccompanied children as young as 10 are turning up night after night at the doors of overcrowded refuges. Unlike adults, it is not as though they can be set up in a short-term rental. It’s about providing a pathway into an environment where the children receive the care they need. Many of these kids are homeless and running off the rails because their parents’ homes are not safe places and are impoverished, not just in money but love. Charity and government case workers are critically overstretched, leading to young people falling through the cracks.
Child homelessness is not just about bricks and mortar. It’s also about addressing the causes of family breakdown, neglect and violence. Governments throw up their hands and say it is all too hard after the failure of Bob Hawke’s 1987 election commitment, that “By 1990, no Australian child will be living in poverty”. Are we going to leave that as a vacuous rhetorical twist on Charles Dickens’ novel, or rewrite the script to save kids’ futures by creating compassionate community safety nets?
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.
