Convoy success rates low
DISAPPOINTINGLY, I see this week the Advance Cairns orange convoy in Brisbane traipsing around the corridors of Parliament House with the white canes and the begging bowls out again.
Here we are with all four local ALP members representing these parts, so is it that they are so incompetent that we need to debase the image of this wonderful city and region this way to get a message across that could not be delivered by conventional means. Or is it just one big PR exercise in puffery?
The success rate of these expensive jaunts has been miserable, as evidenced by delay after delay in promised infrastructure projects, including the convention centre upgrade and the yet to be cremated Global Tourism Hub election promise of 2017, to name just two.
The only bit of confirmed news from this week is that the Premier is bringing the State Cabinet north in August so that “my ministers can get out and about to find out what is going on“.
Now that is really positive use of increasingly diminishing state funds.
Kevin Byrne, Whitfield
The last time that Australia had to live through genuine hardship and rationing and had to be strongly disciplined was in the World War II period where we were genuinely at peril from our enemies.
Since then, Australia has become modern and wealthy, and has developed strong social services to support the needy.
Unfortunately, the citizens have not been educated to be self-disciplined, have and demonstrate respect for parents, teachers, authorities and government and have relied on being “drip fed” monies to leave home as a young teen.
The young must all have a mobile phone and their lives are driven, not by education and the printed word, but by the rubbish non-qualified “influencers” publish on their electronic devices.
This and the previous generation demand to be entitled in all things to the detriment of their fellow citizens. Their mantra is “It is all about me, me, me”.
I implore this cohort of misguided and totally irresponsible to act in a mature and caring manner to beat this virus-induced disaster and recover our economy.
To those of you who defy all authority, disbelieve health officers, put TV chefs’ and footballers’ vaccination advice above renowned science and think that education is not required for life skills, I say to you to get your head out of the sand, see that there is a real world out there and experience it to the best of your ability.
The public is a large dumb animal requiring constant re-education. You do not really want to contract the virus or infect others and possibly die through irresponsible actions.
Ross L Grant, Manoora 1203: Siege of Constantinople begins
during the fourth Crusade.
1918: The Romanov royal family and several of their retainers are executed by a Bolshevik firing squad in the basement of Ipatiev House, Siberia. 1936: Spanish generals Francisco Franco and Emilio Mola lead a right-wing uprising, starting the Spanish Civil War. 1945: Potsdam Conference: Winston Churchill, Harry Truman and Joseph Stalin (above) hold first post-World
War II meeting.
1955: Disneyland, Walt Disney’s
$17 million theme park built on 160 acres of former orange groves in Anaheim, California, opens.
Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 shot down over Ukraine by a Buk surface-toair missile launched from pro-Russian separatist-controlled territory, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew on board.