LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Reason for holiday

RECENTLY I changed an insurance policy due mainly to their ridiculous ads on tv.

As well the new insurer did offer a better deal at a lower cost.

The current ridiculous, some friends even say awful/distasteful advertising promoting a certain game show where the perpetrator pops the top of his head.

To do it in the first place would imply that there wasn’t much there to start with. Surely there must be a more appealing way to get the message across.

The third, which may possibly have been pulled as it hasn’t been on for a while was “What is the reason for Christmas”, they implied Xmas, as X represents the unknown which their advertisement implied.

From memory some of their reasons for celebrating Christmas were holidays, fun, presents, gifts, visitors, lots of food, fun, drinks, etc.

No mention of the real reason. Actually I seriously wonder if, considering that some 90% of our population call themselves agnostic/atheist/unbelievers and other similar, just how many, if a poll were taken, would really know why they get a holiday on December 25.

It would be an interesting exercise to find out.

— RAY HARCH, Toowoomba

Thank you

NOW that the results of the recent State election are known I would like to express my gratitude to the thousands of Toowoomba north residents who did me the honour of voting for me as well as to all those Labor volunteers who played their part in the campaign, whether it was doorknocking, phone calls, street stalls, pre-polling and staffing polling booths on Election day – Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I am humbled by your commitment and belief in the Labor cause.

Despite the result, we can be very proud of the positive campaign run by Labor in Toowoomba North. Our campaign was an honest, values driven campaign that focused on the needs of the people in the electorate, and one our volunteers enthusiastically embraced.

I would like to extend my warmest regards to people whose names also shared a position on the ballot paper with me; Paul Wilson, Emmeline Chidley and Josie Townsend, should all be commended for the campaigns they ran over these past few months. I have nothing but praise for their civility and behaviour that was displayed by them. It was a pleasure to campaign alongside you.

Thankfully, the Palaszczuk Labor Government has been returned with a majority, and I intend to use this opportunity to lobby the incoming government to ensure that the promises made by my party and myself are kept.

Some of these commitments include: $6 million to fix the Ruthven and North St intersection; Funding to restore the Police Beat in Newtown; $150,000 in seed funding to help get a new Squash facility built in Toowoomba; $45,000 for Friends of the Quarry Gardens to visit Butchart Gardens in Canada; $100,000 to restore and upgrade Toowoomba Trades Hall; $10 million to renew Toowoomba State High School; 180 additional nurses for the Darling Downs; $3 million for Toowoomba Hospice; and $4 million to upgrade the Toowoomba TAFE campus.

While the campaign may be over, and I may not have been returned to parliament, there is still more work that needs to be done, and I promise that I will continue to be active as a tireless advocate for the Toowoomba region.

Toowoomba North, it’s been an honour.

— KERRY SHINE,

Toowoomba