YOUR VIEWS

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CHILD Safety Minister Shannon Fentiman has announced an increase in the number of child Safety workers (GCB, 18/5).

That is good as long as those extra workers are properly trained at least to diploma level.

Hopefully there would then be far fewer reports of traumatic incidents impacting children at risk.

Case workers must be properly trained in assessing children at risk and in their home life.

There is, for example, a heightened risk of physical or sexual abuse linked to male step parents.

Ms Fentiman, meanwhile, should be replaced by someone who can manage the portfolio and understands the vagaries that could occur in such a volatile sector of human services.

Foster carers have lacked confidence in receiving support from the department because of the minister’s distinct lack of efficiency.

Many very good foster carers have had the children taken from their care because of poorly trained case workers who have no idea how to manage their workload. GRAEME BREWER MY father-in-law recently became ill and his car insurance was due.

Now I love people who support loyalty to businesses that look after their clients.

What I detest is when I find out these companies take advantage.

Astounded by the cost of the insurance renewal, my wife did an online quote through Suncorp for exactly the same policy and saved her parents over $400.

So people the moral of the story is be vigilant. RADISH, GOLD COAST ARTIST Ian Tremewens’ Twin Towns mural adds much needed colour to the concrete blandness of certain sections Tweed/Coolangatta border.

The question needs to be asked what’s preventing councils from adapting this type of monumental street art throughout the area?

This type of mural adds aesthetically to the vicinity and strangely seems to be respected by graffitists.

Unfortunately for the most part we have the Tweed Council and its Gold Coast counterparts hellbent on erecting featureless walls and drab buildings that act as nothing more than a blank canvas for graffiti street taggers to spray their ugly monikers upon.

Why spend millions of tax dollars cleaning up graffiti when some murals might be a deterrent? STEPHEN BARR ONE would think the major supermarkets would be happy to support farmers who sell them fresh supplies (“Cyclone effects leave shoppers seeing red,” GCB, 17/6).

But no … how remiss of me! Vegetable growers still suffering from the effects of Cyclone Debbie are being short changed by these greedy retailers who are happy to mark prices higher than needed but who refuse to pay growers what their produce is worth.

Shoppers need to boycott these superthugs and support one of the several large market places nearby.

Sadly, we are too addicted to the “all under the one roof” shopping experience to give a hoot. KEN JOHNSTON