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PUNCHING an 80-year-old, stealing a car, driving it erratically on the M1, colliding with other vehicles, eluding police and assaulting a police officer (GCB, 24/10).

The penalty? Four months suspended sentence, disqualified for driving for six months, ordered to pay $800 to the 80-year-old and $300 to the policeman. What an injustice, no wonder the magistrate’s name wasn’t mentioned.

So will we hear Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath has intervened and demanded time behind bars?

No way! She’s as feeble as the magistrate involved. Nothing imposed upon this low-life will make him realise the criminality of his actions. And in the meantime,

crime on the Gold Coast continues to make headlines! KEN JOHNSTON I THINK we now know the real reason for the knock-back of the cruise ship terminal on the Gold Coast – the announcement of a CST at Luggage Point in Brisbane.

Thanks, Premier, another poke in the eye for the Gold Coast. ROD WATSON, SURFERS PARADISE IMPOUND the mobile phones of offenders who are caught using them while driving.

The phones are no doubt the cause of many accident due to inattentive drivers.

We hear of the many infringement notices issued and we often see drivers using their phones while driving.

The loss of the phone for a week would be a far greater deterrent than a fine of a few dollars and some points off their licence.

I can hear all the protests coming, but road safety is far more important than selfish protests. DICK SAYER, MERMAID WATERS WITH the closure of the Holden plant the government’s destruction of established manufacturing in Australia is almost complete.

Car, fridge, washing machine, tyre and light-bulb factories have closed with a million real jobs lost while China builds a mega navy.

Then some bloke on the dole misses an appointment and the government declares a national emergency. ANDREW PRENZLER THE strong response to the SSM postal plebiscite (74.5 per cent) is a vindication of the Coalition’s mandate that most Australians wanted the issue resolved by a peoples’ vote, not by a bunch of politicians.

Bill Shorten and his band of clowns, Greens and SSM activists should be ashamed for obstructing the wishes of Australians.

This issue would have been done and dusted six months ago at a fraction of the cost. DAVID CHAN WE OFTEN read of stabbings and the public demanding police be given the powers to random search these young ones on the streets.

If a knife is located, then they should be arrested and charged with possession of a concealed weapon (equivalent to a firearm) and given a hefty prison term.

A fine is not a deterrent, a stint behind the razor wire is. KEN WADE, TWEED HEADS