CHILL OUT ON M1

NO ONE will dispute that governments, trucking companies and the drivers of well over 140,000 vehicles that travel the M1 daily must be smarter in its use.

Heavy congestion on the M1 is a fact of life that too often turns to gridlock. A State Government plan to drop the speed limit from 110km/h temporarily when required is understandable. Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey insists this is not a revenue-raiser, instead arguing that studies show that under such conditions traffic flows better at lower speed. Fair enough, drivers have to chill occasionally, but this must not be seen as a cure for a motorway that can no longer handle the traffic load.

An alternative motorway remains an urgent priority, as do major improvements to the slow rail service.

YET again a major opinion poll reveals consistent and overwhelming public support for voluntary assisted dying laws to be available to terminally ill people to ensure they do not face unnecessary suffering at the end of their life.

The national Newspoll taken this month shows 79 per cent support for VAD – consistent with a string of previous Newspolls where support has always hovered around the 80 per cent mark.

Significantly, the poll showed overwhelming support for voluntary-assisted dying regardless of how people vote – a fact the Labor Government and the LNP opposition in our state need to recognise.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says she is open to an inquiry into voluntary-assisted dying (VAD) and mentions the Queensland Law Reform Commission in that regard.

She also says VAD is “a very emotional issue for a lot of people” and that comment alone should be sufficient reason for this important social issue to be examined by an inquiry conducted by an all-party committee of the Queensland Parliament.

Our elected MPs are the lawmakers for our state and should examine the issue themselves, not an unelected body like the QLRC whose primary task is the detailed technical drafting or redrafting of legislation.

Queenslanders like their fellow Australians support voluntary-assisted dying as an option alongside others such as palliative care to ensure the terminally ill have a real choice at the end of life.

The sooner the Queensland Parliament starts examining this issue and takes action, the sooner the suffering of so many will end. DAVID MUIR CHAIR, THE CLEM JONES TRUST THERE would be advantages in Australia becoming Singapore’s gege (big brother) in Asia with a roughly equal mix of Chinese, Indian, European and Australasian peoples.

This would be of huge advantage in the modern world for trade and diplomacy.

Many people, however, are threatened by multiculturism.

The main reasons for this are probably more to do with economics than culture, although business particularly in regional areas has benefited from the global free market the reaction from the manufacturing sector has been more mixed.

Without tariffs and with a small domestic market, manufacturing has often struggled to be competitive. These problems predate Federation.

The working class has a history of reaction against globalisation in Australia and this is particularly so among unskilled workers.

This can easily create a political situation which favours the election of populist demagogues (see W L Shirer’s Rise and Fall of the Third Reich).

The answer is to ensure that Australia has a generous social security system and that workers who are not competitive are not vilified. Infrastructure development must be matched to the rate of population increase.

This will ensure that there are not further price increases in essential services, utilities and food. ED DONOVAN, LABRADOR THE reaction of federal parliamentarians and most of the media to Senator Anning’s maiden speech in parliament is deeply disturbing.

If Australia is to remain the real land of the happy and free, and willing to continue to endorse the concept of free speech albeit if only for political matters, then the reaction of politicians of all colours (except Katter Jnr) to Anning’s call for restricted immigration show that this will not remain so for long.

We no longer have to be afraid of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World.

It is here and flourishing. JJ GOOLD, MUDGEERABA MY GRANDCHILDREN have recently started childcare and like most children are always sick from the germs, so much so that they are having one or two days off every week.

However, the parents are charged full fees for these days and the centre receives government subsidy.

I might add that children are often sent home with quite minor illnesses.

When the numbers are low at the centre because of illness staff are sent home because many are casual employees.

Hence centres are receiving full fees and government subsidy and not having to pay wages.

l am advocating for reduced fees on sick days.

I have worked in childcare for 20 years and this is common practice among childcare centres. Give the parents a chance. JAN MCQUILKIN, PACIFIC PINES HAS it struck anyone else that the banks and super funds accused of “charging dead people”are actually levying a “deceased estate” in much the same way as lawyers would against the whole estate which could be valued at a lot more than a cash account and might include considerable property assets.

In fact perhaps the only reason lawyers are not being publicly lambasted is that they were able to successfully argue against being regulated under the Financial Services banner themselves.

It would be very interesting to compare the charges levied by both institutions but you would also have to take into account variables like the duration the assets are being managed and also what interest was being accrued net of tax liability.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not a supporter of bank practices, I just don’t like to see hypocrisy being used so cynically to raise the blood lust of the mob.

Besides, if you could ever succeed having the lawyers under the same sort of scrutiny, where ever would we find such enthusiastic persecutors for them. JOHN CARTER, COOLANGATTA