LetteroftheWeek

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I HAVE written on this subject previously and I heartily agree with Russ and Vicki Peters who wrote a very informative and sensible letter a week or two ago.

There is absolutely no need whatsoever for the light rail to run through Burleigh to the airport.

The present bus service is more than adequate. Stop thinking about ruining beautiful Burleigh and spend the millions on something that is needed.

Extend heavy rail from Varsity Lakes to the airport by all means. This is a far better option and would cause much less disruption.

I haven’t been here as long as the Peters, but I have been here for more than 30 years. Please, please, please leave Burleigh alone. VERNA DYSON, BURLEIGH TOTALLY agree with the comment made about the speed of Australia Post. A letter from a business in Southport took five days to reach me in Main Beach. It takes 10 minutes to walk.

And what about businesses who send out a pay-by-date and the bill arrives two days after the date?

Either tardy postage from the business, or Australia Post, but I, for one, am sick of paying late fees when I don’t receive the bill in time.

An even greater penalty for us mature-aged folk who like their bills on paper rather email. GEORGIE BROWN, MAIN BEACH FORMER Chief Justice Gleason’s call for an indigenous Voice to be “constitutionally enshrined” to guarantee its continued existence, with respect, may not guarantee anything.

Section 101 of the Constitution, enacted in 1900, says: “There shall be an Inter-State Commission, with such powers of adjudication and administration as the Parliament deems necessary for the execution and maintenance, within the Commonwealth, of the provisions of this Constitution relating to trade and commerce, and of all laws made thereunder”.

Section 103 provides for the appointment and remuneration of its commissioners. But successive Parliaments since Federation have never deemed anything necessary, or provided any funding, and the commission has never come into existence.

A “constitutionally enshrined” voice is therefore not guaranteed

continued existence in the real world. GLENN I SIMPSON, OAM, ELANORA

IT’S great to see the Tallebudgera section of the Ocean Way back on the drawing board. But still waiting for the Surfers Paradise to Broadbeach which is long overdue. ROD WATSON, SURFERS PARADISE THE Bulletin (9/7) reported that a Southport magistrate recently said convicted criminals were dodging jail after breaching their parole because the state’s prisons were overflowing with inmates.

In fact, overcrowding is so bad the courts have no choice but to release criminals back on to the streets, and subsequently not receiving the punishment they deserve.

It is time this naïve Queensland Labor Government began listening to the public and take this out-ofcontrol crime problem seriously.

Charter a bus, fill the seats with the Corrective Services Minister, a few judges, magistrates, parole board members and a few criminal lawyers who earn big money defending these hideous criminals, and take them all on a grand tour of Queensland’s luxury 4-star airconditioned prisons that serve wholesome food to these louts who cost taxpayers $100,000 per year to keep each inmate.

Many of our aged pensioners who try to survive on sub-standard food and live in the dark because they cannot afford to pay their power bills, would gladly swap lifestyles with these prison inmates.

Let these high-profiles see for themselves just how luxurious Queensland’s prisons are, and maybe then they will understand, why criminals keep committing crime, simply because they have no concerns of being returned to prison. KEN WADE, TWEED HEADS SURELY Tony Abbott’s first utterance since he was unceremoniously given the boot about Get Up would have to be a case of calling the pot black.

The old saying to be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove any doubt would appear to be the return of Tony Abbott into the public arena. D.J.FRASER, CURRUMBIN