YOUR VIEWS
M1 motorists deserve an outright apology from former LNP assistant ministers Steve Minnikin (Letters, 18/1) and Deb Frecklington for not spending a single new dollar on the motorway in their three years in government, not more selective LNP spin.
While they’re at it, the apology should also be for blocking the second M1 while in power as preparations and planning would be far more advanced now if they had acted then.
Harking back to more than 20 years ago is a confession the Newman LNP Government has no achievements to point to on the M1 when they had three budgets and three years to allocate new funding.
The facts are that more than $2.5 billion in funding is flowing to upgrade the M1 under the Palaszczuk Labor Government, with upgrades nearly done from Mudgeeraba to Varsity Lakes and at the Gateway merge, with two much larger upgrades locked in to start this year, creating a minimum six lanes through to the border.
The Oxenford Exit 57 interchange upgrade is well under way, Exit 54 is done, joint funding is locked in for Exits 41 and 49, and planning work is progressing for Exit 45. Not to mention Gold Coast Light Rail stages two and three.
Feedback on the Coomera Connector, or second M1, during public consultation has been very positive, which will contribute to the best possible design for this huge piece of infrastructure.
This is what happens when motorists have a state Labor government investing in Gold Coast transport infrastructure and jobs – not the usual LNP “promise the world then cut after getting elected”
song and dance routine we are all too used to seeing.
While cuts are in the LNP’s DNA, it’s Labor that builds and gets things done on the M1. MARK BAILEY, TRANSPORT AND MAIN ROADS MINISTER
GOOD idea to terminate terminal in harbourless city.
A superfluous, latest in long line of publicly paid studies, will show again it does not stack up (The Spit not the right fit for a cruise ship terminal, GCB, 19/1).
Concentrate on tourism marketing of the most biodiverse city in Australia.
It has beaches, mountains, fragile but intensely valuable World Heritage area, airport, theme parks, egalitarian accommodation, array of restaurants/shops, heavy rail network (to replace the one a former bunch of ratepayer-funded city fathers helped ditch) and Moreton Bay frontage, a bay with one of the richest marine life assets in the nation.
It’s greedy to tie up more ratepayer funds on top of $3 million or so spent on this obsession to focus on what we haven’t got.
Day tours from a new taxpayerfunded world-class Brisbane Port would give more value, not a pit stop for lunch (passengers get that on-board).
Why tie up unique Spit Central Park with on/offshore loadings and mass associated infrastructure? Better to spend money on city drainage; koala habitat to prevent beloved motif species extinction; image-making promotion, as Golden City.
Nice to think with untenable “port” we could adopt “best practice
management” but, as biodiversity slips below sustainable level (warning issued in ’90s when council had state of environment reports) this seems optimistic faith in our “reps” and non-achievable given identified constraints of site. Precious time slipping by. Community, educational institutions, business owners, and iconic Surfers Paradise, await proper promotion and sustainable future economy.
Public debate is still mired among a few self-appointed local “experts” who burble on about no climate change from keyboards and facilities generated by scientific research.
Research now informs and evidences human causal factors of changing climatic patterns. SALLY SPAIN, PRESIDENT WILDLIFE QUEENSLAND, GOLD COAST BRANCH OXENFORD
YOU can tell council elections are due when the cruise ship terminal (CST) debate is resurrected and Ann Wason Moore is right in her article, either “build it or sink it”.
Much has been written and much of (our money) has been spent exploring the concept of a CST, this I would suggest can be condensed to two topics: (a) is it financially viable to us (the ratepayers) and is it (b) practicable?
The answer to (a) is it has already been stated in a past reports that the CST is financially doubtful in providing a return on investment, as to (b) practicability, as a member of a rescue organisation that provides radio coverage from the Seaway Tower at the Spit, I know just how rough it can get.
Walk 900m along a jetty for visit, I don’t think so. I would think that on this project most of the councillors know that this time the Mayor has come to the wrong place for a fairytale ending. DAVID LISSENDEN, MAIN BEACH
WALKING along Currumbin Boardwalk on Saturday after the much-needed rain I was appalled at the amount of unwanted waste heading toward the sea.
No doubt other streams and water courses on the Gold Coast would have similar unwanted waste headed for our oceans.
We live in a world that has little if any qualms about ridding its unwanted items anywhere but in their backyard.
Leaving our oceans and streams to become their garbage tips with little if any concern about the effect it is having on this poor old world. D.J.FRASER, CURRUMBIN
VERY disappointed with the city planners consultation staff, a no show at Chirn Park on Saturday (18/1) from 9am to noon for a talk to a planner information session.
Not even a notice on the playground that they can’t be bothered turning up to talk to concerned residents affected by the State’s new city plan to make Labrador and surrounding areas high density.
Thank goodness Dawn Crichlow was there, she even tried to ring the council and see where they were but nobody answered.
Can we have an extended week to find a planner in the area to come and talk to the affected residents? LOUISE GREEN, LABRADOR