YOUR VIEWS

WRITE TO: P0 Box 1, Southport, 4215 EMAIL: letters@goldcoast.com.au FACEBOOK: facebook.com/goldcoastbulletin

CONFUSED! Too much information! I really think it is unnecessary for all these celebrities (who are using their social platforms) to give us COVID-19 advice when unqualified to do so.

Miranda Kerr (supermodel) is a prime example of offering pseudo advice and thus asked to shut down her recent posts.

Please leave it to our government officials and infectious disease experts to distribute the right information and directives to the general public in order to prevent and contain this virus.

Our PM stated that COVID-19 may hang around for six months or so yet and that statement would have evolved from collaboration with the chief health officials.

Good on the major retail chains for giving people with disabilities and pensioners a “window time frame” to attend their shopping needs, away from the panic stampede shoppers who were once normal calm shoppers.

Every cloud has a silver lining and some good news out of all this is that it will result in lower petrol prices, provide more jobs for casual staff in major retail stores and on a global front, the water is clearer in Italy’s canals and plenty of fish visible due to less water traffic.

Let us concentrate on our Gold Coast and to start with, please respect and display courtesy to one another in shops and other public spaces, be mindful of standard hygiene precautions as per our health experts and generally keep updated via the regulated media regarding the COVID-19.

We are all in this together and unfortunately no one is immune

and please, if you are well, it would be very Australian to assist the elderly and people with disabilities, if they require it.

We have recently demonstrated our empathy/compassion to all those affected by the bushfires and we can do it again as nothing can knock us Aussies down. PAM DELAHUNTY-HUNTER, BIGGERA WATERS

I WONDER how many landlords throughout the world will be willing to forgo the rent from the millions of businesses that have had to close because of the millions of customers who have had to stay home through the possibility of catching this pandemic.

I guess figures will be compiled on those who say, pay me when you reopen, or demand continuous payment, no matter what.

There will be many who will be understanding, and a lot more who will demand continuous payment, no matter the situation.

I hope that someone will be able to compile a list of the thousands who will still demand payment as per usual. VERN EVES, TWEED

RATHER than the Federal Government scattering our hardearned taxpayer dollars (especially as so many people are now isolated), I agree with Viv Forbes’ (16/3) sensible suggestions for stimulation – calling for an abolition of Capital Gains Tax.

Now is also the time for state governments to fund infrastructure projects.

Additionally, if local councils

support a six-month rate moratorium, property owners can pass on six-months rent free or reduced rent arrangements to all tenants (property owners will suffer anyway if renters default).

This strategy boosts confidence and encourages spending, with a flow on effect to businesses. DR SALLIE GARDNER, BROADBEACH WATERS

PLANES parked up, cruise ships anchored, airports deserted, tourists not touring, supermarket shelves bare, Disneyland shut, borders closing, motor races cancelled, no fans in the stands, smelters and factories closing, travel banned, oil and coal prices crashing, stock markets plunging, businesses closing, bankruptcies rising, hotels and motels unoccupied, politicians panicking, barbies cold – looks like zero emissions is almost here. VIV FORBES, WASHPOOL

I HAVE just returned from a shopping trip to Woolies at Southport Park. I went there to purchase the ingredients for my homemade vegetable soup.

I couldn’t believe my eyes as the car park was approximately 70 per cent full even though it only opened at 9 o’clock.

I was nearly bowled over by a middle-aged female running through the centre clutching two packs of toilet rolls as though she had won gold in the 100 metres.

There were no trolleys in the trolley area outside and only about half a dozen in the shop itself.

People were everywhere, I have never seen anything like it on a

Sunday. They were buying everything in packs of four. I struggled to find a tin of diced tomatoes.

I heard a staff member say to a lady, “I have worked for Woolies for 10 years and I have never seen anything like it”.

Do these people not realise that they are creating the very situation that they are trying to avoid by their foolish actions.

I hope my soup is worth the battle I had to make it. FRANK TEWKESBURY, ARUNDEL

TODAY I voted because I wanted to avoid the rush on polling day because of the virus scare and I have to work that Saturday.

All day as I drove around the Gold Coast I noticed the pre polling booths set up and many people lined up to vote early.

I arrived at Runaway Bay at noon to be confronted with a line up to the door of the polling booth.

I was surprised at the regular stream of people who arrived behind me and asked the electoral commission worker at the door had it been like this all day. He said, “Yes, it seems to me many people want to avoid voting on the day to avoid the crowds because of the virus.” The woman ahead of me said that’s why she was there and so did the couple behind me.

I do believe that many people are doing the same and that the polling booths may indeed be as busy every day for the next two weeks because people have made up their minds and wish to avoid being infected if they can. RON NIGHTINGALE, BIGGERA WATERS