YOUR VIEWS
IT is my opinion, that should the ridiculous ‘free for all’ called Schoolies go ahead, then anyone in Queensland who has been fined for breaking any of the COVID-19 laws or had to pay their own isolation costs in government recommended establishments, should be in a legal position to demand fines and isolation costs be refunded.
How could it possibly be sensible, logical or legal, let alone in the best interests of all Queenslanders, to allow Schoolies to take place during a world-wide pandemic, when people have lost their lives, their employment, their freedoms and their businesses as a direct result of COVID-19?
During the pandemic, only a few people at a time have been able to attend the funerals of their loved ones, others could only have a few people to celebrate their weddings and other than the ‘ happy couple’ nobody else was allowed to take part in any of the wedding dancing.
How many of the elderly in aged care homes have not been able to see their loved ones and how many of these same elderly died with COVID-19 after being deprived the chance to say hello or a final goodbye from family members?
For the large majority of Queenslanders, we all toed the line for the greater good of everyone so how can the authorities now turn around and even contemplate allowing Schoolies to take place?
I realise that many businesses in the Gold Coast and Surfers Paradise areas would benefit from the influx of people, but if it’s considered viable now why the hell hasn’t it been viable throughout the period of the pandemic?
Queensland has just recently been put through the resurgence of some of the COVID-19 rules/border changes due to a few very selfish people who thought it would be alright to work while infected but I doubt that a total lockdown situation is what we want or need to go through.
I think this is being seen as an easy way of filling State Government’s coffers rather than the health and safety of Queenslanders.
ELLIE GRANT, RUNAWAY BAY
IT would be beneficial to our whole community if more state MPs and candidates seeking election to the Queensland Parliament on October 31 took an interest in the issue of voluntary assisted dying (VAD).
Recently I participated in a very useful public forum on VAD arranged by Aaron Harper, the state MP for the North Queensland seat of Thuringowa who chaired the Health Committee Inquiry that recommended VAD laws for Queensland.
That recommendation was acted on by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk who asked the Queensland Law Reform Commission to draft a VAD Bill and return it by March next year.
But the fate of VAD laws now rests with voters and the people they choose as their local MPs at the October election. Unless a majority of MPs in the next parliament support VAD laws they will not become a reality.
Reliable polls consistently showing four out of five Queenslanders are in favour of laws to allow rational terminally ill people with unremediable suffering to voluntarily choose the timing and circumstances of their own end of life.
It is vital that politicians and the wider community understand that even with the most expert palliative care, the Australian Palliative Care Outcome Collaboration figures show that severe symptoms of suffering persist and are unable to be relieved in approximately 15 per cent of people in the period leading up to death.
Inability to control all suffering at end of life is recognised by a majority of doctors with polling by the leading medical publication Australian Doctor in 2016 revealing two out of three supported VAD law reform.
In-depth parliamentary inquiries – including those in Victoria and Western Australia as well as the cross-party inquiry here in Queensland chaired by Mr Harper – have unequivocally shown that a significant number of people have non remediable end of life suffering leading to extremely poor quality of death and, in the absence of a legal alternative, terminally ill people are taking distressing and lonely actions to end their own suffering.
Copious evidence now exists to clearly demonstrate that safeguards in VAD laws work and that the so-called “slippery slope” arguments by VAD opponents have no basis.
Those seeking to represent Queenslanders in our next State Parliament should know that they will secure voter support if they back VAD laws. Voters in turn need to satisfy themselves that the people they choose to represent them truly reflect their views on this important issue.
DR SID FINNIGAN, QUEENSLAND STATE CORONER DOCTORS FOR ASSISTED DYING CHOICE
LIKE many others, I am absolutely disgusted by the state of the socalled aged care homes in this country.
It’s been said that just over $6 per person per day is spent on food. I’ve read and heard the horror stories about the costs involved in keeping the elderly in these homes from being charged huge costs for the necessities of life, most of which are never delivered on.
I’m just as disgusted by the useless investigations, Royal Commissions etc initiated by successive governments over the decades, all of which end with sweet bugger all of any importance for the elderly changing.
When the aged care industry is run by private enterprise, just like any other business, it’s all about the bottom line, keeping costs down, amping up the profits and employing the bare minimum of people and in most cases, those at the top have absolutely no health or medical qualifications.
I’m not saying that governmentrun homes would be very much better but I’m damned sure that they could be held more accountable because I would hope that the voters would see to that given that the elderly in these homes are handing over the majority if not all of their aged pensions – plus, for the privilege of barely living.
GAEL BEALE, GOLD COAST