Letter of the Week

Have strong opinions, write in an engaging way? You could win our Letter of the Week, and with it a book from our friends and sponsors, the publishers HarperCollins. This month’s book prize is Queen of the North by Anne O’Brien. To those around her she is a loyal subject. In her heart she is a traitor. In 1399 the fight for England’s crown has dire consequences. This is one woman’s quest to turn history on its head.

I WOULD have liked to have seen a cruise ship terminal built on the Gold Coast as a tourist attraction, and to see those majestic giants entering the Broadwater.

However, I’m no greenie, but I do agree with Gold Coasters who believe it would not be feasible to build a CST at the Spit, simply because Mother Nature didn’t grace us with a natural deep-water harbour like Sydney and other fortunate cities.

The massive cost to widen the Seaway for these huge ships and continued dredging of the entrance and the Broadwater would send costs out through the roof – GCCC rates would rise to an unaffordable cost to most ratepayers.

As for an off-shore CST, imagine an 80,000-ton ocean liner being tied up to a pier 400 metres out at sea during wild storms and sudden wind shifts. No wonder shipping lines have shown no interest in this crazy concept.

It’s about time Gold Coasters got used to the idea that there will never be a CST while Queensland is ruled by the Palaszczuk Government, simply because of Labor’s strong affiliation with the greenies.

Remove that problem combo, and you will be rewarded with a CST.

KEN WADE, TWEED HEADS

REPORTS that a push for a new boutique stadium has received mayoral support shows just how councillors treat ratepayers like a bottomless ATM with no regard for financial restraint (‘Seeya to the Cbus, GCB, 26/5/18).

Council has already spent tens of millions on stadiums in the city. It donated its formerly owned Carrara stadium to the State Government because it couldn’t afford to run it, then gave millions to help with the upgrade.

It helped build a new stadium

for the Titans who couldn’t support it, and now want help for a smaller stadium.

It contributed tens of millions for new sports facilities for the Commonwealth Games, most of which will now be a financial blackhole.

If Council allocates one more cent to the construction of a new stadium on the coast, then it should be replaced by an administrator and an investigation launched into all council spending.

Gold Coast residents are already paying the highest rates in all Australia, and Council continues to spend like the proverbial drunken sailor.

IAN TIMMINS, MERMAID BEACH

MAYOR Tom Tate has come out in the media and said “ratepayers are investing in the proposed CST” a spiel from the mayor as he tries his best to distance himself from his pre-election promise “the CST want cost ratepayers a cent”.

Cr Owen Jones stated on his Facebook page and also reported in the GCB 29/5 the expected cost of the proposed CST is $470 million. The proposal doesn’t have support from any cruise ship company, nor any support from state or federal government.

So ask yourself as ratepayers do you think this is a good investment?

Based on Tom Tate’s own figures of expected cruise ships and average worldwide passenger docking charges of $12, it will take over 100 years to break even – that’s without any maintenance costs.

Doesn’t seem such a good investment does it? Well not by my limited understanding of investing anyway.

PAUL DARADISH, NERANG