LetteroftheWeek
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.
Rules: Best letter competition runs until January 19 next year. Entries close each Thursday at 5pm. The winner is selected by 2pm each Friday. Book of the month valued up to $49. Entrants agree to the Competition Terms and Conditions located at www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/
entertainment/competitions, and our privacy policy. Entrants consent to their information being shared with HarperCollins for the express purpose of delivering prizes. I read with disbelief that Mayor Tom Tate wants to secure $10 million to widen the Sundale Bridge, which he described as “a no brainer” (‘City to increase spend on roads’, GCB, 22/5/18).
In my opinion, for me a “no brainer” is for our Council to have widened the bridge when they added a concrete pedestrian/cycle pathway completed in 2014. Why could no one in Council have had the foresight then to incorporate an extra lane during reconstruction? It beggars belief!
Oh yes, I forgot, it’s ratepayers money so perhaps a case of easy come, easy go. Perhaps Council could explain why the extra lane wasn’t built then?
DENISE MELLER, MAIN BEACH
IN a blast against her defecting Senator Burston, Pauline Hanson said that “... it means so much to me to help the people who need help. That feel like no one’s listening to them. They’re sick of politicians because they don’t do anything”.
I sent an email to her some time back regarding a Commonwealth problem relating to this state. The email was not acknowledged. So I sent her a letter about the issue. It also was not even acknowledged or returned.
So one could be excused for wondering if Senator Hanson is less interested in representing the residents of this state than in wielding power. She certainly did nothing for me, contrary to her stated objectives.
IAN TIMMINS, MERMAID BEACH
CONGRATULATIONS to the photographer whose happy smiling photograph made the front page of Friday’s paper. And good on you
Bulletin for giving it such good exposure.
JOHN MAHER, BROADBEACH
I WAS in Surfers last week, and had a real chuckle. Saw a fair number of the orange bikes with a “bike for sale-$200, phone .... ” sign on the front. Wonder if the all-seeing Council saw that!
Wanna buy a bike? How about a bridge?
DENNIS SALISBURY, BURLEIGH WATERS
THERE is a Final Report into the closure of the Casino to Murwillumbah line by a NSW Parliamentary Inquiry in 2004. It’s fascinating. The Inquiry thoroughly investigates all the reasons given by the NSW government for stopping services and finds them to have little validity. For example, Railcorp stated that the Howard Federal government cut funding to the Carr State government so cuts had to be made to balance the State budget. The inquiry investigated the claim that, “the Government’s reasons for closing the Casino to Murwillumbah rail service, was based largely on the financial costs of the line and the Government’s budget constraints.”
The overall saving to RailCorp of the closure of our rail service was estimated at $14.2 million/year over the next five years and yet the Inquiry states “the 2004-2005 Budget included a net increase to Railcorp of $352.4 million for passenger rail services in NSW”.
The Inquiry recommends the instant return of services and the Committee notes that “under section 99A of the Transport Administration Act 1988, RailCorp cannot physically remove the Casino to Murwillumbah railway line. To do so requires a specific act of Parliament.”
However the Carr government ignored the recommendations of its own parliamentary inquiry. One has to ask why governments ignore the findings of reviews by their own parliamentary procedures? We need our local politicians to care about what’s best for all the people in our region and not what suits the government of the day. Let’s vote for those who care.
BETH SHELLEY, BOOERIE CREEK
THERE has been in the last decade massive costs to installing solar and wind power generation, subsidised by the people’s money, with zero dollars invested in new modern fossil power generation.
Is there a media enterprise or other agency that has the spine to research, and present the comparison of the monies spent versus the output and reliability in comparison to an equal expenditure with coal or gas power plants?
It seems that in a nation like ours, a first world nation, no business plan or comparison analysis between the two, solar/wind and coal/gas, has been completed, ensuring that the end best product is presented and adopted for the betterment of this nation, not the whole planet.
We do not buy a home or vehicle without comparing what is best for our needs and price we would pay, so why must we accept a political decision that has not been through the same scrutiny?
ROBERT S BUICK, MOUNTAIN CREEK