Vagrants by choice holding CBD community to ransom

WELCOME to the Gold Coast.

As a Southport resident living near the CBD it has been a long, hard battle trying to get authorities to take responsibility and action to sort out the vagrant issue.

No, not the poor and homeless, but the drunks, thieves and miscreants who have moved as a small loosely formed gang from Short St to Scarborough St on to Nerang St and now to the park in front of Australia Fair.

Everywhere they move the piles of rubbish and bad behaviour follows as do the charity workers who enable their activities.

This particular group don’t want housing, don’t want rehabilitation so the only recourse is stronger law enforcement on a shift by shift basis.

These people either clean up and take what’s on offer or spend their days sobering up in the watchhouse.

The whole of the community should not be held to ransom by a small group of itinerants and a handful of local supporters.

SUE NOORDINK, SOUTHPORT

I WOULD sincerely like to thank the members of the Gold Coast Water Police who diligently and professionally attended to a hoon problem in our local canals in Mermaid Waters.

I would imagine that the paperwork involved in each matter and combined with not having enough Water Police to sufficiently satisfy each qualified complaint from the public, would be a high hurdle in any circumstances, but they sorted our hoon problem very smartly.

And a big call out to our local Member of Parliament, Ray Stevens. How about putting your efforts and influence into gaining us more Water Police for this huge Gold Coast waterway area?

If it’s votes that you need for worthwhile results, then getting more Water Police would definitely achieve more votes for you.

Thanks again to the members of the Gold Coast Water Police. Your efforts and professionalism are appreciated by our waterway neighbourhood in Mermaid Waters.

SEAN BYRNE, MERMAID WATERS

TALKING about the Gold Coast having the highest number of speeding drivers, could Council also have a look at what is happening on the footpaths.

A peaceful walk along the boardwalk to The Spit turns into a life-threatening game of dodgem and look-behind-you all the time.

On behalf of our locals,it is time the Council recognises the boardwalk is simply not wide enough for packs of speeding rental scooters driven by idiots, three-wheel scooters driven by dad with a toddler, two-wheel scooters driven by young girls trying to take selfies while moving at speed, skateboards, zoned out joggers in head phones, jogging prams, bicycle riders trying to do wheel stands and the poor hapless pedestrians, and the dogs who bark and jump on their leads in fright and then get abused as a “savage” dog.

All at the same time. Please, some control, particularly on the weekends and school holidays.

Please lots and lots of reminders to ring or toot (once) when coming up behind pedestrians.

A couple of rangers would not go astray and some councilenforced classes on good manners and safe driving/riding would definitely make these selfish dopes think twice.

GEORGIE BROWN, MAIN BEACH

REMOVING the Fringe Benefits Tax so that tax claimed lunches is a very poorly thought out idea.

First of all, when the time comes to stop it, all hell will break loose. Businesses that had become accustomed to the extra business will cry poor.

These tax claims will only add to the seriously growing debt, that will one day need to be paid back.

Surely if a fancy lunch is really required, then let the business pay for it themselves.

Why should we the taxpayers pay for a few drinks and a meal. Gee, we can not claim it, nor the fancy cars and various other perks. Restraint is required here.

Is a paid lunch really going to make the deal that much better? What happened to good old business methods, that did not need these meals etc?

The restaurants should maybe look at the silly prices they charge. Then maybe the customers will return. Fairly priced meals and drinks will boost trade.

DAVID HOBBS, GOLD COAST

AMUSING stuff if it weren’t so sad.

David Hall (Gold Coast Bulletin, July 20) slates Daniel Andrews for Victoria’s current state with COVID-19. Let me remind you, David, that it was Gladys Berejiklian and the NSW Government’s ineptitude that allowed a whole ship full of people into Australia

without any checks on their health.

These people were allowed to disperse far and wide in Australia, starting COVID-19 cases everywhere, and, in particular the 19 deaths that occurred in the aged care facility at Newmarch House in Sydney.

Berejiklian then continually slated our Queensland premier for keeping the border closed, something that has resulted in only six deaths in Queensland as opposed to 49 in NSW, which is the highest of any state in Australia.

Thank you Annastacia Palaszczuk for keeping us safe!

JIM TAYLOR, MUDGEERABA

IF ever there was an urgent need for an Australian politician to fall on his sword in disgrace, it’s Victoria’s Labor Premier Daniel Andrews, and according to the southern media’s harsh criticism of his performance re: this virus outbreak, six million Victorians thoroughly agree.

This is a man who angry Victorians, and now New South Wales residents whose state is now under siege, have come to regard this Labor Premier as being responsible for this second wave of the virus, simply because he lacked any spine and professionalism to prevent the 30,000 mass demonstrators gathering in Melbourne’s CBD, when the virus was supposedly under control.

And a large amount of blame should also be directed at Labor’s bedmates the Greens who were the proud organisers of the demonstrations in each city, but now, cowardly, remaining mute.

Yet as millions of us watched the Victorian Premier being interviewed on national television, at the beginning of the outbreak, and asked if he would accept the responsibility of the outbreak because he allowed 30,000 demonstrators to all rub shoulders, he said “Don’t blame me”, yet he had the audacity to blame his police commissioner who was supposed to have said his police members would have been unable to control the demonstrators.

So the question on the lips of all concerned Australians facing an all-state virus outbreak is, “why was a demonstration permit issued in the first place’’ when the country was almost virus free?

KEN WADE, TWEED HEADS

WHAT is this wasteful council doing spending $30,000 a year in maintaining the M1 Gold Coast lights at Yatala plus another $5500 on electricity?

Now the C is not working and they are trying to find out how to repair it. What is the $30,000 for?

To stop wasting ratepayers’ money just turn them off as it serves no purpose.

RICHARD FAURE-FIELD ASHMORE

IT his disappointing so many ‘bighearted’ Gold Coasters seem to believe those of us residents living in Kingscliff, Cabarita, Cudgen and surrounds who are actually Tweed residents should be made to cross a ‘border’ every time we wish to go to the shopping centre.

No I’m not talking a glitzy Pac Fair or Robina Town Square with their designer stores, just basic shopping like Kmart, Target and Bunnings.

Oh, and heaven help us if any of us gets sick and need to cross the ‘border’ to get to the Tweed Hospital.

My son is doing his HSC this year with exams coming up, his school is over your proposed ‘border’ ... should he really have the added worry of trying to cross the ‘border’ and being on time for his exams?

The rates I pay are to the Tweed Shire and therefore I expect to be freely able to travel the whole shire.

SALLY PEACOCK, KINGSCLIFF