DROWNING IN A CARE CRISIS

AS more is learned about the tragically short life of the nine-month-old whose little body was washed up on a Surfers Paradise beach, it is clear there has been a total failure in government services that should have protected the child.

Police visited the parents and their two small children not once but three times in the days leading up to her death, and eventually – with perhaps frustration but certainly with serious concerns about the children’s welfare – drove them from Broadbeach down to Kingscliff where it was hoped they would be looked after.

The family did not stay long, returning to Tweed Heads where, as police are alleging, the father told the young mother he would take the baby to an elder but the child ended up in the river instead. It has also emerged that despite contact from police, Child Safety did not send anyone at the weekend to help the family.

Earlier this week the Bulletin said the Premier and her ministers had to stop hiding behind senior bureaucrats whenever under pressure. In light of what is revealed today, it is time Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Child Safety Minister Di Farmer stepped out of the shadows and took responsibility. Child Safety staff are said to be swamped by work. Welfare workers say there are too few foster carers available when children need to go into care. The system is broken. It is unable to protect the most vulnerable members of our community.

Gold Coast people have demonstrated this week just how much this terrible incident has affected them. The city is ashamed and carries considerable guilt.

When news broke of the child’s death, welfare worker Wendy Coe sent a powerful letter to the Bulletin, blaming herself for not stepping in even though she no longer works in “the crisis business”. She is too harsh on herself. The burden is not hers.

But she was right when she wrote we must all learn from the tragedy.

Flowers, stuffed toys and blankets – items denied to the little girl in life – have been left at a makeshift shrine at the beach where a crowd also gathered on Thursday evening to mourn her loss. As individuals, there was little more they could do. But as a group, those who stood on the beach and offered tearful prayers, along with the wider community, were sending their own powerful message.

Even as they reeled in shock this week, news was breaking of another dreadful tragedy at Logan City. The list of children who have died or been left with serious, life-threatening injuries is growing.

People have had enough. Like the army of police, ambos, social workers, clergy and volunteers Ms Coe’s letter referred to, they are tired of “the issues” of homelessness, family violence, grog, drugs and mental health. Every death hits them hard.

They want the Government to do more than offer excuses. They want it to lead and take responsibility in fixing a broken system. They want an open review of what happened to the children, how and why they were let down and what is being done about it.

Ministers are paid to lead, not to keep defending mistakes, shortfalls in funding and insufficient resources. If Ms Farmer cannot do this, the Premier must act.

THIS annual Surfers Schoolies event introduced by the Beattie Labor Government is an introduction to a future of alcohol consumption for these kids.

Most of them are too immature and giggly to be allowed to drink booze.

In my day we had to be aged 21 to drink alcohol and to vote, and 18 to get a car licence, but Labor with their lack of wisdom, lowered the drinking and voting age to 18, and allowed them to apply for a learner’s licence at 16.

This Labor strategy was introduced by the Beattie-Bligh duo to capture the votes of the naive GenY 18-year-old school leavers first-time voters at that time.

And not only did Anna Bligh benefit from this conspiracy come election time, but Kevin Rudd capitalised on the same strategy to become Prime Minister, by offering the gullible GenY first time voters an attractive dole package.

And Labor has the nerve to say legendary old Joh Bjelke-Petersen was corrupt.

For God’s sake, talk about a bunch of sneaky Labor hypocrites.

KEN WADE, TWEED HEADS

GROWTH presents its own challenges. Traffic, public transport and jobs are some of them but the one that creates the most division within the community is lifestyle and the perceived loss of what makes our city what it is.

Adding to that dilemma is urban sprawl governed by necessary restrictions to urban development of natural assets to our west. Our city is spreading north where infrastructure has become a real issue.

From my perspective, the Gold Coast looks nothing like it did in

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But on the positive side we can’t live in a time warp and expect to compete in an industry that sustains us, tourism. The generations before me created the city I came to know as a 10-year-old.

Succeeding generations added to that base. We have gone from a budding tourist destination to a vibrant tourist city. Our population will reach 1 million before we know it and we must plan to accommodate that growth.

The next generation will see what we have and accept it. For them the past is just that.

They will build their own future on the bones of what we left them. Some of us who remain may complain but like it or not, that is the way of things.

BOB JANSSEN,

GOLD COAST & HINTERLAND BUSINESS ALLIANCE

TRIGGER warning: greenies should read this in a safe space as it contains incontrovertible facts.

The basic elemental composition of a 75kg human includes 13.9kg of carbon – even greenies.

Each time an adult human exhales a typical 2.6g breath it includes up to 5.3 per cent CO2.

Adult humans exhale about 700g to 900g of CO2 per day, or about 290kg/year.

Air weighs about 10,300kg per square metre (at sea-level), which includes about 650g of CO2.

CO2 is continuously exchanged between air, sea, plants and animals – including humans.

CO2 is vital to all life on Earth, but plankton tend to remove it from the biosphere permanently.

The biosphere began running desperately short of CO2 during the last glacial maximum.

Humans burning fossil fuels released sequestered CO2 that partially replenished the biosphere.

The world is now greener than it