Letter of the Week

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THE private sector should take care of itself.

Millions of our dollars of our hard-earned rates, over years, are squandered on endless studies of a cruise ship port in a harbourless city.

This pie-in-the-sea scheme potentially imperils already existing thriving tourism, such as dive, in our exceptionally rich marine life in habited waters.

Next, while basic amenities like local roadworks, footpaths, public transport, parking facilities and open space purchase are neglected, our community money is proposed to yet again be spent on more studies to possibly intrude a cable car system in the vicinity of our world heritage Springbrook area.

The upshot of that push could well be the loss of the world heritage status of the area, should its unique, fragile and rare flora status be impugned.

You don’t see other places in Australia or the world risking this kind of iconic status, let alone asking their community to pay to help the process.

Well past time for change and 2020 vision, not expensive sponging on locals for re-runs of discredited private interest schemes. SALLY SPAIN, PRESIDENT WILDLIFE QUEENSLAND GOLD COAST BRANCH

A MORE disgraceful sight is harder to imagine than the explosion of fireworks on New Year’s Eve.

The purported misdeeds of the Prime Minister pale into insignificance when beholding this shocking waste of money.

With several states burning to perdition and thousands trapped on the beaches and several firefighters dead, NSW has to flex its ego with wanton displays of hedonism. TONY CAVUOTO, PALM BEACH

THE Queensland Parliament’s cross-party Health Committee spent much of 2019 inquiring into end-of-life issues including voluntary assisted dying and visited the Gold Coast to hear personal evidence.

Health Committee members from across the parliament should be congratulated on the work they have done so far in dealing with extremely complex and often highly emotional issues and they have more work to do before their reporting deadline at the end of March.

However, swift action is needed by our State Parliament on any inquiry recommendations for voluntary assisted dying laws or else possible reforms will become a partisan political football at the October 2020 state election and then be left for the next parliament to consider.

The solution is firmly in the hands of Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk who should ask Mr Harper’s committee for an early report on voluntary assisted dying as soon as possible in this new year and allow them to report by the end of March on the other issues of aged care and palliative care.

If voluntary assisted dying laws are to become a reality the best chance is through a government-sponsored Bill on which all 93 MPs can exercise a conscience vote for or against.

The urgency is revealed by data from the National Coronial Information System showing that each month an average of seven people with a terminal illness and irretrievable physical decline take their own life in Queensland. By comparison, parliamentary inquiries in Victoria and WA were told that around one such person a week took their own life in those states.

The current Queensland Parliament established the Health Committee inquiry; the inquiry will report to the current parliament; so the current parliament must consider its recommendations.

The issue is too important and too urgent to be fobbed off to another parliament of unknown composition after the next election.

Queensland needs voluntary assisted dying laws sooner not later to offer another choice at the end of life.

Under voluntary assisted dying laws there will not be one single extra death, but there will be a lot less suffering. DAVID MUIR, CHAIR THE CLEM JONES GROUP

SCOTT Morrison began his tenure as Prime Minister giving all of us the impression that he’d be leading from the front. The flack he’s receiving lately is at times deserved and at other times the result of whingeing lefties.

Yes, hosting a test cricketers’ reception at Kirribilli House while fires raged and lives and properties were being lost was a poor choice. We are a proud cricketing nation but surely he could have been moving around thanking firefighters and giving assurance to everyone that all that was possible was being done.

Any one of a number of MPs could have hosted the reception. His deputy could have received great exposure by taking over the reins. He certainly needs greater publicity than he’s getting.

I think we all know where Tony Abbott would be had he been the current PM so ScoMo needs a bit of Tony’s front to convince the public that he’s really caring about this catastrophic scenario.

Time to go show ScoMo and give confidence to all Australians. KEN JOHNSTON, ROCHEDALE SOUTH

ONE wonders how stupid some people are when they blame Scott Morrison for the bushfires, but those that think he can stop them have a real problem. ROD WATSON, SURFERS PARADISE