Andrew WALLACE

Open letter to Mayor

Dear Mayor

I write to you to voice my concerns about what was the process on the removal of Mr Greening from his enterprise of car washing at the rear car park of the Maleny IGA.

The Glasshouse Country and Maleny news article “Just Trying To Do A Job” dated 25th April is the source of information.

For transparent reason and to have faith in the Local Council, I am seeking the following information.

1 How many complaint were made?

2 Who from Council investigated?

3 What did they observe?

4 What testing was undertaken?

5 What was the results of that testing?

I voice my concern that an individual can be treated in an unfair manner and to date Council has not put out any information to the public. This lack of accountability may be construed as bullying on be half of the Sunshine Coast Council. In the name of good governance please consider my request.

Ian Lindsay, Maleny

Enough hysteria

Last week’s edition (May 30) had two very contrasting letters regarding opinions on the Voice. Jacob Pruden spelt out his No case and Andrew Mclean spelt out his Yes case.

I often have friendly discussions and debates with a local small business owner. We often disagree and usually pause the discussion until the next time we meet. All great banter.

However, when discussing the Voice, he is probably going to be a No voter. He cites lack of trust of politicians as his main reason. This is probably understandable. But in this case I feel he has got it wrong.

The Voice has not come from Parliament or politicians. Nearly all the information about the Voice is out there. As with anything remotely contentious there will be plethora of opinions, a lot of which will be most unhelpful.

When the Mabo decision was handed down in 1992 there was a lot of hysteria particularly among land owners in regional and country Australia. This hysteria was completely unfounded. There were claims that First Nations people were going to occupy some of these properties. Just because native title existed for all indigenous people ( from that decision ), didn’t mean the land was going to be occupied.

The same hysteria is happening again. Our First Nations people are simply asking us or rather inviting us to go on a journey with them so it will help them. All endeavours to date have failed miserably. So this time I want our First Nations people to have a say in issues that effect them.

A No vote will completely devastate these people and any hope of solving the difficult issues will just evaporate. Yes, there will be a certain amount of symbolism displayed, but it will have no real effect.

John Quinn, Glasshouse Mountains

Voice for better decisions

At the heart of the Voice to Parliament is a mechanism that will improve the quality of decisions about our indigenous people. Anchoring it in the Constitution both protects it from the whims of political parties e.g. abolition of ATSIC by the Howard government, and marks the special place indigenous peoples have in our collective Australian history. Canada, The United States and New Zealand all have forms of this.

Polling research finds that middle Australia wants to see government extend a helping hand, not the boot(Redbridge). Each one of us has a responsibility to cast a well informed vote later this year. I will vote YES.

Jenny Donovan, Beerburrum

No case well put

Thank you, Jacob Prudon, for articulating so perfectly the No case that we mere mortals have been struggling with.

It is so beautifully laid out that even those lame brains in Canberra should be able to understand the horrifying implications of a Yes vote.

Tom & Annette James Tasmania

Let the buyer beware

Sticking to the actual crux of the letter.

So when Albanese stands before the camera and puts on the crocodile tears, pleading with Australians to support his agenda.

When he refuses to go into deals about exact changes to the constitution and will only tell us that “The Voice” will only advise on Aboriginal issues and have no bearing on anything else, I say “Caveat Emptor”.

Let the buyer beware.

Sleepwalking to War

The fact that Australia is sleepwalking towards a catastrophic war against China has received immense coverage by most of the mainstream media. Welcome and responsible coverage in non-mainstream media, in contrast, raises issues such as what do the latest bits of weaponry actually do – to people and the environment? Where’s the evidence for the notion that building up weaponry deters wars?

What have our post-World War II wars cost us and other nations in lives lost, lives ruined, environments damaged, crippling military budgets, and relationships strained?

Who will decide if and when Australia next goes to war – the PM with a tiny handful of people hiding behind Cabinet secrecy, as per the current practice, or our elected representatives in parliament?

Given the abundance of such questions that need broader discussion, why does mainstream media continue to beat the war drums?

Why are we not discussing peace. One obvious response is that no-one’s going to pay for it; there is no money in peace. Herein lies the irony.

Shane Daly, Peachester

Warfare and its preparation cost a vast amount of national wealth in economic terms, quite apart from the human and environmental cost. (The ‘war on terror’ is estimated to have cost the US alone many trillions of dollars). And yet we barely scratch the surface of how to prevent wars, in our national budget, in our parliament, in our universities and in our mainstream media, notwithstanding the sterling efforts of some in those institutions.

Australia’s current obsession with embedding ourselves more deeply in the World’s most powerful war machine, that of the USA, can only end in disaster. We have become like a drunkard rendered incapable of