LETTERS
Post your letters to: 36 Mary St, Noosaville, 4566 or email: newsdesk@noosatoday.com.au
NOTHING TO LAUGH ABOUT
LENSCAPE
The premise by Case Smit that low income families are being disconnected from the electricity grid because of a future shift from coal fired power stations to cleaner renewable energy is laughable. One way to bring prices down would be to renationalise Australia’s electricity grid. Many well-informed people have written to this paper giving facts and figures about why man is contributing to climate change and why renewable energy is the way of the future, but Mr Smit and others keep trotting out the same old tired arguments praising coal. I am not sure who they are trying to convince. Certainly not all those people who were at the Eumundi School of Arts hall who listened to learned people like John Sinclair, Professor Jon Brodie and Dr Tanzi Smith talk about the perils of having a coal mine on our doorstep. If the New Hope Colton coal mine goes ahead, then millions of litres of untreated mine discharge will flow into the Great Sandy Strait, and I don’t think there would be too many people in the Noosa Shire who think that would be a good idea. Bruce Hallett, Tewantin.
THEY’VE GOT IT COVERED Some of you may know, council-funded professional lifeguards already provide the bulk of services on our beaches, seven days a week from May to September holidays and five days a week from September to May. Noosa Heads Surf Club provides lifeguard services on Peregian Beach one day on weekends from September to May and pays for a lifeguard to do the other day on the weekend during this period. While we’re grateful for all Noosa Heads Surf Club has done for the Peregian Club, if they choose to withdraw, Surf Lifesaving Queensland has committed to covering the weekends during the summer months and taking over the lease on the surf club. There would be no need for extra patrols by council-funded professional lifeguards nor any extra cost to ratepayers should NHSLC withdraw. Frank Wilkie, Deputy Mayor, Noosa Council.
‘GLAMPING’ WILL BE ROUGH The transfer of the Elanda Point lease represents for many of us a dramatic step back for conservation and affordable camping and
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20 NOOSA TODAY
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Paul Lanfear captured this spectacular sunset over our Noosa River. If you would like to send us a photo for Lenscape, please email newsdesk@noosatoday.com.au recreation in a key region of the Great Sandy National Park. Essentially, what we are seeing here is the potential transformation of a laid-back, relaxed and family-friendly education and recreation facility into a ‘glamping’ resort with everything to make it easier for those of us not willing to ‘rough it’ to dip their little toe in the pristine waters of paradise, at little or no sacrifice apart from their purse. Club Med in a sacred nature reserve, designed to increase the existing stress on a fragile environment. Mr Batty’s bland assurance that he intends to maintain the current prevailing purpose of Elanda, an affordable, low-key camping and environmental education facility, fall on deaf ears, given his own admissions in his original submission to council.
He fails to mention his company’s admitted damage to the environment of the Noosa River, caused by the wash and fuel emissions from the current Discovery Tours highspeed vessels. Nor does he refer to his expressed wish in that submission to control 100 per cent of commercial access to the fragile Cooloola region. How can we trust Mr Batty to safeguard what is so precious to many of us when his application to downgrade a vital fish habitat at Elanda in order to construct a 70-metre jetty to service his Everglades tours is after more than four months deliberation still awaiting the decision of Dr Steven Miles, the Minister for National Parks. Does Mr Batty know something we don’t? Perhaps the report that he has relinquished
the lease on his current jetty at Noosaville has some bearing on the matter. It seems that Discovery Tours buses and other vehicles are already accessing Elanda via Lake Flat Road, according to local users. While we have no reason to assume that this increased commercial traffic is responsible for the tragedy, we learn that a mother swamp wallaby with a surviving baby was discovered dead on the Elanda Point road last week, one thing is certain: any increase in high-speed or heavy vehicle traffic in this quiet natural habitat can only increase the risk of more needless slaughter, unless measures are taken to reduce speeds and increase drivers’ awareness of wildlife. Noel Bird, Boreen Point.
A WATCHFUL EYE ON INFANTS Families with babies born in April and May are being asked about their infants sleep routines for one of the largest studies in Queensland into sudden and unexpected infant deaths. Researchers at the University of the Sunshine Coast are sending surveys to parents as part of the study led by USC Professor of Nursing Jeanine Young who said despite public health campaigns Queensland had one of the highest rates in Australia of unexplained infant death. “By better understanding how parents use advice and public health recommendations to care for their babies, we hope to reduce the rate of fatal sleeping accidents and sudden infant deaths,” she said.
Thursday, 31 August, 2017
“The Infant Care Awareness and Routines Evaluation Among Queenslanders study is the first of this kind in 15 years, and is supported as a priority by the State Coroner and Red Nose, formerly SIDS and Kids.” PhD candidate and paediatric clinical nurse Roni Cole said the findings would be used to shape future public health campaigns and safe sleeping messages. “Each week, around two babies under the age of 12 months die suddenly and unexpectedly in Australia,” she said. “Previous research clearly demonstrates that some infant care practices are associated with increased risk of babies dying; while others may protect babies.” For more information email Roni Cole at roni.cole@research.usc.edu.au ●
Professor Jeanine Young. noosatoday.com.au