Letters to the Editor, August 2, 2018

TODAY’S LETTERS: Readers have their say on the proposal to change the Lady Cilento Hospital’s name, what the Longman by-election result means for the LNP and the debate over our Australian values.

Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital, which is at the centre of debate over its name. Picture: Marc Robertson

IT SEEMS the proposal to change the name of the Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital has not won popular support (Letters, Aug 1).

Who cares if the hospital is unknown at some expensive medical conference in New York, or even if Borat of the Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan mistakenly believes it’s a private hospital?

Lady Cilento made a great contribution in Queensland for the benefit of women’s and children’s health, and wasn’t a politician.

She should be given this recognition.

It was one of the few correct decisions made by the Newman government in its short stint in office.

Phil Greenhill, Bellbird Park

WHILE it is current practice to rewrite history in many parts of the world, the idea of changing the name of the Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital is yet another Palaszczuk Government attempt to rewrite Queensland history.

The hospital is well known and well used.

If need be, a simple tweaking of the name would meet any demands from those seeking change.

Name it the “Queensland Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital”, thus saving the poor taxpayers millions of dollars for any proposed review.

The ongoing tinkering with names and self-aggrandisement by politicians to promote their own interests needs to cease.

Let’s hope the claimed public involvement in the review won’t end with just another of the Premier’s “captain calls”.

Michael Matthews, Bribie Island

WHY must politicians interfere with a hospital’s name in memory of Lady Cilento, who gave so much to the history of this state?

Why not change the name of the state while you are at it?

A.J. Macnaughton, Clayfield

REGARDING the kerfuffle surrounding the proposed renaming of the Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital, surely changing the name to the Lady Cilento Children’s Public Hospital would solve the problem for the least amount of financial outlay.

Lee Wallace, Forest Lake

PERHAPS doctors could inform patients it’s a public hospital when they refer them.

Is that too simple a solution?

Barbara Kavenagh, Buddina

I WOULD like to apologise to the Cilento family for the distress caused by the bid to remove Lady Cilento’s name from the children’s hospital.

Health Minister Steven Miles should have taken the time to research who Lady Cilento was.

If he had done so, he would have knocked this proposal on the head.

I am amazed that highly educated medical staff don’t seem to know who she is and her contribution to Queensland and Australia.

Every day we hear the State Government crying poor over the lack of funding from the Federal Government, and here it is wanting to waste money to change a name.

I wonder what all the people on the waiting lists around the state think of that.

If the minister goes ahead with this proposal, he should change the name of the Princess Alexandra Hospital to the Brisbane Base Hospital and the Prince Charles to the Brisbane Heart Hospital.

Then, hopefully, the suffering Queensland taxpayer might get a discount for changing the names of three hospitals at the same time. This Government has lost the plot.

Darryl Phillips, Mackay North

A PRODUCT or company’s name should easily be remembered or convey what happens there.

Would changing the name of the hospital to “Awesome Children’s Hospital” keep the kids, doctors and politicians happy?

Craig Mitchell, Holland Park

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LNP IN BIG TROUBLE

COLUMNIST Dennis Atkins (C-M, Aug 1) is correct.

The Longman by-election result for the LNP has undoubtedly put the leadership of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull firmly back in the crosshairs of nervous backbenchers in this state.

Seemingly, voters in Longman overlooked the negative opinion polls of Opposition Leader Bill Shorten. His dismal ratings clearly played no great part at the ballot box and this must be worrying news for the LNP.

As Atkins highlighted, this by-election had the ring of John Howard’s 2007 WorkChoices about it, with a much greater union presence and ACTU secretary Sally McManus and her Change the Rules campaign clearly cutting through on the ground.

The LNP in Queensland can in no way match the union movement in manning electoral booths by sheer weight of numbers on the ground.

This advantage to Labor is a factor in the primary vote that counts for so much.

With the LNP also bleeding protest votes to One Nation, it seems the Longman

by-election is just a “precursor of doom” that awaits the Turnbull Government at the next federal election.

Clearly, Turnbull’s tax cuts to big business have to be jettisoned or revamped.

Labor’s “slogan” on banks and cuts to hospitals clearly resonated with voters.

Unless Turnbull changes his policy direction drastically he will lead a train wreck of carnage that will see the LNP decimated in Queensland at the next election.

Paul Henderson, Wynnum

LABOR focused on tax cuts to the big end of town in the Longman by-election.

The LNP could not refute their attacks nor convince voters that tax cuts would benefit them, so they attacked Bill Shorten.

In the last federal election, the “Mediscare” campaign almost toppled the Government. The LNP had no answer.

Where are the strategists within the coalition? The LNP should bring back Tony Abbott’s former chief-of-staff Peta Credlin if it wishes to retain government.

Lyn Fryer, Ferny Hills

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I LIKED Margaret Wenham’s column (C-M, Aug 1) on the story of her father’s journey to Australia and her love for the Aussie “fair go”, which would resonate with many of us.

But why disapprove of the definition of our values as espoused by Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs Minister Alan Tudge?

Equality and freedom of speech are covered generally under the rule of law, essential for a stable democracy.

I think what Wenham really addresses are social concerns linked to integration.

If only all immigrants embraced their country of choice with the same enthusiasm, we would have “no worries”.

As well as stating values, politicians could keep us up to date with processes to integrate newcomers with understanding and humanity.

A welcoming, respectful community also plays its part in a successful multicultural society.

Ros Smith, Middle Park

FOLLOWING on from Marg Wenham’s column on Australian values, when we single out Australia as the promised land, we tend to ignore the many other countries whose inhabitants have wonderful attributes.

Perhaps if we focused on what connects us rather than what divides us, there would be fewer wars.

Glenda Forster, Newmarket

GOOD on you, Marg Wenham, for your “fair go” column.

Let’s practise our Aussie core values and be proud of them. Many fought and died to uphold them. Lest we forget.

Richard Lancaster, Clontarf

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