LETTERS: Joblessness, flood land and assisted dying

THE newspaper headlines scream "massive unemployment in Bundaberg”. Rubbish! Backpackers are finding work quite easily.

JOB PROBLEM:. Picture: Paul Donaldson BUN050916TAX3

No solutions

THE newspaper headlines scream "massive unemployment in Bundaberg”.

Rubbish! Backpackers are finding work quite easily.

There is a lot of work that some locals will not do.

Some locals are prepared to do the work, but are never given an opportunity.

There are a number of reasons for the above problems, but no one is even trying to address them.

We should be ensuring that locals who want to work on farms are given the chance.

Human labour is our greatest untapped resource.

If backpackers are bussed to the farm and provided with subsidised accommodation then similar incentives should be given to locals.

People in all levels of government talk about creating employment, but how creative are they?

None of the job-creating schemes are aimed at the above problems.

Many people claim that we need some new industries to come to town.

If our local unemployed will not take farm work, what chance is there that they will work in industry?

Some unemployed people claim that they are worse off when they take employment.

If this is the case then the matter needs to be addressed.

Our nation cannot afford to go broke because we have too many people living on the dole.

On the other hand, people need to be justly compensated for doing a day's work.

Also, the farmer needs to be able to make a reasonable living for his efforts, and not have his produce rot in the field.

BRYCE McGREGOR

Avenell Heights

Land swap

SHOULD the State Government go ahead with the proposal to buy out those citizens in flood prone properties business or private Bundaberg Regional Council could assist by donating land presently used for parks.

Most of these properties are not used by anywhere near their full potential with many not visited by more than a few locals at any time.

This an be proven by noticing how vacant these blocks are day or night while driving past.

The cost of maintaining these parks does not warrant their existence.

Of course, converting them to housed or commercial use would mean the loss of trees but greenery would be more than replaced by the trees planted in resumed low land.

We could even end up with a greater acreage of new parks than the old.

The new parks would cost no more to service than existing properties and citizens would be safe from floods housed on the higher former low areas.

FREDERICK F ARCHER

Bundaberg

Let them know

RATEPATERS and Bundaberg Regional Council electors, how do you feel about a nine- storey Esplanade development at Bargara, one funded by an overseas investor? A development to reset coastal building height expectations in the Bundaberg Regional Council area.

Maybe you thought the planning scheme restricted Esplanade development to five storeys, and only for "exemplary” development. Wrong!

If this scenario worries you ask your local councillor how he or she intends to vote when the council decides this development application, and let them know what you think.

GEORGE MARTIN

Bundaberg South

Time for inquiry

SEVERAL state MPs attended a forum on voluntary assisted dying held at Parliament House in Brisbane earlier this week.

The event was organised by the Clem Jones Trust and Dying With Dignity Queensland with the support of Speaker Curtis Pitt and we thank him and those MPs present for their interest.

Our forum focussed on the urgent need for a State Parliamentary Inquiry to assess expert evidence and sift fact from fiction to help draft new laws.

Queensland is the only state that has not examined VAD through its State Parliament.

The Queensland Government wants to wait and see how Victoria's VAD law operates after it takes effect.

That means nothing happens here until after mid-2019 despite the fact a meaningful inquiry would take 12 months at the bare minimum.

Evidence to Victoria's inquiry showed that at least one person a week took their own life in that state in sometimes horrible, tragic, and dreadfully lonely circumstances because of the absence of VAD as a legal and safe choice.

The situation is likely to be the same in Queensland.

The longer we delay an inquiry and new laws the more people suffer.

There is plenty an inquiry could do right now to examine how VAD laws overseas are working, and plenty of experts whose evidence an inquiry could consider right now.

Sadly, there is also no shortage of challenging personal stories from Queenslanders that an inquiry could hear right now.

DAVID MUIR

Chair

Clem Jones Trust