Anger as 11 drivers blatantly ignore busy Mary St Stop sign

'I witnessed 11 cars go straight through the Stop sign without stopping'

This letter writer is not impressed at the number of people blatantly ignoring an obvious Stop sign in Mary Street. Picture: Cordell Richardson

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Cars blatantly ignore Mary St Stop sign

IT IS interesting to sit at a cafe opposite Smithfield St and watch vehicles on Mary St.

I have seven and nine-year-old grandchildren and they can both read quite long words. Therefore why is it that drivers cannot read a stop sign?

It is only four letters, one of the shortest traffic signs you will meet.

Recently there was outrage at a Brisbane school when a camera was stationed covering the school zone during morning and afternoon operating times.

In the two weeks, 974 incidents were captured of drivers exceeding the posted speed. It was not revenue raising, a hoary old excuse for bad driving. It was potentially saving a child's life.

A horse and carriage navigates the intersection at 5 ways during one of the Mary Street celebrations in Gympie. Picture: Leeroy Todd

From what I have observed in Gympie, our drivers, in this instance, are better behaved.

If there was a camera mounted by the police on the Sushi awning, that Mary St stop sign would raise more revenue than you would believe.

I have counted cars blatantly, or perhaps slightly slowing to see if the way was clear, driving straight through that sign.

On two occasions I have randomly counted in a timed five-minute click. First seven cars went straight through. Next, this week, 11 cars went through without stopping.

As the fine for failure to stop at a sign is $391 and loss of three points, according to the internet, you do the maths. Just over $7000 in 10 minutes.

At this rate we could support our police department, or have the best roads, or consolidated revenue would benefit, all donated by apparently blind drivers.

G Penrose,

Gympie

Auswide Bank regional manager Janelle Walsh helps Gympie staff member Sandy Chapman decorate their tree in Mary Street. Picture: DONNA JONES

KEEP READING FOR MORE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

What to do if someone has a seizure

PURPLE Day is coming up again on March 26 and this year Epilepsy Action Australia is encouraging the Australian community to learn the basics of seizure first aid in order to reduce the fear they may experience if someone has a seizure in front of them.

Epilepsy Action has produced a series of animated videos for children and adults that your readers can view at www.epilepsy.org.au. You can also find out how to get involved in Purple Day activities on the website.

About 250,000 Australians are currently diagnosed with epilepsy and 3.5per cent of the Australian population will experience this neurological disorder at some point in their life.

Knowing how to help someone having a seizure can literally save a person's life.

Seizure first aid - key steps:

Stay with the person

Keep them safe, removing anything that could hurt them

Don't try to restrain them

Don't put anything in their mouth

Roll them onto their side once jerking/shaking subsides

Reassure them until they have recovered

Phone an ambulance if the seizure lasts longer than five minutes.

On behalf of all Australians living with epilepsy, thank you in advance for supporting Epilepsy Action Australia this Purple Day. Your support helps to ensure people living with epilepsy can lead optimal lives.

Carol Ireland,

CEO, Epilepsy Action Australia

No Valley train was known as the Rattler

IN REGARDS to the Rattler, Faith DeVere's letter in The Gympie Times, February 23, 2019 was quite correct.

No train to the Mary Valley was known as the Rattler. It was the nickname given to the rail motor and those of us who lived in the Valley remember it was run as a daily device that catered for not only shoppers to Gympie but students to rural school and high schools in the 1930s and '40s.

Rural school was at Gympie High and provided the opportunity for girls to learn basic sewing and cookery while boys learned woodwork and metalwork. This was a choice for students in their final year of primary school who were considering further education in the above subjects.

One day a week was set aside for those students in Year 7 to attend rural school and it was a normal part of the curriculum for those who made the choice. If we didn't have the "Rattler”, these opportunities would not have been available.

Betty Tramacchi (nee Choate),

Araluen

The council has never done our road

IN THE 30 years we have lived on Laurel Rd, Cr Smerdon's letter is the first time we have seen a positive attitude to our predicament.

We live 10km from the main street and the council has never done our road. It was done years ago but it was part of a state flood repair program. It is back to a shocking condition and is used daily by through traffic.

In the time we have been here we have had an ambulance unable to get to us and our car written off - we were at a complete halt with nowhere to go.

Over the 30 years we have had successive councils and they have all refused to do our roads, obviously the problem is institutional.

Excuses as to why the road cannot be done have been numerous and varied over the years and as a ratepayer we have found invalid. Thank you Cr Smerdon for stating the obvious.

Blue Flawn,

Veteran

We must stop crying 'poor me'

AS WORK starts on the four-lane highway marching north past Gympie, even though we're still not allowed to see properly how and where it will affect us, it opens up potential that Gympie's attitudes and habits seem to make it reluctant to seek out.

The sad closure of the private hospital has exposed some hitherto unaffected to the realities those who don't have private health cover have long suffered, the need to travel to the Sunny Coast for a range of procedures, as most have had to anyway for a lot of complicated surgeries.

The still speculated future, or lack of, of the CHH plant will likely see less jobs whatever the result and again "our region”, being bundled into Wide Bay, made headlines for being among the most abysmal in youth employment.

That's a sad story across much of the country and one where the suggestions from the Federal Government are a long way short of inspiring.

It's difficult to see how a complete and growing society can be based on bottom wiping, bed changing, plate carrying and coffee making, especially as the other mentioned "hope” - retail - is both struggling and changing already.

But it doesn't have to be as gloomy as that sounds, if a more proactive stance, longer-term plans and adjustments were adopted, starting with Gympie claiming its place as part of the growing Southeast Queensland region, a region looking at $58 billion of economic activity and an extra 1.9million people over 25 years.

Sometimes part of Wide Bay, as in Main Roads, and sometimes part of the Sunny Coast, as in health, Gympie stands in no-man's land.

The Fraser Coast and Bundy will always look after themselves first and take the lion's share of whatever the collective region can get. Something as simple as traffic flow shows we're more connected south than north but our politics still looks towards the latter.

I've been told by somebody who should know that even raising Borumba Dam, something likely to be a real issue as climate changes and populations grow, relies on our being in cahoots with southern areas, yet Gympie refuses to accept such facts and changes.

Even if it came down to being the rubbish centre for northern Southeast Queensland and possibly generating power from it, there has to be a range of things we could be a part of to see some of the expected $58 billion activity south of us come our way.

But first we have to stop being "poor me” and look to the possibilities rather than cringing into traditional "us versus the city” speak and actions.

How's that been working so far, Mr Perrett?

Dave Freeman,

Cedar Pocket

Natural habitat is our greatest asset

RECENTLY Barry Mason, a long-term Gympie Red Cross friend of mine and the organist you all know well, took time out of his busy life to take me on a tour of part of our region.

We did a rounded tour including Brooloo, Widgee and Glastonbury areas and one can envy the lucky people who live there. It is peaceful and beautiful. We even slowed down to let a couple of wallaroos cross the road in front of the car.

We had a coffee at the side of a creek and a cheeky magpie came up and ate ginger nut biscuits from me. I know it is not their food but the maggie gave each segment the ritual banging on the ground that he would have given a snake.

Barry knows the area well and takes overseas friends around the same area, especially with the abseiling cliff included. He is not running a tourist operation. He is being a good Australian showing off our country.

Apart from Barry making me feel part of the living in my old age, I want you to know theme parks and the like can never replace our rural areas and their natural scenery.

We should show everyone our land while it is still there in its present form. And be thankful to the people who live there and keep it looking good.

Julia Lawrence OAM,

Gympie

Farmers deserve right to have say

QUEENSLAND farmers have copped another blow from the Labor Government. They've only been given until March 15 to have to their say on Labor's proposed reef regulations.

This deadline for farmers impacted by the sweeping on-farm reef laws isn't fair and the consultation process has been nothing short of farcical.

It's completely unacceptable that Labor is going to ram these reef regulations through, without talking to the very people these laws will impact.

I believe the farmers deserve more time to have their say on how these changes will impact them and their businesses.

Annastacia Palaszczuk has turned her back on rural and regional Queenslanders by not consulting them properly.

It's like the fake consultation process we saw with Labor's anti-farming vegetation management laws last year.

Farmers are being cast aside to make way for Labor's ideological war against agriculture.

The least the government can do is guarantee that every affected region will get regional public hearings across each of the Cape York, Wet Tropics, Burdekin, Mackay-Whitsunday, Fitzroy and Burnett Mary reef catchments. Anything less would be an outrageous snub.

It's time to extend the time for submission and guarantee all regions will get a chance to have their say in person.

Tony Perrett MP,

Shadow Agriculture Minister

We're shooting for the stars

QUEENSLAND is gearing up to take Australia into space and it's all systems go.

The move towards a more dynamic space industry has begun and we're ready for take-off following the Palaszczuk Government's investigation into space industry opportunities for Queensland.

Last week I was delighted to join committee chair Chris Whiting for the release of the State Development, Natural Resources and Agricultural and Industry Development Committee's report into our space industry.

I welcome the report's recommendations, including its proposals for ways to increase the development of our capability, particularly through expansion of our ground station facilities and the skilled workforce needed to operate them.

It also complements our Queensland Aerospace 10-year Roadmap and Action Plan as we harvest fresh opportunities in this industry.

Space represents the new frontier of economic opportunity and Queensland is well placed to take advantage of it.

By 2040 the global space economy is set to be worth $1.1trillion however, right now, Australia contributes less than 1 per cent to the global space economy. We want to see that contribution grow.

Queensland's space industry employs about 2000 people and generates $760 million annually and, according to a recent report by Deloitte, this could rise to 6000 and $1.7 billion by 2036.

Engaging with aerospace multinationals, space start-ups, SMEs and universities means we're well equipped to become a globally competitive player in specialist areas.

The Palaszczuk Government is ramping up our investment and we're looking forward to taking Queenslanders along for the ride.

Cameron Dick, Minister for State Development, Manufacturing, Infrastructure and Planning

Labor uses smoke screen to rig election

TAMPERING with local government elections has exposed the deceptive, manipulating tactics that have become hallmarks of the Palaszczuk Labor Government.

Labor is deceiving the public with the introduction of compulsory preferential voting at the local government level under the guise it is in response to a "lack of openness, transparency and accountability” in councils.

They would have you believe this is an honourable crusade on behalf of ratepayers following the Crime and Corruption Commission's Belcarra Report into integrity of local government.

This is rubbish and must be called out. These forced voting system changes go well beyond the scope of the corruption watchdog reports. The truth is compulsory preferential voting favours Labor party candidates, activists and unions.

Bad politics is driving this agenda, not good government.

Ann Leahy MP

Shadow Minister for Local Government