China needs to hold fire on Hong Kong crackdown

We went to Hong Kong in the 80s and I shall always remember the guide on the bus saying “Mainland Chinese could be here by breakfast if they felt like it”.

Trucks and armoured personnel carriers are seen parked at the Shenzhen Bay stadium in Shenzhen, bordering Hong Kong in China's southern Guangdong province (Photo by STR / AFP)

WE went to Hong Kong in the 80s and I shall always remember the guide on the bus saying “Mainland Chinese could be here by breakfast if they felt like it”.

That was, of course, well prior to sovereignty being handed over in July 1997.

While the protesters are presently playing a dangerous game which looks set to escalate, mainland China needs to hold its fire and honour the “One Country, Two Systems” law until 2047.

There are still more than two decades until the mainland is meant to take over.

It will be very interesting to see what the next week brings in Hong Kong.

Given China’s history of human rights abuse, it is not looking particularly hopeful.

Just the idea of communist mainland China integrating the financial hub of Hong Kong peacefully, is fraught.

CLAIRE JOLLIFFE, Buderim

Print my letter

I AM writing to ask why a letter from me “Just who are the idolaters?” on the subject of the Israel Folau social media post was not published.

The topic is newsworthy and my central point, that much media reporting inaccurately represents the Folau post as being a “Christian attack on homosexuals” remains valid.

My letter argued that the original post attacked “idolaters” which for fundamentalist Protestants like Israel Folau means Catholics. This sectarian attack on Catholics as idolaters is hardly new. Indeed a relative of Israel Folau was very recently sacked by a Catholic school for attacking the Catholic Church as a “synagogue of Satanists”. This suggests that the representation of the issue as “Christians vs homosexuals” is wildly misleading. The campaign by the Australian Christian Lobby to claim to speak for all Christians is self-serving spin. There are a great many doctrinal issues upon which Christians do not agree. It is odd, and I believe newsworthy that a tiny fringe group considers the largest Christian denomination to be by definition hell-bound.

So I am left wondering why my letter was considered irrelevant or unnewsworthy. I note that this paper regularly prints letters from correspondents riddled with factual errors which seem to be acceptable providing the Labor Party is being attacked. My letter did not, I believe, contain any factual errors. Was there a religious reason for the failure to publish my letter?

I would appreciate a response explaining on what grounds your paper decided my letter was not relevant.

CLIVE NEWTON, Nambour

Reduce the barriers

THE announcement by the Commonwealth Government of a review into the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 is a chance to address critical issues and renew public confidence in the scheme.

Under the NDIS, thousands of people with a disability are currently receiving life-changing supports they have never had access to before.

However, others are experiencing long wait times and administrative errors when attempting to access much needed funding.

We would support measures that make people looking to live more independently able to move into their new homes more quickly.

We would also support measures that reduce barriers on people waiting to accept job offers and contribute to the economy.

Endeavour Foundation looks forward to the details of an NDIS Participant Service Guarantee that establishes clear standards and guards against poor service.

We hope for a genuine customer-centric guarantee that alleviates the stress of wait times, improves planning outcomes and provides certainty around funding.

Importantly, the service guarantee should include an effective system for customer feedback and a course of action if standards are not met.

ANDREW DONNE, CEO, Endeavour Foundation

Truth starts with truth

REGARDING Fridelle Stanyer’s letter (Daily, August 15) about the fake “glamour” shots of rental properties.

It also applies to properties for sale.

Do real estate agents ever wonder why their profession is not held in higher esteem when this sort of misrepresentation happens so often?

However, they rate higher than politicians.

Misrepresentation of facts happens in many aspects of our society, but particularly in politics. Our elected representatives should set the standards. A bit more truthfulness and being upfront about what they actually intend to do, less spin and blaming the other side would go a long way to building trust in our democratic system of which they are the key players.

Trust starts with truth and ends with truth.

ROBYN DEANE, Bli Bli

Own goals

REGARDING Ted O’Brien’s letter (Daily, August 16). He manages a number of own goals in his attempt at a “what have the Romans (in this case our Federal MPs) done for us” response.

The headlines and dodgy data Ted rolls out only tells part of the story. The full story is written by the detail.

“The coast has never received so much Federal funding,” he states.

With the changes and growth occurring here why is that remarkable? Or is the increase simply a reflection of population growth rather than services improvement?

“The Federal Government’s $390 million contribution to the rail upgrade between Beerburrum and Nambour,” he details.

The Federal Government has contributed $250 million less than the Federal/State funding agreement provides for.

And the actual funding that would create jobs and small business here is years away.

And the Federal Government has recently agreed to fund other similar developments outside Queensland on the agreed 80/20 basis (not the 50/50 it applied here).

If the difference, 50/50 rather than 80/20, has been, as Ted puts it, “delivered with the help from his local Federal MPs” we’ve got a real problem.

It’s true many organisations benefit from federal funding. They do. Regardless of who the Federal MP here is. Ted, you get an E for this response.

ANDREW MORAN, Battery Hill

Denigrating Sir David

WHAT a disgrace that the Sunshine Coast Daily continues to print the nonsensical ramblings of Keith Whiteside who recently denigrated Sir David Attenborough on climate change.

Now the Prime Minister has shown a complete lack of leadership by not supporting our Pacific Island neighbours on climate change but instead capitulating to the coal industry.

Now where Australia has failed China will step in.

Vale the future of our children and their children.

Makes me wonder if the LNP’s Ted O’Brien is our local member or actually the paper’s editor?

IAN BOSHAMMER, Nambour

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