Brutal truth about Coomera Connector
The proposed Coomera Connector is igniting passionate debate in Gold Coast communities that will be most affected by its construction. But there's a simple truth no one can escape, writes Keith Woods.
Opinion
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IT will be ugly to look at. It will displace wildlife and cause the felling of countless trees. It will be noisy and spread pollution in otherwise green and quiet areas.
But there’s no doubting we need the Coomera Connector.
Despite the best efforts of the “artists” that created them, fresh images released by the Department of Transport and Main Roads to the Bulletin this week show just how much of a monstrosity this road will be. All major road projects are. No amount of associated pathways, bicycle ways or tree planting alongside such roads can ever hide their true ugliness.
The images will have done nothing to dispel the fears of residents in areas such as Monterey Keys and Arundel Springs who will be most affected.
The green heart of Helensvale, home to a number of koalas, will suddenly find itself sandwiched between two motorways.
This column has spoken to local residents who have attempted to mount a campaign of opposition to the road. It has fallen flat, because it is impossible to argue that there is no need for an alternative to the M1. The population explosion in the north, and the fact that there is no other crossing point on the Coomera River east of the M1, means something must be done.
If ever it was in doubt, the case was proved conclusively in January last year when a crash involving a fuel tanker closed the M1 in both directions for 13 hours, as good as cutting the Gold Coast off from the rest of Queensland.
GOLD COAST CAR CRASHES: MOST TERRIFYING MOMENTS CAUGHT ON VIDEO
The best objectors can suggest is that better public transport is provided. One fellow has even campaigned, to little effect, to bring the light rail north to Pimpama — an odd suggestion given the heavy rail already follows much the same route.
But public transport of any form cannot solve the problem the Coomera Connector will fix. Truckies and tradies cannot transport their loads by train. And this road is not really about commuting to Brisbane. It’s about giving local traffic the ability to move around the northern Gold Coast without always having to take to the M1.
This column has in the past, when noting the problem of NIMBYism on the Gold Coast, been told that he might change his views if the infrastructure was in his own backyard.
In the interests of full disclosure, the Coomera Connector most certainly is, and this proud Helensvale resident dreads the impact it will have.
But despite my misgivings, I have to support it going ahead. It’s like powerlines — ugly but essential. We have been left with no serious alternative.
LAST WEEK: HOW LIGHT RAIL IS BOOSTING HOUSE PRICES
IT’S not his brief, nor his intention, but Transport Minister Mark Bailey may have inadvertently poured fuel on the fire of the southern Gold Coast’s property boom.
Among the many benefits of light rail, there is one that is little spoken about — the boost it gives to property prices in the areas it passes through.
By clearly signalling the government’s intention to fast-track the extension of light rail to Gold Coast Airport, Mr Bailey has likely given a real boost to house prices in Palm Beach, Currumbin and Coolangatta.
Not that they need it. The most recent REIQ figures have median house prices in Currumbin up 16.6 per cent in a year to almost $1 million.
But the government’s statements about light rail plans will be giving prices another boost.
The same effect was seen during the planning and construction of the line’s first two stages. A 2018 study by Dr Matthew Burke, an Associate Professor at the Cities Research Institute at Griffith University, showed that property prices rose significantly in areas close to the line following firm announcements by government that they intended to proceed with the project.
“Property price in the catchment areas starts to increase after the announcement with the highest increment being found after solid financial commitments have been made by government,” the study stated.
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The study also found that “the highest increment (price rise)” was for “properties with the greatest accessibility to the (light rail) stations.”
It is one of the great ironies of the light rail debate that many of those most bitterly opposed will be made paper millionaires by its construction.
Among their objections is that the light rail will wreak economic devastation, lead to an increase in crime and make traffic congestion worse.
They say that public opinion is on their side. But the raw economics suggest otherwise. If you want to know what people really think, to use the old phrase, follow the money. Were the majority to believe there was truth light rail would really bring havoc, cash would pour out of the areas in question. Instead, as Dr Burke’s study showed, it pours in.
It’s not the only irony recently observed. It has been noted by light rail objectors that at times last week, it took as long as 25 minutes to travel the length of Palm Beach on the Gold Coast Highway. This is cited as further evidence that light rail should not go ahead, as it would deprive motor vehicles of valuable road space.
But study after academic study suggests that, when faced with such gridlock, effective public transport is the only viable solution. If the problem is too many cars, then all we can do is offer people a viable alternative, which the light rail is clearly designed to do.
Minister Bailey pointed to this when he referred this week to the 47 per cent reduction in car traffic on Scarborough St in Southport as evidence of light rail’s benefits. Although it’s a bit of a cheeky statistic, given there has been a 50 per cent reduction in available road space, there is no doubt that thousands of people are travelling to and from Southport each day by tram who would otherwise be forced to make their way in some form of motor vehicle.
Notably, outside sunny public holidays when half of Brisbane seems to head for The Spit, it never takes anything like 25 minutes to traverse the length of the Gold Coast Highway in Southport. Would that still be the case if the light rail had never been built?
The fears many people in southern suburbs hold about light rail are sincerely felt. In large part, they reflect a concern that part of what makes the Gold Coast so special is being lost. As this column ruefully noted last week, that change, which has swept away much-loved institutions like the Kirra Beach Hotel, is very much underway.
In ways, the debate comes down to a chicken and egg question. Which came first, the development or the light rail? If it’s the former, as this column believes, the trams, like the Coomera Connector in the city’s north, are necessary infrastructure to deal with a population boom that’s already happened.
Unlike the Coomera Connector though, the light rail at least promises to boost local house prices — courtesy of the enthusiastic announcements by Minister Bailey and his colleagues.
FEBRUARY 9: MISSING LINK IN YOUTH CRIME FIGHT
BULLETIN readers respond in different ways to the youth crime epidemic gripping the Gold Coast and Queensland.
Many are beyond angry with the offenders and demand tougher penalties – even capital punishment.
A majority say a weak judicial system that puts the rights of the accused ahead of protecting the public has a lot to answer for.
And some ask a more poignant question: where are the parents?
It’s a question that usually has a depressing answer. The parents of youngsters out on the streets committing crime – if those children know them at all – are usually dealing with their addiction, with domestic violence, or they’re languishing in jail.
Data compiled in 2014 showed a massive 83.1 per cent of children in the Queensland youth justice system were known to Child Safety. The issues of child protection and youth crime are inextricably linked.
Pledging to toughen up limp-wristed bail laws, as Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk did on Tuesday, is all well and good. But it’s completely reactive. By the time a child is on bail on serious charges, something has already gone badly wrong. There was no word from Ms Palaszczuk about long-overdue reform at Child Safety.
Shadow Minister for Child Protection Amanda Camm told this column the link between a “broken” child protection system and the recent upsurge in juvenile crime was clear.
“There are a number of youths that, from the age of 10, are being part of groups of youths that are stealing cars,” Ms Camm said.
“They’re out on the streets because it’s not safe for them to be at home, or they’ve escaped the system that is failing them.”
Ms Camm said the office of Child Safety needs to be far better resourced.
“There are some simple and tangible actions that the government could take around child safety,” Ms Camm said.
“The office of Child Safety is only open from the hours of nine to five. That’s a failing in itself ...
“We’re seeing children, carers and paid support workers with nowhere to go, no places. Potentially, I think, in the eyes of a child, not only has their own family failed them, the support has failed them. I don’t think people have to reach too far to understand why children are then turning to their peer group which is not a positive influence.
“It is part of a systemic and structural failing and we need the government to take action.”
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There were echoes of these concerns in former police commissioner Bob Atkinson’s youth justice review, which was presented to the government in June 2018.
Mr Atkinson said that ‘Four Pillars’ governed his report. The first was “intervene early”.
“Many recidivist child offenders also have highly traumatic histories and some live day to day in harmful or neglectful environments that contribute to their risk of offending,” the report said. “Community and family responses are required to mitigate this aspect.”
Among Mr Atkinson’s 77 recommendations, many of which have yet to be implemented, was that “a Youth Justice strategy include collaborative crime prevention and early intervention initiatives in high-risk communities”.
It has been suggested by the opposition that Queensland Police officers are embedded in the office of Child Safety and it operates 24 hours a day. In August last year the Bulletin reported that Ms Palaszczuk had asked then minister for Child Safety Di Farmer to meet with LNP about their proposals, with the hope that a bipartisan alliance could be formed.
Those talks soon fizzled out amid bitter tit-for-tat finger-pointing both ways.
In light of recent tragic events, this column on Monday asked the Premier’s office if she believed that reforming or further resourcing Child Safety could help to lessen youth crime, and whether she had asked Minister for Children and Youth Justice Leanne Linard to urgently advance fresh proposals. A response was not forthcoming at time of going to print.
Ms Camm is meeting Ms Linard at the end of the month. Given the horrific deaths of innocents like Mason Jet Lee, the suicides of children in care, and the clear link between child safety and youth crime, we can only hope that a little more urgency is injected into the issue and the prospect of a bipartisan alliance is rekindled.
Not just for the unfortunate children involved - though that is plenty reason enough. But also for the community at large, whose own lives and liberties are seriously threatened when vulnerable children are left to rot.
JUNE 24, 2020: LACK OF URGENCY TO FIX A BROKEN SYSTEM
DEATH from COVID-19 is a horrible experience.
The disease attacks the lungs, triggering a massive response from the body’s immune system. Breathing becomes difficult. The lack of oxygen causes multi-organ failure, respiratory failure and septic shock.
Six people in Queensland have so far lost their lives to this awful disease. To minimise the risk of more cases, our whole society has been transformed. Tens of thousands have been thrown out of work. Our borders are shut. The Gold Coast economy has been thoroughly trashed.
GOLD COAST MP THROWN OUT OF PARLIAMENT DURING CHILD SAFETY DEBATE
Now consider this. There is another section of our society dying in terrible agony. In the last five years, there have been at least 18 such victims. But unlike in the case of COVID sufferers, there is no medical intervention, no pain relief.
There are no protests against their plight.
In fact in these cases, some key government staff can’t even be bothered to work later than 5pm.
The deaths of young children known to be at risk of harm are more terrible than any other.
The latest was 4-year-old Willow Dunn, who was left to starve in the bedroom of a Brisbane house.
Little Willow’s body was there for days before police were called. It was reportedly attacked by vermin.
The circumstances of Willow’s death are still before the courts as both her father and stepmother have been charged with murder.
Both have denied any wrongdoing.
STAGGERING FIGURES SHOW NUMBER OF GOLD COAST CHILDREN HARMED
Almost four years before Willow’s death there was Caboolture boy Mason Jet Lee. If you haven’t heard of him, you should have.
Mason was 21 months old when, as a coroner’s court was told, he suffered “an unimaginably painful death”.
His stepfather William O’Sullivan was a monster with a long history of violence and drug abuse. In June 2016, he punched Mason in the stomach so hard that his organs ruptured.
Neither he, nor Mason’s mother, sought medical care for the boy, leaving him to an agonising fate over many days.
Mason was well known to Department of Child Safety workers. Months before his death he spent three weeks in hospital with horrific injuries. A veteran paediatrician reported them as the worst he had ever seen - yet the child was sent back to the same miserable home.
It was one of many serious warning signs, which continued right up until the day before Mason’s death, when a neighbour told a case officer the toddler was being “held hostage” by O’Sullivan. Deputy State Coroner Jane Bentley, in a report handed down earlier this month, revealed that the case officer simply “went home”.
“Later that afternoon (10 June 2016) CSO6 (Child Safety Officer 6) was told by Ms Lee’s neighbour that Mr O’Sullivan was dangerous and violent and was holding Mason hostage but took no action to assess Mason’s safety and went home,” Ms Bentley wrote.
“Later that afternoon”. Maybe it was approaching five.
Queensland Police Union President Ian Leavers is among those frustrated by the attitude.
“It’s ironic with child safety officers that they only work business hours,” Mr Leavers told ABC Radio Brisbane.
“I can tell you in police work, child abuse and neglect occurs 24-7 it doesn’t just occur during business hours. We have no problems doing what we can do, but if they can’t do their job then perhaps these jobs and investigations need to go to someone who can and needs to be funded accordingly.”
FULL LIST: CRIME STATISTICS FOR EVERY GOLD COAST SUBURB
In a telling comment, Mr Leavers said notifications often arrived with police at a time which will be familiar to anyone who has ever worked with clock-watchers.
“Child Safety need to step up and work with the police and not flood police late on Fridays with many notifications which were urgent but haven’t been attended to during the week,” he said.
Mr Leavers has called for extra police resources to investigate cases of child neglect. Shockingly, some child protection officers have instead been redirected to border checkpoints.
It is clear that massive reform is urgently needed. No child should be left in the hands of neglectful guardians.
The Palaszczuk Government promises it will have employed 500 additional frontline child safety staff by the end of the year. It says it is spending $1.3 billion on child safety this year alone. It has introduced random drug testing for parents with vulnerable children.
But it is clearly nowhere near enough.
The Department of Child Safety needs to be radically overhauled, any clock-watchers pushed out.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, in response to the Deputy State Coroner’s report regarding Mason Lee case, has characteristically ordered yet another report.
There have already been more than enough.
The LNP, with Mudgeeraba MP Ros Bates leading the charge, has proposed more radical measures which would see police investigators embedded in a thoroughly reformed child safety department and greater use of adoption.
STATE GOVERNMENT UNVEILS CRACKDOWN ON YOUTH CRIME
But this should not be a party political issue. We cannot afford to wait until after the state elections in October.
Premier, if you can sink our economy to save adults from the threat of COVID-19, you can also move heaven and earth to help these children. There is no need for yet more reports. Act decisively and act now.
Because believe it or not there are even worse ways to die than at the hands of the dreaded COVID-19. And it’s innocent children who are the victims.
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