OVERDOSE AWARENESS DAY – 31.08.26 Dear editor, In 2001, the year International Overdose Awareness Day was founded, the world was a simpler place. It didn’t mean people weren’t losing their lives to overdose. Just the opposite. In 1999 alone, over a thousand people died in Australia…
THE LUCKY COUNTRY? Dear editor, Australia has always had a healthy appetite for a good moan. Tune into talkback radio, scroll through social media, or linger at any weekend barbecue and you’ll hear the familiar refrain: the country’s going to the dogs. According to…
CLIMATE WARNINGS Dear editor, Watching the dramatic climatic crises play out in record heatwave conditions in the Northern Hemisphere should ring alarm bells here in Australia, as we face our drier-than-usual Southern Hemisphere weather approaching. We live in the “Sunburnt Country”,…
GAMBLING Dear editor, We are often reminded of the human cost of gambling harm, but we rarely focus on the other side of the ledger: who are the winners? The answers are found in corporate bookmakers, gambling operators and government budgets. The contrast is…
GAMBLING Dear editor, Australians are being flooded with gambling advertising, and it is time to stop pretending this is harmless entertainment. Betting ads should be much more tightly limited in both quantity and timing because they do not just inform…
BUDGET RESPONSE Dear editor, Another Council budget, another year Division 8 apparently subsidises other areas. Compare the Capital Works Highlights for adjacent Divisions: Division 8, $7,474,503; Division 9, $19,175,118 (NOT including the Nambour Landfill works – add $13M); Division 4, $32,109,394 (NOT including…
SUPERANNUATION Dear editor, Recent capital gains tax and negative gearing changes have been sold on the basis of intergenerational equity—the old supporting the young. Yet in Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ budget, there were no changes to superannuation funds, including large industry and union-linked…
ECONOMICS Dear editor, The current government’s heavy reliance on “Keatingera economics” feels like a rerun of a 1980s textbook, not a serious response to the very different world we face today. That playbook—dismantling protection, ending tariffs, and opening the economy to unrestricted imports—may…
ECONOMIES OF SCALE Dear editor, Australia, like other nations, is facing challenges amid global uncertainty because of the US president’s illegal war with Iran, which has affected many lives, oil supplies, and the international economy. Geopolitical tensions could disrupt oil supply…
PUBLIC THANKS Dear editor, Today I was accompanying my cousin when she realised she had inadvertently left her phone near the arts and crafts pavilion adjacent to the surf club. I would like to extend my gratitude to the two young gentlemen who noticed…