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 staggering. The Queensland Government recently launched its gambling harm action plan backed by more than $17 million a year, a drop in the ocean compared to its $3.72 billion in gambling taxation revenue this financial year alone.

Nor does the winners’ circle end there. Many major gambling companies and poker machine manufacturers are owned in part by institutional investors and superannuation funds, meaning many of us benefit indirectly as taxpayers and investors.

That leaves us with a deeply uncomfortable moral question: are we willing to accept the enormous human cost of gambling harm because it helps fund public services and contributes to investment returns? Or should reducing that harm take precedence over the revenue it generates?

D. Thompson,
Maroochy River.
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NOOSA CAMPING  
Dear editor,

If Noosa Council monitors illegal camping, cracking down on travellers who use isolated grounds and car parks, community parks and areas close to amenities, it sets a precedent for other councils where travellers and backpackers take advantage of ratepayer-funded amenities, just because it is there for the taking!

This sense of entitlement by those who seek to gain by not contributing to the upkeep of parks and gardens they visit seems to be more common in an era where the cost-of-living impacts holidays, food and accommodation. Travelling long distances can often be an expensive ride, with few free campsites available.

Those who venture out into the wide-open spaces cannot keep putting their heads in the sand when it comes to paying their way. It is a fact of present economic conditions, both for visitors, travellers and councils, that there is no such thing as a free lunch! We all pay directly or indirectly for the thoughtless actions of others.

So locals, including their local council, who actually pay rates and have budgets to keep local parks and grounds with amenities up to standard, are aware of the influx of visitors on the move during peak holiday periods. Reporting rule-breaking to local council may be a defeatist action. It appears many of the signs about illegal parking are ignored by the illiterate.

My local council’s attitude to reports of visitors overstaying in parks or council-maintained grounds for days, or illegally overnight, where the signs clearly say this is illegal, is that they don’t patrol after 5 pm or on weekends. These are the very time periods these freeloaders take advantage of.

Ratepayers are paying for the upkeep on these parks and grounds, believing council is following up on rule-breaking recalcitrants. However, the reality is at ratepayers’ expense.

E. Rowe,
Marcoola.
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GRANDMOTHERLY ADVICE 
Dear editor,

If you’ve ever been lucky enough to sit at a kitchen table with a grandmother, you’ll know they dispense advice the way Italian nonnas dispense pasta – generously, confidently, and with absolutely no regard for whether you’re full already.

You’ll be minding your own business when Nan casually drops a life lesson that rearranges your entire worldview. It’s never dramatic. It’s never prefaced with “Now listen carefully.” It simply arrives—like a seagull after your chip — uninvited but undeniably effective.

Grandmothers have a particular genius for truthtelling. They don’t sugarcoat. They don’t hedge. They don’t “circle back”. They simply say the thing, often while buttering a scone, and somehow it lands with the weight of ancient wisdom.

My own favourite came from a friend’s gran who once told her teenage grandson, “Sweetheart, if you’re going to make a fool of yourself, at least commit to it. Halfbaked stupidity is embarrassing.”

On love, they’re ruthlessly practical, A mate’s once said. “Choose someone who makes you laugh – looks fade – humour doesn’t unless she’s dull, in which case run.” On money, they’re even sharper: “If you can’t afford two, you can’t afford one.” This is usually said while slipping you a $20 note “for emergencies”, which you both know means coffee.

Yes, A grandmother’s advice is usually delivered as a love letter addressed with a zinger punchline.
And if you’re very lucky, you’ll hear it while sitting at a kitchen table, sipping tea that’s far too strong, and feeling—just for a moment—that someone in the world knows exactly what you need to hear.

Garry Reynolds,
Peregian Springs.
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AUSTRALIA 
Dear editor,

I fear for my poor country
Where nature weeps as coal waste seeps
to rivers and the sea,
To blanket reefs
And cause more grief
On agricultural plains.
The old growth trees and forests
Are bulldozed to the ground and
animals and small orchids
are nowhere to be found.
The sun-bleached reefs, the algal blooms
Are there for all to see; the floods, the fires, the rains
And droughts are here for eternity.

Margaret Wilkie,
Peregian Beach.
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