EXTENDED ROAD TRAIN HOURS NOT REQUIRED
I am writing about the cattle truck road trains wanting extended hours to drive through Rocky down to the meatworks.
For one thing it will be too dangerous to drive such a big vehicle through the traffic during these extended hours. What will these extended hours be?
The areas that these trucks will travel have very extended corners because of their turning requirements. This roadworks was done to all the street corners before they were allowed on our streets at the present allowed hours.
There is a very large amount of traffic on the streets during daylight working hours.
Most of the people driving our Rocky streets would not realise the turning limitation of one of these road trains. In my opinion it would make it very, very dangerous for the people driving these cars on our streets.
Do these people know what a vehicle looks like after it has had a fully loaded cattle truck end up on top of a car with innocent people or a person looks like. I personally do. The car is only two foot high with deceased people or a person inside.
This happened to a close family member of my family in the middle of Rocky thirty-nine and a half years ago. The families never get over something like this. It never gets any easier with time. You just get used to it.
It is far too dangerous for these fully loaded road trains to travel through Rocky in any extended hours.
Here’s a very good example for not extending the hours for road trains.
In the early hours of Tuesday morning (20 August), a road train rolled coming from Gracemere just before the Rocky roundabout. Can you imagine if this happened on a street of Rocky if there was extended hours?
Another example is a few years ago a double decker cattle truck was travelling along Lakes Creek Rd to the meatworks and nearly ended up on the railway line.
R. Willis,
Rockyview
READING BOOKS
When parents have been reading books, to kids since they were born,
Kids help to turn the pages, to see pictures that are drawn.
At school they learn their A.B.C, and how the letters sound,
And put the sounds together, so the words can then be found.
Now this is how they learn to read, the books then for themselves,
And build their own collection, in their bedrooms on the shelves.
Books open up a whole new world, of things kids can enjoy.
Books take to places they can’t go, for every girl and boy.
They introduce new people, who they will never meet,
Where they are living in their town, at shops or in their street.
Some stories are just make believe. Some stories, they are true.
Some books are read to teach you things, or things that you can do.
In reading, you can learn new words and find out what they mean.
And how they’re used in sentences, and much more if you’re keen.
Books show the use of paragraphs, and commas and full stops,
And other punctuation marks. Books teach you lots and lots.
Books teach so many, many things. There’s so much they can tell.
It really helps to learn to read, and then to do it well.
So find what type of books you like, and read them one by one.
It brings such joy to read a book. Books can be so much fun.
Alan Watts,
Frenchville
ED’S NOTE: Book Week ran from 17-23 August. The theme for Book Week 2024 was ‘Reading is Magic’.
REGIONAL ROADS NEED SUPPORT
Regional roads that support our beef corridors need urgent funding to ensure the safe and efficient freight of industries that support rural and mining industries.
Our Beef Roads stretch over almost 500km from Roma in the south, Barcaldine in the west, Rockhampton in the east and as far north as Townsville.
These roads were built in the 1960s by the Menzies Government to open up our beef industry.
Our Beef Roads have helped create enormous wealth for Australia and underpin thousands of jobs.
Sixty years later these roads are in a shocking state of disrepair. We finally need a plan to seal these roads.
“Our farmers, families, truckies and miners shouldn’t have to put their lives at risk just to get to work and school,” QLD LNP Senator Matthew Canavan said.
I have always been taught to reinvest into your business to ensure your survival.
Investment into the equipment that ensures income generation cannot be neglected as without income you will find it difficult to survive.
The ALP Qld government receives billions of dollars through rural and mining resources that are obtained from our regional areas.
What happens when the roads become so bad that it is no longer safe to transport goods?
The wealth creation of this state needs to be supported with adequate reinvestment into our regional road networks and not just into the south-east corner.
Queensland will need this essential investment if we wish to grow and survive into the future.
The ALP in Queensland appear to prioritise their self-interests in the south-east corner as maybe there are more votes available in that area?
We need to support the RIGHT Priorities for Queensland and support everyone in our regions and not just the south-east corner.
Leyland Barnett,
North Rockhampton
INDEPENDENT REVIEW INTO HOSPITAL NEEDED
We all know that our hospital is struggling at the moment.
I’ve talked publicly about the Emergency Department, but we know that that is just part of the problem. Some departments work well, but many do not.
Generally, wait times for surgery and specialist appointments have blown out, often well beyond clinically recommended times.
I don’t have a magic bullet and neither do either of the major parties. Staff at the hospital generally are doing their best under very difficult circumstances. And they are often blamed for problems that are not of their making. And that doesn’t help the hospital to attract and keep staff either.
There are a dozen contributing factors to the mess our hospital system is in. And we will all need to work together across levels of government to tackle the problem.
But I am keen to get a briefing and to establish relationship with the senior hospital executives and to begin to understand what is needed to lift our hospital back to where it needs to be.
I’m not generally a stirrer – I look for win-win solutions wherever possible.
So, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when an appointment with hospital executives that had been offered by the Minister’s office didn’t go ahead.
I’d been offered a choice of dates and times, I selected one and responded to the email immediately and then I waited a week for my briefing.
A half an hour before the agreed meeting time on Tuesday (20 August) I received an email offering me an appointment for next week.
I later received an apology from the Minister’s office which I accepted.
For me really, it’s a minor inconvenience and I will rock up next week and hopefully the briefing will go ahead in good faith on both sides.
But as a snapshot of the lack of coordination and follow through – this one little appointment speaks volumes.
Once again, I call for an independent review of all aspects of the hospital’s operations.
I offer my support to the many members of the hospital staff who have reached out to me privately.
Margaret Strelow,
Independent candidate for Rockhampton
ON THE FRONT FOOT
I was away on 10 August and did not read the letter to which James Ashby seems to be replying (CQ Today, Opinion, 17 August).
Having been friends with Robert Schwarten for 40-plus years and working closely with him in Parliament from 2004 to 2012, I nearly “peed myself with mirth” at this attempt by an irrelevant newcomer to reside in Central Queensland.
I am sure that Robert nearly split his sides with mirth at the attempt “to damn him with faint praise”.
Little Jimmy, like many people who have settled recently on the Capricorn Coast, does not know the hard work and financial input to this region by Robert Schwarten, as Member for Rockhampton, Jim Pearce, as Member for Mirani and myself as Member for Keppel from 2004 to 2012, and the work of Brittany Lauga, as Member for Keppel and Barry O’Rourke, as Member for Rockhampton, from 2015 to current.
In the first eight years, the three electorates received in excess of $500 million in infrastructure spending and to name a few for Keppel:
* Yeppoon Hospital $32 million.
* Yeppoon Police Station and Police Boat $15 million.
* Cyclone Shelter at High School $13 million ($6.5 million from Abu Dhabi).
* Sandy Creek Bridge $7 million.
* Road funding in excess of $70 million with upgrades to Rockhampton-Emu Park and Rockhampton-Yeppoon Roads and Tanby Road bypass and Neill’s Road which was $17 million in 2004-2006.
* School funding in excess of $40 million.
* Water pipeline from Rockhampton $17 million.
Since that time, I do not know if anybody can recall any spending during 2012-2015 with an LNP Member but since 2015, Brittany has secured massive amounts of road funding (both Emu Park Road and Yeppoon Roads) and school funding with just Yeppoon High School receiving in excess of $15 million and another $17 million on a new dialysis unit at Yeppoon Hospital, and work on the funding for the Rehab Centre with Barry.
Perhaps little Jimmy could tell us: Where is Pauline’s $23m to Rocky Sports Club?
When you vote, remember Margaret Strelow was a great supporter of this when it was really “pie in the sky”.
Travel along George Street and see Barry O’Rourke’s work to secure $54.8m for Browne Park and, as well as his work to secure a High School for Gracemere, Craig Marshall is working to secure funding for Stage 2 of Browne Park.
Ashby is trying to convince people into believing that he can be an effective member of any Parliament but, like Margaret Strelow as an independent, who has done a preference deal with the LNP, he really would be like a third wheel on a bicycle.
Useless!
Paul Hoolihan,
Cooee Bay
WASTE MANAGEMENT IMPROVEMENT IDEAS
Wouldn’t it be a great idea for Livingstone Shire Council to consider and actually facilitate two improvements in regards Waste Management for the ratepayers of the shire.
Firstly, why don’t we go back to ratepayers receiving 12 Waste Vouchers instead of 10 per year.
Makes sense to have one per month to use.
Secondly why can’t council change the opening times at the Emu Park Transfer Station to accommodate ratepayers at the southern end of shire.
I don’t believe it would be a big ask to have more flexibility in opening times.
For example, instead of opening at 2.30pm on weekdays, why not have an early opening time of 7am or 8am on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but still close at 5pm, and leave the other days as is.
This should not add to much additional cost to Waste Management in the shire, especially since we have seen significant increases in rates in the last couple of years, which should be able to cover these two small matters but give additional flexibility with opening hour to ratepayers.
We pay the same rates as the northern end of the shire, but seem to be lacking in equality with opening times.
Chris Harper,
Emu Park
NT ELECTION SHOULD HOLD INTEREST IN QUEENSLAND
Like a lot of people, I can take or leave politics, but love an election.
Maybe it is the sporting element of it, the race to win seats across the state, territory or the country.
Saturday is the Northern Territory election and looms as a tight battle.
The incumbent Labor government has 14 of the 25 seats in parliament and the Country Liberal Party seven.
Stability has been non-existent with Michael Gunner, the Chief Minister who won in 2020, resigning in 2022 and Natasha Fyles, who took over from him, didn’t last that long either before also stepping down.
Eva Lawler stepped up to lead in December and nine months on finds herself at an election.
There are some parallels with us here in Queensland.
Steven Miles took the top job in December and has a few extra weeks to convince the state he is the right person to remain Premier.
Despite its relatively small sample size in terms of numbers, the NT will provide some lead into how Labor is tracking with us general punters.
I think the incumbent Member for Keppel and the Labor candidate for Rockhampton will both be watching the coverage with interest.
Gavin Norman,
Rockhampton
