COURIER MAIL, ABC BACK HOUSING DEPARTMENT OF MAIN ROADS LAND GRAB

On 25 March Madonna King, the morning presenter of Brisbane's local ABC radio station gave her listeners a small glimpse of how the Queensland Government's frenzy of road construction is destroying the lives of many ordinary citizens. However, the case of those standing up to the Government was undermined when she stated that 'you can't stop progress', a view which curiously echoes what was stated in the previous day's editorial (http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,25230270-13360,00.html) in the Courier Mail, which her husband is editor of. (http://candobetter.org/node/1165)

The follwing article may be of interest:

"SEQ Regional Plan a travesty against the people of South East Queensland" at http://candobetter.org/node/1221

The Queensland Government’s Draft South East Queensland Regional Plan (http://www.dip.qld.gov.au/regional-planning/draft-regional-plan-2009-2031.html), far from achieving its lofty claimed goals of "protect(ing) and enhanc(ing) the quality of life", landscape values, biodiversity and natural assets of the region, will, instead, turn even much of that region into an economically depressed, crowded and ecologically unsustainable slum for no better purpose than to keep profits flowing into the pockets of the growth lobby which largely bankrolls the ruling Queensland Labor Party.

Firstly, it was necessary for me to unpublish the article I mentioned in the previous post. It will be republished when I have a final version.

My apologies.

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I have since finished writing another article which, although appearing to be slightly off topic may be of interest:

"Brisbane ABC suppresses alternative candidates in state elections despite listener dismay with major parties" at http://candobetter.org/node/1159 http://candobetter.org/QldElections

The teaser is:

"Brisbane's local ABC radio station 612 (http://www.abc.net.au/brisbane/radio/http://www.abc.net.au/brisbane/radio/) disregarded its own listeners' expressed dissatisfaction with both the major parties when, during the 2009 Queensland state elections, it refused any air time to local independent candidates. Instead, virtually all the available time was given over to candidates from the governing Labor Party or the Opposition Liberal National Party, who according to the ABC's own listeners, provided little useful information."

It is largely because the ABC refuses to challenge the Growth Lobby or the politicians who do its bidding that it has gained the stranglehold that it has over this country's policy direction.

I have advised the Brisbane local ABC radio staff of the article and have invited them to post comments if they think the article is not fair to them.

Anyone else who disputes the argument put in the article and who believes that the Brisbane ABC behaved fairly and reasonably during the course of the 2009 Queensland state elections is also welcome to post their comments.

Firstly, and expanded version of the the article
"SEQ Regional Plan a travesty against the people of South East Queensland" mentioned above has been republished at http://candobetter.org/node/1221

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Secondly, I urge everyone to read Tim Murray's excellent article "Sustainable tourism: an oxymoronic delusion?" now published on Online Opinion at http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=8891&page=0 http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=8891&page=0 and http://sinkinglifeboat.blogspot.com/2009/02/sustainable-tourism-oxymoronic-delusion.html

Some of it bears repeating here:

"... cities that offer substantial leisure amenities grow an average 2 per cent more than they would have grown had they had fewer amenities. This seemingly trivial increment has an exponential impact. ... a town will double its population in just 17.67 years if it is a popular tourist destination.

"In fact, tourism provides a more accurate forecast of future population growth than any other factor, according their conclusions. Tourists come to visit, and almost instantly resolve to stay - some day. They typically snap up once cheap property, and then drive up the cost of living for those who had welcomed them. Some locals simply cannot pay for escalating property prices. Others can’t even pay the higher rents.

"It is my observation and contention that this growth overwhelms the most vigilant defence of natural ecosystems, as well as gentrifying small localities and effectively pricing local inhabitants out of the real estate market. Locals, or their children, become a low wage service class that caters to the needs of the richer migrants while struggling economically to remain in the community they grew up in. To add insult to injury, many of the relatively wealthy newcomers appear in the guise of environmental crusaders who demand sacrifices of the locals while living immodestly themselves.

"Visitors to impressive destinations typically purchase real estate as a holding property to await their retirement or for summer vacations and often withhold it from the rental market of local young or poor residents. The host community then comes to resemble a ghost town in the winter and a booming madhouse in the summer, with service workers subsisting on low wages while scrambling to find affordable housing in this now gentrified environment."