Your Views: Letters to the Editor
This week, InDaily readers have their say on South Australia heading to the world stage with its algal bloom science.
Responding to SA heads to world stage with its algal bloom science
Our ‘Algal Science’ on the world stage! I’m unsure whether to laugh or cry. – Dr Michael Adams
If this premier and his ministers genuinely believe in moderating the worst algal bloom in our history, a great start would be explaining to South Australians why he and his government have the worst destruction of park lands in our history.
Explaining why public park lands should lose a further forest of more than 600 trees for LIV Golf may go a long way in understanding our polluted river, increased river closures, and raised coastal sediment.
I don’t expect an informative answer given the furphies of the River Torrens platypus breeding program, heritage destruction and corporate sports funding arrangements. – Richard Webb
It is hard to take comfort from hearing that South Australia will be sharing its “algal bloom story” on the world stage when we still have no long-term recovery strategy at home.
The government’s much-publicised Summer Plan is only a short-term response. It focuses on communications, apps, tourism support, and a few research initiatives, but offers little real investment in long-term water quality management, scientific monitoring, or addressing the causes of the toxic algal bloom.
This crisis has devastated marine life and coastal communities. It is not something that can be fixed through rebranding or overseas conferences. South Australians need clear, evidence-based management and transparency, not another photo opportunity.
By all means, share lessons internationally, but first show us a credible plan to restore our own. – Sandra Harrison
A big concern for myself and many others with chronic lung problems is the air quality from both the land drying algae bloom and the wind from the sea blowing brevotoxins.
No air pollution status is being announced daily, which should be part of the algae bloom sand/sea report.
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This is an unseen and potentially life-threatening danger that must be addressed urgently.
The sad thing is that a wonderful, healthy activity that we took for granted may potentially be denied to many for years to come.
At the very least, give the public accurate daily reports of the sand, sea and air state of each beach, so we can make informed decisions as to the risks of visiting a local beach this summer. – Debra Stagg
Responding to New laws giving SA developers green light for shared bathrooms
We first saw this play out in real life in the Switch development on North Terrace. Originally approved as a student accommodation building, it is now a ‘co-living’ and ‘shared accommodation’ tower which also houses students.
CBD resident density, reduced cost of accommodation, improved community building and living amenity means we need to think smarter. It makes sense that we’re finally being allowed legislation under the planning scheme to think smarter about how we live.
If you want your quarter-acre block, fine. It’ll cost you well over a million dollars, and you’re in your car for 45 minutes to the city. Even longer if you buy in Mount Barker and there’s a minor collision on the Freeway.
Opposition leader Tarzia’s approach is interesting. He’s unable to track what the current government are up to, so has reverted to technology as a knee-jerk. It would be an interesting analysis to see which of his intended voter base understands or supports an AI approach to housing construction.
The poor soul has lost his way to his party. In what way on earth does this align with their party policy of: “We believe government is responsible for creating opportunities through education, skills training and support for businesses to create jobs.”
Isn’t the entire premise of AI to reduce human tasks? – John Reardon
Responding to Peak medical body sounds alarm on emergency dept shutdown
No mention of the critical medical (not just GPs) workforce shortage on Kangaroo Island, where there is no other ED department just 15 minutes down the road. As Kangaroo Island does not have a big enough voter impact, it is not taken seriously. KI falls under the Barossa, Fleurieu, Hills – but its name is not even in there.
I encourage you to speak to local GPs or practice managers in the country – those that are either divided by sea or vast distances from Adelaide, like the Yorke and Eyre Peninsula as well. Angaston, so close to other medical services, is actually not really a problem.
They are trying to prop up rural services by locums who earn significantly more than the resident GP/nurse/midwife, who is actually part of the community, knows their patients and has continuity of care. Many rural GPs have chosen to swap the work where they live for locum-ing elsewhere to earn about the same amount in half the time, without any long-term commitment to a community or practice.
Visiting FIFO medical personnel may relieve the pressure short term, but there is no long-term responsibility or any continuity of care. It also creates young doctors who expect the higher locum rates for half-time work.
Do you know what the shortages are of rural GPs across the state? Not talking about metropolitan Adelaide. Take the time to call the practices and find out.
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As the wife of a rural GP who did ED, obstetrics, anaesthetics and clinic in country SA for over 27 years, the problems being faced now are only the tip of the iceberg.
Look at how many GPs with appropriate skills (emergency, anaesthetics, obstetrics) to work in the country are being trained versus specialists. The crisis is only going to snowball as GPs with skills are not trained, (everyone wants to be a specialist) minimal incentives to be permanent versus locums.
I could go on and on, but it is wasted breath and effort. – Renè Steyn
With reference to the repeated closure of the Angaston Hospital’s ED, it is not a 15-minute drive to the nearest alternative ED. Minister Picton is underestimating and even ridiculing the impact of these closures on the residents of the Barossa. It’s closer to 30 minutes to drive from Angaston to Gawler, via Gomersal Road and the Sturt Highway. Longer if you adhere to the temporary 80km speed limit due to the failure of the Department of Infrastructure to build a road that can cope with reactive Bay of Biscay soils. And that’s in addition to the time already taken to drive from your house to Angaston, only to find out that it’s closed for the night, which means you may have a 60-minute drive to Gawler ED. – Lisa Laycock
Responding to Grave concerns for schoolhouse knock-down
We had the same arguments for a cottage round the corner from this, but the outcome was heritage won, and it’s now a beautiful adapted build. Two cottages further down the street were literally rebuilt from worse than this.
Our development-obsessed council has lost the plot in Kensington. Leave it as a heritage precinct. Knocking it down one building at a time, and in ten years, they’ll say the integrity has gone, and it’s free for all. – Sue Carter
Responding to Two shopping strip makeovers in $27m city street shakeup
Speed limits in the city: 30 kph is too slow. Why not 40, which is used in other capital city shopping precincts? Next, councils will have us go back to the 19th century with a person walking in front of a vehicle with a red flag! AND we live in the era of CARS. Stripping out parking spaces without adding convenient off-street parking is commercial death. Blinkered, unthinking planning: a disaster. Just dumb. – Robert Warn
I think a lessening of parking in Hutt Street is ridiculous; not only will traders suffer, but so will people who park in Hutt Street who use those businesses.
Small business is finding life hard now, the public transport in Adelaide is woefully inadequate and very unreliable – taxpayers are getting a reduction of facilities for the sake of so called ‘beautification’… for goodness sake Adelaide City Council, plant some more trees in the parklands, buy a few blocks or buildings randomly around the city to develop small park areas for citizens to use; that would be ‘useful beautification’ and be a better for climate change and easier for maintaining. What a shame common sense no longer prevails.
I am also surprised and not happy about bike riders being catered for as the elite of Adelaide to the detriment of seniors, people with a handicap, families with small children, busy workers and time-poor folk who choose not to ride a bike – that is the majority of people who use the city!
Not happy. – Thelma Pye
Please be very, very careful not to diminish the unique vibe of the existing Adelaide Central Market.
Many developers around Australia have tried to replicate a market that has evolved over more than 100 years … all to my knowledge have failed. Too greedy to include excess retail area, too much bling, too much “artisan”, wide sightlines, clean lines, Instagram retailers, inconsistency with traditional supermarkets … the list goes on. These are some of Australia’s most successful retail developers, internationally regarded as ‘best in class … if they can’t get it right, I have doubts about this attempt.
A successful market like the Adelaide Central Market and many of its type in Europe and Asia are centuries in the making – they need a degree of grunge, congestion, noise, migrant influence, price competition, authenticity, necessity … They were not built on traditional retail developer metrics.
Please don’t mess this up, you are playing with a very valuable asset, not so much as it relates to someone’s investment portfolio, but as in the heart of Adelaide and its people. – Tony Snell
Responding to Road closures as massive North-South Corridor drilling machine rolls into town
Okay, I really do wonder when it is said by the transport minister that an amount of time will be saved when travelling on this amazing new highway.
The only trouble is that when you get to the southern end of the freeway at Old Noarlunga, you can be held up in a two-kilometre, 20-minute traffic jam. What’s the point of spending billions of dollars on this new section when most definitely 500 million dollars should be spent on alleviating this ridiculous bottleneck at the southern end and at the Seaford Road and Victor Harbor intersections … The mind wonders why the hell this is able to happen. Do we need some new intelligence in our transport department? – Stephen Pankoke
