New housing units for town

THE Mareeba Community Housing Company is building five units in the Tablelands town funded by the Department of Housing Queensland to increase social housing.

Company general manager Patricia Goldfinch said the demand for social and affordable housing had “escalated with demand outstripping supply across the region, placing many of our local families into overcrowded conditions and homelessness”.

“One in seven people experiencing homelessness is over the age of 55, domestic and family violence is one of the largest contributing factors why people may be experiencing homelessness, and over 17,000 children younger than 12 years are homeless,” she said.

“This project will deliver three one-bedroom and two two-bedroom units for single parents and single women over 55 years, our fastest growing demographic in Queensland.

“A home is not just somewhere with four walls and a roof, it’s a place where people can feel safe and secure.

“Access to safe housing is a basic human right but sadly many people are living in temporary accommodation such as shelters, crisis accommodation or motels.

“Homelessness can mean different things to different people. Statistics show that there are over 120,000 people in Australia experiencing homelessness at any given night with only a very small percentage of people experiencing homelessness sleep on the streets, as is the case in this region, most people experiencing homelessness are hidden from sight, for example sleeping in cars, or couch surfing.”

Ms Goldfinch invited anyone who would like to partner with the company to increase affordable housing. Call 4092 6899 or email reception@mchc.org.au

FNQ deserves world class cancer treatment. We can do it togethe r. The Foundation needs to raise $1.5 million to support the developme nt of state-of-the-art facilities and provide the best possible care to cancer

The Foundation will work with Queensland Health on the $3.4 mil lion project, which will lessen the need for patients having to trav el south for treatment. They will be cared for here at Cairns Hospital C ancer Care hub, close to those who love them.

1.5 million will help us: We

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Homelessness is a crisis everywhere

AUGUST 7-13 is Homelessness

Week, a time to draw attention to the problem of homelessness and the solutions.

The theme of Homelessness

Week, ‘It’s time to end homelessness’, is a reminder that it is within our power to achieve, if we band together.

We know the situation is dire.

The persistent housing and homelessness crisis has escalated to an emergency.

Rents and mortgages are rapidly increasing, and affordable homes are scarce.

The 2021 census found that 1 in 200 were homeless.

These numbers keep rising.

Mission Australia’s newest report A Safe Place to Call Home revealed a 26 per cent increase in demand for our homelessness services over the past three years.

In a wealthy country like Australia, access to housing is a human right we should have no trouble guaranteeing.

Leading drivers of homelessness, including poverty, family violence, and the lack of affordable housing must be addressed.

Government, business, communities, and individuals all have a role.

Almost one million new social and affordable homes will be needed over the next 20 years.

Let’s all do our part to call time on homelessness.

Dr Phil Flint, North Queensland regional leader Mission Australia, Cairns

Tourism in FNQ needs to diversify

I READ with interest Nick Dalton’s article on domestic tourism (28/7).

The challenge for Cairns is that it has become largely a one-trick pony when it comes to tourism appeal, i.e the Reef.

This positions Cairns as an expensive single trip destination with plenty of competition both nationally and internationally when it comes to a “Reef experience”. I suspect that this has led to an attitude among providers of “we won’t see them again, so we don’t need to provide first class customer service or experience”.

We need to diversify our experience offering and upgrade poorly performing venues.

Start with the Cairns Night Markets. Don’t start me on the inflated wine prices in some restaurants. Where are the BYOs? Do we really want to known as “with chips” capital of the cuisine world?

Australians are world travellers and know good from poor and don’t hesitate to share their experiences and recommendations on social media.

Cairns needs to seriously diversify its tourism offering.

Chris Lynch, Kewarra Beach

Council needs to get back to basics

THANK you to the Cairns regional councillors who voted ‘no’ to the reconciliation plan. Stop wasting time and money on things that are not the council’s business.

The council needs to stop getting involved in politics and start doing the basic things that councils are

Vocal Local join our online debate be a

Last week we asked the question: What events will you be attending as part of the Cairns Festival? Here are some of your comments.

So looking forward to seeing Gulgi-Barra by Miriki Performing Arts. My son’s totem is the whale.

Mike Petersons, Facebook

Can’t wait to do the festival as a volunteer this year with it being my 7th year doing it.

Nicholas Elliott, Facebook

THIS WEEK’S QUESTION

Do you think the Welcome to Cairns sign should be shifted and Edmonton get its own sign? @cairnslocalnews elected to do. Too many councils now are being run by political activists. Ratepayers do not want to pay for political agendas. Nor do they want to pay for virtue signaling.

That means if you want an expensive, fire-prone electric vehicle buy it out of your own money, not ours.

All we want from you are basic

Eeeep! Love me a glitter wall.

Sharon Timms, Facebook

I’m interested as a marshall. I wish we could all walk behind the last float. Mmmmm. Maybe.

Anthony Cuthill-Coutts, Facebook

There is so much to see and do. I will watch the fireworks, the Grand Parade, and the light show.

John, Manoora services, so forget the woke political agendas that produce nothing for ratepayers.

After all if the $30 billion the government spend yearly on all the organisations set up to help Indigenous people doesn’t work, we sure don’t need more.

Let’s face it, nothing will appease

We are so lucky to have so many festivals in Cairns. The problem at last week’s Italian Festival was I struggled to find a park close to the activities without having to walk far. I gave up and drove back home.

Horace, Edge Hill

Everyone loves watching the parade, especially the little ones who love the colour, the noise and the entertainment.

Cairns Mayor Bob Manning

The Grand Parade is a must as well as Carnival on Collins, the Reef Lights and the City Lights, and live performances such as the Soweto Gospel Choir, the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, and Gulgi-barra (Sand Stories) by Miriki.

Susan, Westcourt the perpetually-offended activists who often represent themselves far more than the people they purport to represent.

Suzy Malkinson, Kewarra Beach Editor’s note: The reconciliation plan is to go back to the drawing board for further discussions by councillors at a workshop.