OPINION – Our regulars share some food for thought.

A CASE FOR CHANGE

We can no longer be contained in our quest to use less plastic, writes Jane Stephens, who believes we can all do better.

There is a certain buzz that comes with being first. It’s a heady feeling of breaking new ground, setting the pace and guiding others into pristine, uncharted territory.

When that first brings about a positive social change and might even make the world a little better (or at least not quite so bad) the result is an extra-positive high.

So it feels a bit sad for Queensland to yet again be a bit behind.

This month, the Queensland government announced it would ban lots of fiddly little plasticky items like cotton buds, disposable coffee cups, microbeads in beauty products and the mass release of lighter-than-air balloons.

Goodness knows it has been a long time coming, but the clamp will not be applied until next year to allow businesses to find alternatives. That’s all very good, but others are doing better.

Making Queensland looking like a scruffy laggard, South Australia this week removed liability from shops that let their customers bring their own plastic containers. They won’t make it compulsory, and vendors are still responsible for their food’s safety, but they have cleared the way.

We have known we had to change our plastic-dependent ways for years. We have learnt that for all its handiness, plastic is a long-lasting disaster for our world and we need to stop making more.

So it strikes me as strange that so many of us don’t act until we are made to, particularly with government data showing 90 per cent of us support more limits.

We have come a long way in a short time in adjusting our attitude. Remember the kerfuffle over phasing out plastic shopping bags? But we adapted. Last year, we said goodbye to straws, stirrers and expanded polystyrene and we’re doing okay.

The attitude with passing on plastic, and on changing our consumer behaviour generally, used to be ‘what difference can one person make?’

We now know the answer is lots when there are lots of ones. Communities have the power of transformation. So let’s get ahead of the government and encourage our local butchers, supermarkets, delis and food outlets to let us use our own containers.

Our community and environment need us not to wait for instructions to go that extra mile.

Jane Stephens is a USC journalism lecturer, media commentator and writer.

TIME TO STOP THE ABUSE

As he nears retirement, Ashley Robinson is pondering his future, but he can guarantee it won’t be as a cab driver.

As I near retirement, redundancy or being put out to pasture, one thing I am 100 per cent sure of is I will need to find a job of some description to keep me out of the house for my own safety and old mate’s mental health.

I mentioned this to a friend of mine a few weeks ago and she suggested I take up Uber driving. I thought she was joking but after she made a few points I started to think it may be an okay idea. That was until recently. Fair dinkum, who would drive a taxi? I caught one the other night and from the moment I jumped in until I got home old mate complained about everything possible to do with taxi driving, Uber and the world in general.

Who the bloody hell would do the job, particularly the night shift, being at the mercy of every idiot in town. I guess the answer is people who want to work, who want to contribute to the economy. So shouldn’t those people be treated with respect and protected from knobs that can’t behave themselves? Bus drivers on public transport are the other victims of idiots; again there is little or no respect.

Some of these violent souls always have an excuse – alcohol, drugs, personal problems, someone made them do it – but I think we are all missing the point. Ask an Indian, Nepalese or Pakistan taxi driver what he thinks of an intoxicated Australian customer and they will usually just give you a smile and a shake of the head.

I have seen it, some bogan gets in the cab and starts calling them driver or cabbie instead of asking their name and by the end of the trip is hurling abuse, all because some poor soul is trying to earn a living.

It is about time judges in this country start punishing people for their actions, not slapping their wrists with a good behaviour bond. There has to be consequences, particularly for assault, physical or verbal, on an innocent party.

As the song goes, “we’re doing fine in the lucky country”. Well in my opinion we are being far too tolerant to the wrong people and less to the right people.

So I think I probably should keep looking for another line of work in semi- retirement as I could easily end up a victim or a perpetrator, depending on which way the judge looked at it.

Ashley Robinson is the manager of Alex Surf Club and the chairman of the Sunshine Coast Falcons.

The opinions expressed are those of the authors. These are not the views of My Weekly Preview publishers.

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A BITTER END

Sami Muirhead’s heart goes out to former federal minister Julie Bishop, who has just been the victim of a public dumping.

Iwas cringing as I read about the details of the break-up of former foreign affairs minister Julie Bishop and her beau of eight years. His name is David Panton and he is a successful businessperson who has been her plus one for a long time. But he reportedly dumped Jules at a restaurant, and not just any restaurant.

Eastbank restaurant in Sydney is a tourist trap where the menu warns diners that seagulls can swoop at any moment. The stress of this alone sparks anxiety in me, let alone adding the fact this cad told Julie (surrounded by diners) that their relationship was over.

Ditched to the fancy curb. Ouch! A girl would not know if she should cover her chips from the swooping seagulls or hold her hand over her broken heart.

Tone-deaf Dave then went to the media and confirmed he had ended the union and went as far as saying it was during a meal of fish and chips at Eastbank. The guy is 61 and supposedly worldly and intelligent. Surely such matters should be conducted in private.

We all have a bad break-up story. I was once dumped just after I had forked out for two plane tickets to Sydney for this loser I was dating. At least he had the decency to do it on the beach with no one around to witness my tears. I have been the dumper at times and once I ditched a guy because of his obsession with Spider-Man. He was a grown man and had a Spider-Man tattoo and a Spider-Man doona cover.

A girlfriend once ditched a bloke because he refused to wear fake tan. Another friend broke up with a guy because he wore yellow denim jeans on the third date.

But back to our classy Julie. She and David the destroyer were at a dinner party hosted by Prince Charles at St James’s Palace in London just a week before their split. He has also been her date to dozens of red carpet events over the years.

Jules, I say drink lots of wine and go gentle on yourself. Watch chick flicks and eat pasta and chocolate. I recommend the movie The Vow or anything with Jennifer Lopez in it and endless Bounty bars with a hot water bottle in bed. You and your fabulous pearl earrings (the woman really does have amazing earrings) will bounce back before you can say “see you later loser”, and remember, today’s fish and chip wrapper is news about someone else tomorrow.

Sami Muirhead is a radio announcer, blogger and commentator. For more from Sami tune into Mix FM.

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