Search the Community

Does anyone have experience with living in both Cairns and the Sunshine Coast so they could compare those places for me? We have been to Cairns last year and our fourth child was born there. We fell in love with the beautiful beaches and natural surroundings and found people there to be friendlier than down south, or at least more down to earth but still so friendly .. We are always cold in winter in SEQ and love climates such as Singapore, so would love to move to the Northern Beaches in Cairns but are having some doubts now. We now live half an our away from the Sunshine Coast and realised that there is a lot of infrastructure there in terms of healthcare, bike lanes, etc. We do not know the Northern Beaches area In Cairns well enough to know if maybe there are also lots of sidewalks, bike lanes etc. And apart from the hospital in Cairns, we did not need to find specialists or other healthcare there. We are worried though by what we hear about Cairns. That the hospital cannot cater for certain emergencies.. Is that correct? We are also wondering how difficult it is to find a specialist up there or get routine screenings (eg for breast cancer)? Also occupational therapy for children? I must say though that the waitlists in SEQ are a year atm, too. What about Townsville? Would that place maybe offer the best of both worlds, the tropical climate and natural surroundings but still better infrastructure and healthcare? Any feedback on how bad crime is in Cairns/Northern Beaches/Townsville? I have to say we live in Caboolture atm, so used to bad areas, but we live in a good pocket of Caboolture.. We also stayed in Mossman and Cairns for two months last year and had no bad experience, but would be good to know what it’s like living there long term...

Reading Newscom Aus today and Queensland is very short of engineers and say flood recovery is going to be delayed because of it. "Key industry body the Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers has warned that the shortfall of engineers could lead to a 20 per cent blowout in the flood repair bill because of a lack of project scoping expertise. " Read more: Engineer shortage in Queensland hampers flood recovery | News.com.au Opportunity for anyone

I made a post a while ago that its only a matter of time before the Mitchell Freeway becomes a car park and most people replied that the train is there as a viable alternative. Reports today suggest that the Joondalup line is at critical and people looking to board the train Greenwood onwards are struggling to get on trains due to overcrowding. The long-term approach to infrastructure and population distribution here is severely flawed. There are no plans in the budget to extend or widen the Mitchell Freeway, or develop another one. There are no plans to provide extra trains however there are plans to provide extra stations, albeit that that process will take years. Marmion Avenue was extended to Yanchep to provide an alternative route but it is only 1 lane each way. Given that expectation is that up to 20,000 additional people will live in the Northern corridor over the next 10 or 15 years, it's going to get a lot worse.

The politics of undercounting. THE nation is carrying about 800,000 more people than it had bargained for when Labor came to power in 2007. This is the gap between the modest official population projections that were publicly available at the time of the last election and the fertility and immigration booms for which no level of government was ready.... ....Our real problems begin here, with the almost comical inability of our institutions to correctly forecast the basics: how many maternity beds, childcare and school places, new houses and apartments, train, tram and bus services would be required to raise, educate, accommodate and transport the most vibrant developed nation on the planet. Opposition stoops to lies and excuses in race to the bottom on boatpeople. NEVER let what has actually been said get in the way of your argument. That appears to be opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison's new mantra after he was caught out denying the undeniable yesterday on the Ten Network's Meet the Press. Paul Bongiorno asked him: "(Tony Abbott) described (boat arrivals) as an invasion: isn't that playing on people's fears?" Morrison answered: "Tony did not say that; he said you were at risk of putting Australia in a situation where it is open." "He said peaceful invasion," Bongiorno responded.... Population surge linked to jobs growth. IF new Prime Minister Julia Gillard really wants to slow population growth, she will need to put the brakes on the economy first. Returning the budget to surplus immediately would work, as would encouraging her friends at the Reserve Bank to jack up interest rates. The government no longer has the tools to directly reduce or increase the migration rate. Leading ANU demographer Peter McDonald gets irritated by the way so many people see population growth as somehow independent of the economy. Both migration -- and, to a much greater extent than generally realised, fertility rates -- are products of economic conditions. Migration is a function of labour demand. It slumps following recessions and booms in the good times.....