Why do some people insist on defending falsehoods?

@Lizzie

In a clear sign that, in retirement, I have too much time on my hands, I checked satellite maps for your issue, and if I understand it correctly the problem is not the first of it’s type.

Google “Tweed sand bypass”.

An identical problem arose after the mouth of the Tweed River was stabilised with twin breakwaters. Due to the south-north sand drift on the east coast of Australia, the southern Gold Coast beaches subsequently suffered severe erosion, while sand buildup was excessive south of the breakwater.

The NSW Govt was lucky that the problem their works caused had negative effects in another state, which was forced to bear the major cost of “joint” works agreed to rectify the problem, and restore the natural sand movement.

I suspect the powers-that-be are well aware of the problem and it’s causes, and also know what is necessary to fix it. Your problem is that the solution is not cheap.

 

Yep. Well aware of the Tweed/Gold Coast bypass and re-nourishment

The solution is actually not expensive in terms of government spending. Around$15-25 mil ... but compared to the recent 2km of light rail costing $700mil ... upgrade of Sydney fish market at $750 mil ... unnecessary stadium rebuild at $1bil ... Parramatta swimming pool upgrade at $200mil ... cost of doing nothing could be the largest unusable coal port in the world

 

The generation after Gen Ys, are they called Gen Z, or millennials or whatever,

a lot of the 18-20 year olds i deal with are very switched on, not entitled, have access to smashed avos, to me are quite financially sensible, far more than we were (or I was), maybe my sample size is too small or too biased, but I see a lot of sub 20year olds who are very switched on,

seems like the 22-35 age range are the drama queens

 

I agree - the young'uns are very switched on (again my sample pool might be to small). They're not interested in drinking and partying like I was at their age, but rather diligently working hard at school with really interesting careers in mind - several are already attending TAFE or Uni part time (junior at 16 is taking a summer uni course in anatomy) and planning exciting futures.

Gosh - I was too busy busting to get out of home, dragging off my friends on the freeway and worried about getting busted for underage grog

The drama queens seem to be in the genX category - - of which I am one

 

I think you are right re: the sample poll being small, the people I hang around since we moved to the GC are similar to what you say, driven kids, not interested in getting wasted. But there are plenty of people up here who's kids are not like that at all.

Some people I knew in Nowra a few years ago, their 16 year old kid had is mates over every weekend and all the parents thought it was hilarious that the kids would play goon of fortune until they puked and passed out, how many times you puked in one night was like an award for them.

It depends on the sample set and the demographic really, I mean on the flip side there are a lot more drug related issues with younguns now than there were for us X'ers. This is most likely an economies of scale thing I would think, the cost of alcohol now at clubs is so exorbitant ($20 for a vodka redbull at the Ivy plus the $50 cover charge if someone like Tigerlily is DJing) I don't think the younguns can afford the nights like we used to have in our day. It used to cost $1.40 a schooner at Blacktown RSL when I was young, add to that a $2 doggy out the front when you staggered out of the nightclub, you were all in and taxi driven home for under $30.

 

I think this newfound responsibly (possibly not the right word, but I think you know what I mean) is due to the perceived challenges that I didn't have to face 20 years ago when I was their age.
Climate change, while being talked about, wasn't the main concern of many people.
I'm not aware of anyone talking about the mass extinction.
Jobs were pretty easy to get.
Popularism and xenophobia weren't out in the open, like they are today.
You just assumed that you'd be able to buy a nice house eventually, if you saved and worked hard.

I was talking about it to my dad the other day, we're both of the opinion that I'm part of the "cruise through" generation. No major conflicts or major issues that we had to worry about during my teens and 20s, as there was/is for generations before and after me.

 

It doesn't just come to facts or information or knowledge, it comes to VALUES and BELIEFS too.
So it is then your Philosophy (your view on everything in life) you would need to change your habits, which for many it is hard to do. Each person's values are most important to them hence why conflicts form, not just from reasoning and what is presented.
Remember each person's thinking is a product of what they read, whom they listen too, whom they spend time with, their experiences, taking place over time, and that is very hard to change. Why would we anyway? We are unique human beings and I personally think that makes us great as we are able to have a free will (unlike animals) and chose what we want to think.
That is progress....imagine all agreeing with the same agenda (good or bad)?

 

I think you are pretty spot on here, not to belittle what we all went through but we came home from school and we were away from school, with Social Media school follows you, being always connected means you never get down time.

What I had to do to become successful in my career was not easy in fact it was damn hard but if I am honest, it was one of the only things I had to work on, I didn't need to portray something to the world, I could just head down and bum up work my way forwards.

I don't think getting somewhere is necessarily harder now but it's just one of many hard things young people deal with, we had less "noise" breaking our concentration in our day. Cruise control was normal for us.

Any conflicts were kept in their place because we saw it on the news only and let's be honest how many of us were watching the news instead of being out beering at age 18?

Now the news no matter how big or small is given a stage presence in our lives, people are literally bombarded with news and it's a lot to take in sometimes.

Could you imagine the increased impact (not to belittle the impact these things had in their time) 911 would have on the world today in comparison to 18 years ago? Or the Faulklands war or Vietnam, all of these would be rammed down peoples throats now and people would feel almost a sense of responsibility towards it. With social media and the connected world it seems that we have a burning desire for blame and it's quite frankly exhausting. I wouldn't want to be a young adult in these days, just too much noise to be able to focus on yourself.

 

Well said Dan.
Unfortunately it seems that it will only get worse as more platforms become available almost daily!

 

Partly true.

I can’t remember even thinking about climate change when I was growing up in the 1950s and 1960s.

We were all far too busy being worried about being blown to smithereens by nuclear bombs!

 

Now that comment speaks volumes. It's all about destroying the Australian coal industry.

 

Certainly seems that way, but we are still exporting loads of it to places like China and other Countries, which sort of makes the whole exercise of trying to cripple or shut down our coal based energy industry here in Australia a bit pointless?

 

I love the coal industry in Australia - my husband is partially employed in it as we speak. It's not me who wants it shut down but there are millions of other Australians who do, and they lobby Parliament.

 

I'm with you.

 

But you'd think the state government, who reaps billions in royalties on goods (coal and wheat) that pass thru the port ... they'd kinda want to keep it going

 

Unless this port is owned by China and your govt is doing its bit to ******** it.

 

The port is owned by the state government ... but leased to China. Don't think there is an ulteriorr motive other than trying to get 3 different departments to talk to, and work with, each other

 

Im a similar age to you by the sounds of it. I dont remember any discussion like that either back then.