back to 10 cents, page-18

I do know that Cairns has no construction at the moment so all construction companies are folding. They are not responsible for the economy.

Banks were lending left and right and centre to visitors from the south. Council was appproving all the construction. Any bank with a brain would know this is highly speculative. If people are not investing in business, or migrating to the area then the demand is for empty houses and that is exactly what the town has finished up with. Port Douglas critically so with some values down 50%. The bank approving these loans know the people are southern investors or property speculators and the council also has some responsibiliy on planning and you must be on another planet if you believe development approvals did not have some unhealthy council assistance.

Living here I have no sympathy for the tradies out of pocket. I was quoted $11,000 for about 6 metres fencing during the fake boom and were routinely ripping off the battlers or mroe often totally iognoring they requesting for quotes as the southern investors paid more. The actual staff at CEC have been paid fully.


Also we pay taxes just like the rest of the nation but where is the public spending on this area? Now we have repair work otherwise we would be sunk. So we pay the same but the government does not get enough votes so our tax subsidises southern eastern Queensland.

If you cannot see how the responsisblity of the crisis in Cairns is shared and the banks central to this then I feel it is you that is the one full of blabber.

If bank cannot tell between lifestyle demand and good economic demand this this country better bloody well worry, especially if we have self appointed expert thinking they have zero responsibility.

As someone who lives in the area and sees this stupid lending as being central to the areas woes it is clear to anyone with some economic understanding that the problems are bigger than CEC and it is in many ways a victim. The area will never recover until we have som sensible decision making on all government levels and for the banks to stop facilitating the boom and bust cycles we have in life styles aeas. Enough history at place like Gold Coast for them to know full well the risks invovled. However the stupidity of the banks hurts the entire region, not just the borrower or builder.

I also know many people leaving the company but where are they going? There is also a mass exodus of skills out of the area. They are not leaving firms, they are leaving town. Exactly whey we need to keep this company so we retain some construction skills. Like Dutch disease, when construction does return it will go to southern construction companies because we will now have any comapies left and that will underscore the area once again as having no industry aside from tourism.

You are looking at the issue way too too simplisticly.