Loud minority of older people take selfish attitude
In response to Astra Revson's letter in Peninsula News edition 470; I read this paper with increasing disdain for the loud minority of older people living on the Peninsula who go to great lengths to shoot down any proposal where their age group are not the primary benefactors.
In her letter Ms Revson claims, without evidence, a university on the Central Coast would result in an influx of international students and their families and a bumping up of housing and rental prices.
She wants the Central Coast to remain the way it is, a selfish approach given the region's lack of opportunities for young people.
I am a current student of the University of Newcastle who is forced to travel to the Callaghan Campus to complete my degree due to the Central Coast Campus offering a third of the degrees the major campuses do.
A fully-fledged Central Coast University like the one David Abrahams supports (not an offshoot campus of an existing university) would do wonders for the region's young people who want to live, work and study on the Coast.
My university does not have thousands of international students.
Across all six campuses of the University of Newcastle, there are just over 7000 international students enrolled making up less than five per cent of the student body.
The majority of international students that I know either live on campus in student housing or in off-campus sharehouses.
Given that they pay through the nose to study here and are not guaranteed residency in this country after they graduate, I also don't put much stock in claims that they bring their entire family along with them.
I am tired of seeing older residents of the Peninsula stand in the way of projects that don't benefit them.
Most of you won't be here long enough to witness the repercussions of your tireless campaigns against developing housing, both high rise and social, but every generation after yours will.
Look back with fondness at the Central Coast of your youth, but please stop standing in the way of the Coast of the future.
Email, 3 Jun 2019
Daisy Buchanan, Ettalong