Ed, I find it concerning that people express “opinions” in a public forum that are based on half truths and misinformation, and that are demonstrably incorrect. Worse, they think they have a “right” to do so. I beg to differ. Freedom of speech does not give people any more “right” to expound opinions based on ignorance than they do opinions that might be based on hatred and bigotry, racism, sectarianism or are homophobia. The public exposure of opinions that are uninformed spreads the ignorance and provides it with some undeserved credibility. History shows it as the propaganda mechanism used so effectively to deliver the great evils of our civilization. “If you tell a lie often enough it becomes a truth”. A case in point is an hysterical claim that the coastal river systems replenish the sand on our coastal beaches. They don’t! Silica sand deposited on coastal beaches along our eastern seaboard is carried by the Trans Pacific South Equatorial current, “Oceanography 101”. However, “sediment” from the coastal river system, along with all of the effluent currently being dumped into our coastal waterways, certainly empties into coastal waters and deposits on our tourist beaches, significantly so when the rivers are in flood. Sediment from the Burdekin river has been detected as far north as Lizard Island ( Ref: “Estuarine Eco hydrology” by Dr Eric Wolanski, Senior Research Scientist, Australian Institute of Marine Science, and numerous articles in the Australian Journal of Hydrology). If claims published on issues like this cannot be supported by legitimate scientific references their credibility has to be questioned. My apologies to all those who “..don’t need to read the opinions of a bunch of ‘professionals’ to know (anything)”. Ian Saunders, Maclean