Little to show from the State Budget
Little to show from the State Budget
There was very little to highlight for the Gympie region from last month’s State Budget.
It is disappointing to realise that the Government scraped the bottom of the barrel to find Gympie projects to showcase in its glossy Budget Highlights brochure.
The highlights included a project which has no business case or passed major assessments, added cost blowouts to pump up figures, and yet again pushed projects out to another year.
It ignored so many opportunities.
I welcome the $1.116 million for security fencing at James Nash State High School and $1.6 million for amenities upgrades at One Mile State School. It is a sad indictment when security fencing is one of the few highlights for the region.
The reality is that years of announcements have delivered little.
The proposed Borumba pumped hydro scheme is yet to receive Federal Government environmental approvals and assessments. It has still not received environmental approvals from Queensland’s Office of the Co-Ordinator General and the government refuses to release the business case.
Including the Gympie bypass is a project which the Federal Government funds the majority or 80% and is supposed to be completed in the next few months.
The Government refuses to deal with the horror stretch of the Bruce Highway from Gympie to Maryborough. There was nothing for the planning, design or delivery of any upgrade from Curra to Bauple.
A record $28.9 billion health budget said nothing about delivering a new hospital for Gympie. It announced 800 new full time equivalent positions and a $1.8 billion budget for the Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service. Gympie did not even get three extra staff. Gympie Hospital has been allocated a $620,000 funding boost and 2.6 FTE staff!
The $3 million for Gympie’s replacement fire station is only part of the project with most of the project funding pushed out for another year. This has been going on for more than a decade when land was purchased for the site in 2014.
For several years I have called for a properly designated police station and additional police personnel at Rainbow Beach which currently operates from underneath a house. There will be nothing any time soon. It seems the government is deliberately going slow on delivering the police station, and there is nothing about an upgrade and additional personnel at Imbil Police Station.
Despite my submissions to numerous Ministers the Budget provides next to nothing for increased social housing, state-controlled roads, bridge upgrades, and to flood proof our region.
Calls for specific facilities at local schools, increased train services from Gympie North to the Sunshine Coast and Brisbane, investment in high quality sport facilities, funding for a multi-purpose entertainment and sports facility, and a business case for an ambulance station at Glenwood were ignored.
50 years of karate and guidance from
Sensei Noel Turner
Noel Turner celebrating 50 years of Karate, Rose Turner
A half a century of delivering karate tuition to the Gympie community was celebrated with a series of demonstrations in front of new and old karate supporters and enthusiasts.
The Japan Karate-do Ryobu-Kai Gympie Karate Club in Dojo has been a feature on the Gympie martial arts scene since 1974.
Celebrations were also had for the tireless efforts of Sensei Noel Turner who has been a fixture at the club. In 1977 Sensei Noel Turner took over the operation training at the Dojo. In the past fifty years he has continued to develop and improve his skills in the art of karate and has obtained his 7th Dan black belt accreditation. He has done all this while also training and mentoring hundreds of students in the art of karate and self-defence.
Do not compromise our water supplies
Gympie residents need an unequivocal assurance that any changes to Borumba Dam will not adversely affect Gympie’s water supply and future growth in the region.
Our region’s water security and sustainability cannot be compromised.
Future growth means that more water will need to be allocated from the dam to ensure supplies for domestic, industrial and agricultural users.
Conflicting expectations from the dam to provide both the water source for the proposed Borumba pumped hydro scheme, as the water supply for our region, and as a source of water for southeast Queensland need clarity. It is also the water supply further downstream for users in Maryborough.
The Wide Bay Burnett Regional Plan which was released in January predicts the region will need increased supplies for population growth, intensive agriculture and manufacturing, and emerging industries. It has identified Gympie’s water catchment as a critical source of raw water for “southeast Queensland’s drinking water supply.”
In May the newly released Mary Basin Water Plan (MBWP) allocated an additional 4,000 ML of strategic reserve water from the Mary River catchment for future growth.
In March I asked the Minister for Energy whether the Department of Water and/or Sunwater had made representations to increase the capacity of the dam to ensure water security for domestic, industrial and agriculture users in the Gympie region. READ HERE
I also asked the Minister for Water what the plans were to ensure downstream users would not be adversely affected by lack of water supply. READ HERE
Their responses were identical, and inadequate. The Ministers said the draft MBWP complies with downstream environmental flows, existing users, and urban water supplies.
What they didn’t answer was whether the case for our region’s water needs has been put on the table, or if there are any plans to guarantee our supply.
32 years with Rainbow Beach Surf Lifesaving Club
Life membership of the Rainbow Beach Surf Lifesavings Club was a fitting recognition of the commitment of Justin and Vicki Schooth to surf lifesaving.
Together they have amassed 32 years of service, 16 years each. Both received life membership at the Club’s annual awards. Vicki has made another first for the club becoming the first female to be awarded life membership.
Rainbow Beach Surf Lifesaving started almost a lifetime ago with its first squad training in Noosa in 1965. A year later training relocated to Rainbow Beach.
Over the years our lifesavers started with a pole with a metal tractor seat on top, surf reel, and belt. Today, Rainbow Beach surf lifesavers have at their disposal bikes, trailers, 4WD, radio equipment, and facilities for a helipad.
Today the Club boasts 258 members, with 83 active members and 71 junior members.
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Securing timber supplies is a missing ingredient |
A landmark Queensland Timber Action Plan will help secure the sustainable timber supplies needed to build homes. You can’t fix the housing shortage if you don’t have timber. The Action Plan is a part of the LNP’s ambitious housing plan across six policy areas which will secure Queensland’s housing foundations in the next 20 years. It will provide certainty and support to industry for investment and provide confidence to be able to deliver. We will work with industry to deliver our plan. Gympie’s timber and forestry industry will be crucial to ensure industry has access to the materials required to build one million homes over two decades. |
Since the LNP policy announcement Timber Queensland has warned of a looming building materials crisis caused by a lack of policy and budget measures to increase future timber supply to help meet the state’s rising housing demand. READ HERE It revealed that almost 90% of homes rely on local plantation softwood for timber frames. Our native hardwood and cypress is used extensively for structural beams and posts, flooring, cladding, decking products, furniture, and cabinetry. The future of delivering homes for our future rely on the resources and materials needed for the building sector. The looming crisis is caused by systemic failed timber policies spanning 25 years of successive Labor governments. Since 1999 the timber and forestry industry has been run down from years of talk, mismanagement, and failures. An anti-forestry, anti-timber agenda has systematically removed timber areas from production. The housing crisis is made worse by the failure to deliver long term forest and resource security. Timber is a sustainable and renewable resource, but trees need a minimum of 30 years to grow for harvest. Failed policies have real long-term consequences. Those consequences are being felt now. History of policy failures:
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Housing crisisDuring a debate in Parliament, I was able to raise the multiple housing issues confronting residents in the Gympie region. From those seeking private rentals, social housing, crisis accommodation, to those people who are living in tents, under bridges, in the main street, and in their cars. Charity groups providing help are being stretched. The situation has deteriorated so much that former Gympie Citizen of the Year and OAM recipient Marlene Owen co-founded the Gympie Regional Homeless Assistance group to feed the homeless and vulnerable. Click here to read my full speech. |
Local sporting and recreation groups share fundsAlmost $100,000 will be shared among 39 local sporting groups from their successful applications for grants. The Active Clubs Round 4 is to provide funding to local and regional sport and active recreation organisations to support volunteers and provide opportunities to increase sport and recreation participation. Given the financial constraints everyone is feeling I am sure any assistance groups can access is very much welcomed. Each of the organisations received $2,500 making it a total of $102,500. Successful clubs were:
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Out and AboutWheels on Mary Bauple Museum Morning Tea Lions Club of Gympie Morning Tea Gympie West Sports Day Gympie Arms & Collectibles Fair Lions Club of Gympie Changeover Dinner |
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Gympie West State School Sports Day |
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Shadow Minister visitsAs the state member for Gympie there are few regions which could have provided a better training ground for my role as Shadow Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. Wherever I go in the state our farmers, fishers, forestry workers, graziers, producers, and those who work alongside them in the supply chains, just want government to get out of the way and let them do the job they do best. |
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Bundaberg Fruit and Vegetable Growers Gala Dinner |
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Farmfest |
Around the House – in ParliamentLinks to the most recent Parliamentary Questions and Speeches.Questions on Notice
PetitionSpeeches |
Get Involved – Have your Say, Grants, Prizes, Surveys, Events and Reviews
HAVE YOUR SAY ON BILLS BEFORE THE PARLIAMENT
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