A toast to the high calibre of Gympie youth

They also learned to overcome the fear of stepping outside their comfort zone, fronting up to speak in public, answering impromptu questions, and thinking on their feet.

The Youth of the Year was awarded to Jasmin White of St Patrick’s College. Congratulations!

Congratulations also goes to contestants Molly Devereaux of James Nash State High School, Georgie Douglas of Victory College, Madison Ostwald of St Patrick’s College, Jorja McIntyre of Gympie State High School, and Mark Curley of Gympie State High School.

Madison Ostwald, Jasmin White – St Patricks College

Georgie Douglas, Jorja McIntyre, Mark Curley, Jasmin White, Madison Ostwald, Molly Devereaux

Gympie’s “Suncarers” open a new office

“Suncarers” were out in force at the opening of the Gympie office of Suncare. I was privileged to meet with and learn of the experiences of many carers when I opened their new office.

Suncare is dedicated to providing in-home care, which makes so much sense for many of our residents.

As our region’s population increases it is also growing older.

According to the2021 census 7.5% were aged 70-74; 5% were aged 75-79 years; 2.7% were aged80-84 years, and 2.2% were aged 85 and older.

Only five years earlier in the 2016 census the figures were 6.1%; 3.8%; 2.4% and 2.1% respectively.

Services like Suncare provide the opportunity for people to stay in their communities, with the people they know in their community, and among the places and facilities they are familiar with.

From a modest ambition to start a Meals on Wheels service on the Sunshine Coast in 1970 in the last 50 years Suncare has grown to provide in-home care, allied health, and clinical services across many centres in Queensland.

Curra’s fight to stop power outages

Celeste Rigby, Deb Frecklington, Shadow Minister for Energy and Cost of Living

Curra’s campaign to upgrade and build infrastructure to deliver a reliable power supply was taken to Parliament. A Parliamentary petition from 1,016 petitioners, and sponsored by principal petitioner Celeste Rigby, was tabled in State Parliament.  I was also able to table a non-conforming petition and a picture of the unused substation on Curra Estate Road.

You can access my full speech in the “Around the House” section in this newsletter.

It’s unacceptable that Curra residents have been forced to endure outage after outage. This has been going on for decades.

The latest assurance from the Government is that it will be fixed at the end of the month. Another assurance from Ergon is that it will be fixed at the middle of this year. It doesn’t instil confidence.

Meanwhile blackouts are creating significant risks and massive health, personal, and financial hardship. Residents deserve better.

Australia Day

Australia Day celebrations across the region demonstrated how much locals love our country. It was inspiring to know that we are a proud community. I was privileged to be invited to help recognise the contribution of our Australia day Awards recipients, as well as share with many others who took their citizenship oath on the day to become part of the great Australian family. Congratulations to everyone!

Around the House – in Parliament

Links to the most recent Parliamentary Questions and Speeches.

Questions on Notice

• Cost of upgrades to local bridges
• Fireant Eradication Program
• Upgrade of Tin Can Bay and Bayside Roads intersection
• Rainbow Beach Police facility
• Great Sandy Strait Marine Park zoning changes
• Land for new Gympie Hospital
• Ergon Energy Network outages
• Tiaro flood immunity upgrade
• Qld Health purchase of vacant land
• Gillnet fishing in the Great Barrier Reef
• Proposed Borumba Pumped Hydro Scheme
• Future water supply from Borumba Dam

Question without Notice

• Borumba Pumped Hydro – page 241
• Follow up response page 319

Petition

• Curra Power petition tabled. Response from Minister due 4 April. E-petition.(975 signatures)
• Paper petition (41 signatures)

Speeches

• Committee report: Inquiry into the Peninsula Developmental (Laura to Weipa) Road – page 162
• Committee Report: Examination of Auditor-Generals reports – page 465  
• Motion to establish a Cost of Living Select Committee – page 500
• Adjournment – Curra power supply – page 522

Out and about

During the last month I have been able to attend or visit:

Gympie Chamber of Commerce Breakfast

Shadow Minister for Education

Lions Youth of the Year

Australia Day Awards

Glenwood First Responders

Gympie South State School

Gympie Beef Group Inc AGM

Stutz Sawmill Maryborough

Scenic Rim

Gympie Chamber of Commerce Breakfast, I spoke about State topics including the hospital, power supply, and traffic.

Scott Welch, James Watt, Dr Christian Rowan – Shadow Minister for Education, Megan Austin, Joe Barbaro, Daman Weir, Rebecca Turner

Creagh and Taria Bunney – Glenwood First Responders Group

Get Involved – Have your Say, Grants, Prizes, Surveys, Events and Reviews

• Cost of Living Inquiry Petition – State government costs must be part of any inquiry into our increasing costs of living.  They must be held to account for their role. Join our fight to expand to the Cost-of-Living Inquiry to put State Government costs under a microscope.
• Draft Terms of Reference for Borumba Dam Pumped Hydro Scheme – Have your say. Submissions close 28 Mar.
• SwimSmart Vouchers – Vouchers up to $150 for tots -0-4 years to learn to swim. Round 1 applications close 1 May.
• Fairplay Vouchers – $150 vouchers for families to help kids participate in sport. Closes 1 May.
• Energy Efficiency Grants for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises – Grants up for $25,000 for small and medium businesses to purchase energy efficient equipment. Round 2 closes 8 April.
• Community Sustainability Action grants – Litter and Marine Debris Clean Up and Prevention grants up to $75,000 closes 2 April. Community Heritage grants up to $50,000 closes 25 March.
• Resilient Regional Communities –up to $20,000 or $50,000 grants for events and initiatives to strengthen communities and capability for drought preparedness.  Round two opens 13 February 2024. Closes 26 March 2024.
• Manufacturing Energy Efficiency Grants (MEEG) – Qld based manufacturers looking to increase energy efficiency. Grants of $5,000 to $25,000. Round one closes 30 June 2024.
• Voice of Queenslanders with Disability Survey – annual survey of people with disability on their experiences, successes, and challenges. Also open to families, carers, and providers. Closes 11 March.
• Rural Economic Development Grants – Co-contribution grants up to $200,000 to generate economic and employment opportunities related to primary production. Expressions of interest closes 28 March.
• Qld Reconciliation Awards – Nominations close 18 March.
• Community Road Safety Education Grants – Funding for not-for-profit organisations to provide road safety education initiatives.  Closes 29 March.
• School Student Broadband Initiative – Free NbN connection for school aged students.
• Young people at risk of homelessness – grants up to $5,000 for essential goods & services to assist moving into accommodation or work. Contact housing service
• Telstra Footy Country Grants – Grants up to $20,000 for AFL Clubs. Round 1 now open.
• Telstra Connected Communities Grants – Grants up to $10,000 for not-for-profit organisations. Closes 27 March.
• Battery Booster Program – Rebates up to $4,000 to help install a home battery system. Please note beware of scams.
• Senior Social Isolation Grants – grants for organisations to increase social connection for older people. Closes 22 March.
• Business Disaster Preparedness program – assistance for businesses to prepare for disasters.

HAVE YOUR SAY ON BILLS BEFORE THE PARLIAMENT

• Education (General Provisions) Bill – appeal rights for children suspended from school, changes to home schooling, remove gender specific language, accessing e-Kindy. Keep an eye out for when submissions close. To report by 6 September.
• Victims Commissioner and Sexual Violence Review Board Bill – to establish an office of Victims Commissioner and a Sexual violence review board. Keep an eye out for when submission close. To report by 6 September.

BILLS WAITING TO BE REPORTED ON

• Environmental Protection (Powers and Penalties) Bill – to make changes regarding powers and penalties relating to polluters, offences, environmental nuisances, notifications, compliance, evidence in court proceedings and environmental restoration. To report by 12 April.
• Clean Economy Jobs Bill – reduce greenhouse gas emissions with reduction targets of 30% by 2030, 75 % by 2035, and net zero by 2050. To report by 5 April.
• Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Bill – changes regarding ‘subcontractor beneficiary’ of a project trust, record keeping, requirements & eligibility for trust accounts, information sharing, licence qualifications, membership of the QBCC,. To report by 12 April.
• Criminal Code (Decriminalising Sex Work) Bill – repeal or remove offences relating to sex work, public solicitation, advertising, specific health offences. To report by 12 April.
• Emergency Services Reform Amendment Bill – to restructure emergency service arrangements, including aligning Marine Rescue and SES under the control of the QPS. To report by 15 March.
• State Emergency Service Bill –  second Bill to continue restructuring emergency service arrangements. To report by 15 March.
• Marine Rescue Queensland Bill – third Bill to continue the changes to restructure emergency service arrangements as recommended in the Independent Review Report and meet certain recommendations made in the IGEM Review. To report by 15 March.
• Corrective Services (Promoting Safety) Bill – various measures including representation for victims, response to abuse of prisoner communication channels; supervision powers for reportable child sex offenders, penalties for gel blasters on corrective services land; protection of information, use of body-worn cameras for protection officers, search requirements. To report by 12 April.
• Crime and Corruption Bill – Government response to recommendations in PCCC reports and Commission of Inquiry into the CCC and Logan City Councillors. To report by 5 April.
• Crime and Corruption Bill – to allow the Parliament to publish CCC reports so the public can understand the reasons for its conclusions and any outcomes. LNP Bill. To report by 11 April.
• Education (General Provisions) (Helping Families with School costs) –to increase state school funding to reduce out-of-pocket expenses for school families. Greens Bill. To report by 11 April.
• Education Extension of Primary Schools in Remote Areas Bill – to increase access to designated secondary education services in remote areas. KAP Bill. To report by 11 April.
• Planning and other Legislation (Make Developers Pay) Amendment Bill – give local governments flexibility to charge developers for trunk infrastructure according to the cost of delivering that infrastructure. Greens Bill. To report by 15 May.