Governments Need To Walk The Talk
‘Unite and Recover’ was the slogan the Palaszczuk Government spent millions of taxpayers’ dollars promoting in 2020. It formed Labor’s key political message before the Queensland election. Now it’s time to walk the talk. Labor must set out a clear plan to unite Queensland with the rest of Australia, taking into account health and economic advice. And stick to it. I know it’s not easy. I’m not calling for the borders to open immediately. What I am hearing from the community is that the uncertainty of events,
uncertainty that we may be locked down on a moment’s notice, schools shut, businesses ordered to close and people ordered to isolate from the community is taking its toll – mentally, emotionally and within families – on everyone. It cannot go on indefinitely. When I was speaking last week with a very senior medical officer in Metro South Health, it was acknowledged at
that level that the present uncertainty is unsustainable. In their words – “we can’t live like this for the next 10 years”. I’d put a significantly shorter timeframe on it than that.
Unfortunately, COVID-19 seems like it is not going away soon, and to unite the nation – all Australians, our economy, families flung across State borders – the Government must put up a plan to deal with this reality, agree upon it with all other Premiers, Chief Ministers, and the PM, and stick to it.
Road Safety
There have been too many serious road accidents in the Scenic Rim Electorate in the past couple of weeks. Please, stay vigilant on the roads by obeying speed limits and driving to conditions – especially during the school holidays.
Some of these accidents also highlight the gap between residential growth in the region on one hand and investment in new roads on the other – a long-term problem that I will continue to advocate about. The recent funding boosts provided by the Federal Government, supported by your Federal MP Scott Buchholz, is addressing some of these issues, but getting the attention of the QLD Government to properly plan and build
road upgrades is a hard task – at present they still have a backlog of repairs of about $6 billion. That’s a lot of repairs, before we even get to new roads!
My Office
In addition to helping with Queensland Government matters, my office can provide assistance in procuring Queensland Flags and letters of congratulations for significant birthdays and anniversaries. As well as this, we can provide letters of support for community groups seeking grant funding. Anybody considering becoming a Justice of the Peace/Commissioner for Declarations will need to contact my office to complete the nomination form.
If you have an issue that you think should be fixed, I encourage you to contact my office, toll-free on 1800 813 960, so I can lobby on your behalf in Brisbane.