Give North a voice in our future

NORTH Queensland has always been a region brimming with opportunity.

A place where big ideas and hard work create wealth and prosperity for the whole state.

Unfortunately, so many opportunities are slipping through our fingers because of three years of inaction from the do- nothing Palaszczuk Labor Government.

While so many families in Townsville and surrounding areas are desperate for work, Labor’s flip- flopping on Adani has delayed the project and put jobs at risk.

As a result, Townsville’s unemployment rate has hit record highs on Annastacia Palaszczuk’s watch.

Since the last election 5600 young people in Townsville have lost their jobs.

Youth unemployment is a staggering 20 per cent – meaning one in five young people who want a job can’t get one under Labor.

My team and I are going to fix this. We’re going to reopen Queensland – and particularly North Queensland – for business, to build the wealth and jobs for this generation and those to come.

The LNP was the first to commit to duplicate the Ross River Dam pipeline and Haughton Channel upgrade.

We will fast- track the project, calling for construction tenders within the first 100 days of an LNP Government.

Labor is prepared to ignore the energy needs of North Queensland in its blind pursuit of Greens preferences in Brisbane.

Its plan for a 50MW hydro power station will put farmers’ water entitlements at risk, and has already been rejected by the private sector.

The LNP will build, with the private sector, a high- efficiency low- emissions ( HELE) coal- fired power station in North Queensland to decrease prices, increase supply and support more jobs.

We’ll also reverse the Labor Party’s soft- on- crime approach to community safety.

In the last year, break- ins in Townsville have increased by 33.2 per cent.

Robberies are up by 42.7 per cent, and car theft has increased 18.7 per cent.

The LNP will provide safe and liveable communities by doing more to remove the drug ice from our streets, strengthening rehabilitation services and increasing penalties for selling ice to kids.

And we’ll address Labor’s do- nothing approach to health services, which has seen the number of Townsville families waiting one to two years for general dental care almost quadruple – from 186 in August 2016 to 714 last August.

The time has come to restore confidence and prosperity in Townsville and North Queensland, to grasp the opportunities that this great region has to offer.

So I ask that you make the LNP your first choice on November 25. Together, we can, and we will, Build a Better Queensland. THE seat of Burdekin, which now extends from Alligator Creek just south of Townsville to Middlemount and Clermont in the Central Queensland coal fields, is open for business.

Mariquita Lee runs a fast food business in Ayr. She works 17 hours a day seven days a week and is raising her granddaughter, Stella, 3. She thinks she will ill vote Labor at the November 25 election.

Fred Grunzke, 66, lives in Ayr. He’s voting for Pauline Hanson’s One Nation.

Twenty- year old millennial Michael Detenon works in his father’s bait and tackle business in Ayr. He’s voting for the incumbent LNP Member Dale Last.

Farm worker Julian Involati hasn’t made up his mind, but yesterday he was leaning towards the LNP.

Burdekin will be one of the most watched seats in the upcoming state election. There are four contenders.

Dale Last has not set the world on fire in terms of policy initiatives, but, this is no great surprise considering his reign to date has been from the Opposition benches.

As the LNP’s spokesman for agriculture, fisheries and forestry, he has been remarkably quiet on issues such as inland water development and vegetation management, but this may not go against him.

He is well liked, personable and seen as a hard worker in the Burdekin and Bowen areas. He will have to work hard to cultivate support in the southern coal towns.

One Nation candidate Sam Cox held the seat of Thuringowa for the LNP from 2012 to 2015.

Mr Cox lives in Townsville, but was raised in the Burdekin where his family has cane and cattle interests.

He is across all aspects of rural industry and has been highly vocal in his support for the Stage Two raising of the Burdekin Dam wall. Like Mr Last he will be playing catchup in the coal towns like Middlemount and Glenden.

Labor’s Mike Brunker is the former, colourful Bowen mayor and the man who