Act now to secure our future

TODAY marks a milestone for our city. The Townsville Water Security Taskforce will hand over its final report which spells out what the short, medium and long- term water solutions are for our community.

It is understood the state and federal governments have been asked to send representatives to receive this report.

The taskforce was set up in March 2017 to assess studies and make recommendations so all tiers of government could agree on the best way forward in the spirit of the Townsville City Deal.

Brad Webb was appointed as chairman to the independent taskforce, which also includes a representative from federal, state government and the Townsville City Council CEO Adele Young.

Mr Webb, who heads BM Webb Industrial Property Developers and is one of Townsville’s leading businessmen, has no political bias, no need for the position and no personal interests other than a desire to see this city move forward.

It is understood the key recommendation put forward will be to do stage two of the Haughton pipeline, that is extending it to Clare, straight away.

The Queensland Government already paid more than $ 200 million for stage one of this project, which is well under way.

The taskforce report will likely underline massive savings that could be made should stage two be completed at the same time as stage one.

Upon official receipt of this report, politicians can expect the community response to be sustained and unified.

It’s time for the Federal Government to help solve our city’s water woes and it can do so by matching the funding already delivered by the state, letting the council deliver stage two of this project.

To date the Federal Government is yet to chip in to help our city’s water security. If elected, a Bill Shorten Labor government has pledged $ 100 million to water security and while it’s a start, it’s simply not enough. Anyone seeking votes in Herbert should take note, the community will accept nothing less than full support for this project.