Council kicking goals
I’D LIKE to reply to Sam Cox’s letter to the editor of June 24.
Sam is correct in his assertions that Townsville is on the edge of greatness. This is due to the efforts of our city council, which has now got its eyes set on the goal.
We have seen the bus hub finished in this term along with a new pipeline that will provide us with sufficient water for a long time to come at no cost to ratepayers.
This is at odds with the opposition team that wanted to borrow $160 million and clock it up to the ratepayers.
Thank God they didn’t get voted in as the repayments on that would only add to the debt that Townsville First left the city in when they lost control.
That’s not to mention we finally have a team of leaders that actually works together for a change and we are reaping the benefits of that now.
No one wants to see the alleged donations for policy deals of the Newman era applied in local government.
As Sam would know from his time in Campbell Newman’s LNP government, councils are being forced to take on more and more responsibilities that should be covered by the State and Federal governments.
Councils are now forced to help out with support for mental health and even security around ratepayers’ safety in public.
We, the ratepayers, are already paying for these services through our taxes, and local governments do not sell assets to pay for things, such as was proposed when Campbell Newman wanted to sell our power generators. Being a leader of our great city is more than a select few words, pink jumpsuits and heckling the opposition at every opportunity, it’s about having leaders that respect each other and get the job done.
What we do not need is to go back to the days of the previous council where we saw the infighting spilling over into Townsville First’s decisions.
I am happy with the current set-up as we are already seeing the grassroots of successful policy and teamwork appearing in the city – and we need them to keep that momentum going.
TREVOR JAMES, Aitkenvale.