MP must step up on water

THE newly minted MP for Herbert Phil Thompson brought MPS and the Prime Minister Scott Morrison to tears yesterday delivering his powerful maiden speech.

The veteran and former Young Australian of the Year has a unique understanding about the issues faced by our country’s servicemen and he has a lot of leadership to offer the region.

While his first speech deserves credit, he has shown this week he still has a lot to learn about representing North Queenslanders in Canberra.

In November, the then-candidate and Dawson MP George Christensen celebrated the Prime Minister’s $200 million commitment to Stage 2 of the Haughton pipeline project. They took credit for successfully lobbying the

Federal Government for the money.

This week, a business case that his government insisted was just a “boxticking” exercise was revealed.

According to Mr Thompson the report was “damning”.

He then used the opportunity to berate Townsville City Council Mayor Jenny Hill for advocating for the project — despite doing the same thing himself.

Water security for this city was a number one election issue.

The community has been united on this for many, many years.

Business leaders, community groups and politicians from all sides spoke as one to get funding over the line. Just as they did when they fought for funding for the North Queensland Stadium.

But Mr Thompson has been so determined to try to land a blow on the Mayor, he’s forgotten the broader view on water security and likely insulted a lot of people who have worked very hard to try to ease this city’s water woes.

People don’t care for the politics. They just want to see promises kept and they believe in a fair go.

Having a crack at the Mayor is completely unfair given she, the Water Taskforce chair Brad Webb, and other stakeholders, say they haven’t even been given access to the full report.