Plan to fix woes on water
SIX priority projects have been identified to fix the water issues plaguing Palm Island, with the State Government revealing for the first time it will tap into the money promised by the Coalition during the election.
The state Department of Local Government has released the project priority list for Palm Island, set to be delivered “in the coming months”.
Minister Stirling Hinchliffe said the projects, which include decommissioning and replacing two reservoirs and building a new raw water line, would be funded under Queensland’s Indigenous Community Capital Grants Program and the $2 million the Federal Government committed during the election campaign.
It comes as the State Government revealed a new financial reporting system had been put in place at the Palm Island Aboriginal Shire Council to ensure “greater transparency”.
The move is part of the work being done by the two government bureaucrats appointed to steer Palm Island’s council out of crisis.
Financial controller Neil Michel and governance adviser Gary Kleidon were appointed in July for three months, and released their first progress report this week.
A departmental spokesman said it would be some time before a final report and recommendations are released.
“Mr Michel is also working with councillors toward implementing a new, much more detailed reporting regime, allowing the councillors and staff to fully understand the council’s financial performance,” he said.
“Mr Michel is working with the council to ensure that the current structure and staffing levels are appropriate.”
Mr Hinchliffe said he had been approached by Mayor Alf Lacey and councillors to possibly keep Mr Kleidon and Mr Michel on for longer.
He said he was not ruling out the possibility.
“That is certainly an issue that has been raised with me by the mayor and councillors when I was there on the 16th of August,” Mr Hinchliffe said.
“But my advice at this point from both Gary and Neil is that they feel things are on a good track and there is probably not a necessity for them to be in place beyond that time.”