Palaszczuk delivers on $700m promise
THE state government’s promise to deliver more than $700m in projects for North Queensland in the lead-up to the 2017 election has been delivered.
During the election campaign, the Labor Party promised $157.6m in works and investment, including the Pimlico TAFE upgrade, and the delivery of an underwater museum at Townsville.
That investment was on top of an already promised $546.3m to fund a new primary school, hospital upgrades, water security and more.
However, $50m promised for a solar thermal plant near Townsville was redirected into a wind farm.
Mundingburra MP Coralee O’rourke said that under Annastacia Palaszczuk the state government had made a huge investment in Townsville’s future.
“We’ve built a new primary school in Burdell, like we said we would. We’ve opened a new children’s unit at the Townsville Hospital, like we said we would,” Ms O’rourke said.
“Upgrading educational facilities like Pimlico TAFE has been completed and work is well under way at Heatley Secondary College. It’s works like this that will help provide more opportunities for students growing up in Townsville.
“For businesses, we opened the Townsville Manufacturing
Hub in September last year, which is supporting local businesses like Australian Expedition Vehicles, which received a $125,639 grant to buy a robot for their business.
“With joint funding from the federal government we have invested $75m in the Port of Townsville channel upgrade project, which will help increase capacity at the port and help create jobs now and into the future.”
The biggest-ticket item promised for the region was the Powering North Queensland plan, worth $380m.
“The Palaszczuk government remains committed to its Powering North Queensland Plan to deliver energy security, diversity and affordability in the North,” Ms O’rourke said.
“Already 1300 megawatts of North Queensland’s 2000MW of operational energy generation capacity is renewable.”
Ms O’rourke said the state government had committed $14.8m to fund part of CopperString 2.0, $16.5m to complete a Burdekin Falls Dam improvement works and wallraising as part of the plan.
The only promise not delivered on was a $50m commitment to explore solar thermal, which was transferred to Cleanco, which analysed the options and determined the technology did not fit in its portfolio. Funding was redirected into a wind farm, which Cleanco owns and operates.
In comparison, the Liberal National Party committed $225m to the region in 2017. The LNP promised $25.9m for a crime policy, which included a police helicopter, $18.3m for Driveit – which the government is yet to fund ($12m is needed to complete the project) – $20m for a youth regeneration facility and more.