Cash injection only days out from polling
GROOM MP Garth Hamilton has made one of his final pitches to disaffected and undecided voters in the dying days of the federal election campaign, as he fights of growing challenges on a number of fronts.
The first-term MP, who was speaking at another announcement at the University of Southern Queensland this week with already-budgeted funding, said the choice was over the economic prosperity of both Groom and the nation.
It comes as tens of thousands of voters have already cast their ballot, with initial polling suggesting stronger than previous support for Labor and independent candidates.
Mr Hamilton claimed the Coalition were the strong choice to lead in the next term.
“We’ve continued to talk about the concerns of cost of living and the economy, and when pressed on those issues, quite frankly there’s been a clear difference between us and Labor,” he said.
“That understanding does have significant consequences.
“There are challenges ahead for us, in terms of our economic recovery from the past couple of years and those are still pressures that we feel.
“Whoever forms government next week, there will be a real impact, because there are two clear approaches.”
Mr Hamilton and the Coalition has had a busy week of announcements, with the latest funding coming after USQ was awarded a $50m Trailblazer grant to help it develop infrastructure and equipment for rocket manufacturing.
When asked about the timing of this funding so close to May 21, the incumbent MP seemed to state the obvious.
“Right throughout this campaign since the first week, I’ve been doing (announcements for) roads, bridges, the water, the flood mitigation,” he said.
“All of these are items we’ve spoken about previously, I think they speak for long-term planning — clearly we are in a campaign.”
The $3.35m announcement on Wednesday will go towards the SIMPLE Hub, which features a multidisciplinary research team focused on developing new products and processes to support regional manufacturing priorities such as waste recycling and upcycling.
Project leader and Associate Professor Polly Burey said the hub would simplify regional research by bringing a range of manufacturing initiatives under one umbrella.
“We’re supporting quite a wide range of sectors, looking at things like recycling and clean energy, repurposing, repair and other aspects of sustainability,” she said.
USQ vice-chancellor Professor Geraldine Mackenzie welcomed the funding.