Webb’s vision deserving of our applause

BRAD Webb deserves the gratitude of every Townsville resident.

The self- made millionaire applied his no- nonsense common sense to cut through a challenge that has proved beyond politicians and bureaucrats for more than three decades – securing our city’s water.

As chairman of the Townsville Water Security Taskforce he was handed a chalice long poisoned by the toxic blame game that our various levels of government have played.

Yet in a matter of months he managed to straddle these warring interests to deliver a report that has already won bipartisan support at a state level.

That is some result. When the taskforce was formed there was no money and questionable political will to fix this crisis.

Now not only is the money there – guaranteed by both major parties – we now have agreement from the Palaszczuk Government to get cracking as soon as possible.

“We’ve got the $ 225 million on the table. It’s ready to go,’’ Mundingburra MP and Minister Assisting the Premier on North Queensland Coralee O’Rourke said yesterday.

“Brad said he’s keen to go tomorrow and we will work very closely with council to make sure this happens as soon as possible.’’

Ms O’Rourke also supported Mr Webb’s call to use local workers and businesses for the job. The beauty of Mr Webb’s local content call is that, as a respected and highly successful local manufacturer, he has credibility on the issue of what our industry is capable of.

If Mr Webb says we can do it, it’s a good bet that we can. His suggestion that we break the pipeline project into smaller parts to enable North Queensland- based Tier 2 and Tier 3 firms to do the work is a sound one.

It is also a suggestion that perhaps our CBD stadium’s lead contractor, Watpac, is no doubt considering as it approaches the time to award tenders for various aspects of the project.