IT’S TIME TO STOP GAMES AND SPEND THE MONEY

THE constant diatribe between the state and federal governments over the leftover Haughton Pipeline funding is becoming tiresome. Whether both governments are playing silly buggers or an intricate game of political chess is hard to say, but what is easy to say is this – just get on with it.

There is so much good that can be done with the funding that is being soured by the amount of time it has taken to make a decision and the back and forth between the feds and the state.

The public don’t even know what the proposed projects are and there’s a list somewhere, both the state and the federal government know.

As an outsider looking in, it appears as if the pair can’t come to the table to agree on what they should spend the money on.

Herbert MP Phillip Thompson fired his shot saying everyone knows what projects are to be funded.

“I have done everything possible to give projects that have been wrapped up in a nice little bow, all they need to do is say ‘ we like that’ … and we can get on with these projects.

“This is a political play. What we’re seeing is the state government would rather hit us with a political point than do the right thing that will benefit Townsville and the community,” Mr Thompson said.

Deputy Premier and Minister for State Development Steven Miles fired back, saying if the feds wanted to spend the money they could have by now.

“If the federal government wanted to spend the money by now, they would have,” Mr Miles said. “Why is Phillip Thompson pretending scheduling meetings has anything to do with it. Who is this bloke kidding?”

In the time it took for Mr Thompson to hold a press conference and for Mr Miles’s media team to come up with a statement, surely the pair could have got on Zoom and sorted it out.

That’s the really tough part to swallow.

This all could have been avoided, it’s 2021, everyone knows how to use video chat, we’ve had to suffer through it for much of 2020.

It’s taken the best part of a year since the money was promised and these conversations are still being held. Let’s get on with it – for the sake of the city.