Article: Coast strong in Newman line-up

[Fares_Fair]

Article: Coast strong in Newman line-up
Mark Furler and APN Newsdesk
30th March 2012 12:50 PM
Updated: 3:10 PM

http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/story/2012/03/30/coast-ministers-among-newman-line-/

THE Sunshine Coast and Gympie's loyalty to the LNP has been rewarded with seven senior posts in the ministry and parliament.

Thg appointments include five Ministers and the Speaker of Parliament coming from the region.

Member for Gympie David Gibson has been appointed Minister for Police and Community Safety.

Member for Kawana Jarrod Bleijie has been named Attorney-General and Minister for Justice.

Member for Glass House Andrew Powell will be the new Minister for Environment and Heritage Protection.

Member for Caloundra Mark McArdle is the Minister for Energy and Water Supply.

Member for Buderim Steve Dickson is the Minister for National Parks, Recreation, Sport & Racing.

Member for Maroochydore Fiona Simpson will become Queensland's first Speaker of Parliament.

Member for Noosa Glen Elmes is the Deputy-Speaker and Chairman of Committees.

Premier Campbell Newman today said he was delighted to make the appointments that would ensure the people of the Sunshine Coast and Gympie had very strong representation in his new government.

"The days of the Sunshine Coast and Gympie being neglected and taken for granted are well and truly over," Mr Newman said.

"I have made these appointments on merit and the talent and experience in the Shadow Ministry has been reflected in the large number of Ministers from the region.

"Certainly these are all people of great experience and I know they will be working very hard, not just for their communities, but for the people of Queensland in their portfolio areas.

"These are people with years of experience who have travelled widely and know Queensland very well. They know the needs of our communities and they know what needs to be done."

The Ministry will be sworn in by Her Excellency Penelope Wensley AC on Tuesday

In his announcement, the LNP leader said "every job would be a challenging one" due to the state of affairs left behind by the outgoing ALP government.

He said it would feature, "five lawyers, five journalists, an engineer, two registered nurses, a dentist and an environmental scientist".

Mayoral candidate Mark Jamieson congratulated the Sunshine Coast MPs elevated to the State ministry today,

"We have a fantastic opportunity for a fresh start with a new government and I look forward to working closely with our local representatives if I'm elected the next mayor on April 28," he said.

"The announcement that Jarrod Bleijie, Mark McArdle, Andrew Powell and Steve Dickson are members of Campbell Newman's ministry, that Fiona Simpson will be the state's first female speaker of parliament and Glen Elmes will be deputy speaker, means the Sunshine Coast will be front of mind for the new government."

He said the Mr McArdle's appointment as Minister for Energy and Water Supply was welcome news for Coast residents who were struggling with the rising cost of living.

"Water and electricity are essential services and we've seen these costs soar under the previous government.

"I'm sure Mark knows very well that many Sunshine Coast residents are finding it increasingly difficult to pay these bills and he'll take action to keep costs down."

Mr Jamieson said he was delighted that Jarrod Bleijie would be the State's new Attorney-General, saying Jarrod had demonstrated his ability and has been a great advocate for the region.

"Jarrod is an extremely hard-working and capable Member of Parliament and that was reflected by the strong support he received at the last election," he said.

Mr Jamieson said he was pleased to have local MP, Andrew Powell, heading the Environment and Heritage portfolio, in a region where protection of our natural assets was vital for the future.

He said Steve Dickson's role as Minister for National Parks, Recreation, Sport and Racing was another win for the region, and would ensure these important areas received more state government attention on the Coast.

Mr Jamieson also congratulated Fiona Simpson on her history-making appointment to the speaker's position, and Glen Elmes on his appointment as deputy speaker and chairman of committees.

"To have four local members in the new ministerial line up, a Coast MP in the speaker's chair and another appointed deputy speaker and chairman of committees, is tremendous for our region," he said.

"I am sure they will all bring energy and enthusiasm to their new roles and will be pushing for a better deal for the Sunshine Coast under the LNP government," he said.


Ministers:

John-Paul Langbroek - Education, Training and Employment.

Tim Nicholls - Treasurer, Trade

Jeff Seeney - State Development, Infrastructure, Planning.

Scott Emerson - Transport and Main Roads

Lawrence Springborg - Health

Jarrod Bleijie - Attorney General, Justice

David Gibson - Police and Community Safety

Bruce Flegg - Housing and Public Works

John McVeigh - Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

Andrew Cripps - Natural Resources and Mines

Andrew Powell - Environment and Heritage Protection

Mark McArdle - Energy and Water Supply

David Crisafulli - Local Government

Ros Bates - Science

Tracy Davis - Communities, Child safety and Disability Services

Jack Dempsey - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and Multicultural Affairs, Minister assisting the premier

Jann Stuckey - Tourism, Major Events, Small Business and Commonwealth Games



Assistant ministers:

Lisa France - Natural Resources and Mines

Steve Minnikin - Public Transport

Saxon Rice - Technical and further education

Dr Chris Davis - Health

Deb Frecklington - Finance, Administration and Regulatory Reform

Ian Walker - Planning reform

Rob Molhoek - Child Safety

Gavin King - Tourism

Robert Cavallucci - Multicultural Affairs

[ozbob]

Will they deliver?  Time will tell ...

[Stillwater]

Mr Newman certainly neglected and took Gympie and the Sunshine Coast for granted when he did not once visit any of these electorates during the election campaign.  He knew he would be questioned about why $400 million was ripped from the University Hospital budget by the LNP and whether he would support an immediate start on the SCL duplication.

[Fares_Fair]

I have real hope for a solution to the Sunshine Coast rail fail under the new government.
I wrote to Campbell Newman on 22 December, 2011 (see letter transcript below) to seek a meeting with him over the Sunshine Coast rail situation.

Whilst I did not get a meeting, his reply stated that he looks forward to working with Mr Emerson and his policy committee regarding this issue.
He invited me to contact them again at a later date to discuss the progress of these issues.
I will certainly be doing that.

22 December, 2011

Mr Campbell Newman,
Leader of the LNP Queensland


Dear Mr Newman,

My name is (name removed) and I am a structural drafting manager for consulting engineers.
I am also a commuter advocate for the duplication of the rail line between Beerburrum and Nambour (on the Sunshine Coast).
I had a motion put forward at the LNP National conference for these works to be a classified as a matter of high priority.
It passed virtually unopposed.

As a Sunshine Coaster I have a population of over 330,000 behind me, and I travel on one of the weakest links in the Queensland Rail network.
It is a single line, narrow gauge, severely congested railway track between the 3rd fastest growth region in Queensland, and Brisbane.

This duplication would improve passenger services, it would move freight off the Bruce highway and ease congestion on the railway and the roads.

44% of our daily 'train' services between Caboolture and Nambour are actually buses. There are 26 of them every day!
These buses take up to 1 & 1/2 hours to travel 54km.
The reason for the buses?
There is not enough room on the single line track for the long distance passenger trains, the freight rail services and our city rail passenger trains.
This section of the north coast rail line is unique in the nation for the number and types of services that use it.

On 14 April 2009, stage 1 of the rail duplication finished at Beerburrum, it was promised to be completed to Landsborough by mid-2012.
Instead it left an infrastructure bottleneck that achieved nothing for faster times of travel or extra capacity on the rail line.
I have a Ministerial briefing note obtained under RTI (Right to Information) that says that the works which stopped prematurely at Beerburrum achieved nothing for the rail line.
These works cost $298 million.

In a press release on 29 August, 2005, Paul Lucas MP, then Transport Minister described the section of track from Caboolture to Landsborough as, and I quote verbatim; "one of the weakest links in the QR network."
He went on to say "It is a single winding track, forcing all trains to slow and severely restricting the capacity of rail services."

Our services to Brisbane now take longer than ever before, travel times for long haul commuters increased by 10% under a new timetable.
Our peak hour trains are crowded with no spare seats available from the city to accommodate growth in patronage - this is a major concern.

In 2007, a Government study called for the rail line to be duplicated from Landsborough to Nambour, and warned of adverse socio-economic effects should the North Coast Line (NCL) between Landsborough and Nambour not be upgraded.
Duplication would allow for more freight trains and more passenger services, it would allow for the former 'express' services to return and would allow faster travel between Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast.

There is much sentiment perceived of yourself as being interested in roads and buses, to the detriment of rail.
To make a decision on this issue would change that perception (however wrong) almost overnight.

As a senior structural drafter to a civil engineer - you would appreciate the documentation I have, prepared by civil engineers, that proves the need.

I would like to meet with you to discuss this issue personally and present you with all of the evidence (Government reports and studies) and my Sunshine Coast case report.
Thank you.


Yours sincerely,
(Name removed)

[Stillwater]

The days of the Sunshine Coast and Gympie being neglected and taken for granted are well and truly over," Mr Newman said.
       

[mufreight]

The days of the Sunshine Coast and Gympie being neglected and taken for granted are well and truly over," Mr Newman said.
       

Unfortunately it would seem that in the case of Mr Newman talk is the prefered option rather than actualy doing anything, it is cheaper and he can as he has done already on other issues turn around and say later when he does not come up with the goods as promised that either he was uninformed or that the state can not afford anything because the previous government sent the state broke.
The big question that Mr Newman has not addressed is not can the state afford this infrastructure but CAN THE STATE AFFORD NOT TO BUILD IT
Well Mr Newman's answer to that question would be more than interesting would it not.