Coastal Leaders Unite In The Whitsundays

Bruce Highway panel with Mayor of Burdekin, Dalle Cort, Mayor of Gympie Glen Hartwig, Mayor Ry Collins and Deputy Director General Department of Transport & Main Roads, Andrew Mahon.  Photo credit: Zach Houtenville.  

‍

Coastal leaders from across Queensland converged on the Whitsundays this week, as mayors, councillors and senior council officers gathered to tackle the biggest challenges facing the state's coastal communities.

‍

Hosted over two days at the Shute Harbour Marine Terminal, the Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ) Coastal Leaders Forum focused on key issues coastal towns face.  

‍

“This event is an opportunity for them to understand what the priorities, concerns and issues are facing their sector,” said Mayor of Gladstone, LGAQ President and president of Australian Local Government Association (AGLA) Matt Burnett.  

‍

Beyond the individual issues discussed, the forum provided a platform for coastal councils to share experiences, identify common challenges and strengthen their collective voice when advocating to state and federal governments.  

‍

‍

‍

“I think obviously the other underlying thing with it is that we all advocate for our own regions respectively, but where we can find those points of commonality to really work together,” said Mayor Ry Collins.  

“It definitely really empowers that advocacy,”  

‍

Disaster funding emerged as one of the forum's biggest talking points, following the Federal Government's proposed overhaul of the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements.

Under the proposed changes, the Commonwealth would move to an equal partnership model with states and territories, reducing its average contribution from historical levels of 64–75 per cent to 50 per cent.

‍

“Communities like ours can't be worse off under the proposed arrangements," said Mayor Collins.  

“We really need the Federal Government to dump the dud deal they've put on the table and recognise the importance of our communities by providing assurance that we can recover from disasters when they occur.

‍

“We'll keep pushing away at that.”

With councils and communities able to provide feedback on the proposed changes until August 19th, both Mayor Collins and LGAQ President Matt Burnett said the forum was an important opportunity for coastal councils to unite behind a common position.  

‍

Delegates also turned their attention to several other priorities facing Queensland's coastal communities, including upgrades to the Bruce Highway, tourism infrastructure and recreational boating facilities.

‍

The forum gave local leaders a face-to-face opportunity to meet directly with senior Department of Transport and Main Roads officials, including Deputy Director-General Andrew Mahon, to discuss the future of the Bruce Highway, an issue Burdekin Mayor Dalle Cort described as "a conversation we've been having for 30 years."

"The Bruce Highway is the next one that's on the agenda and something that I've advocated strongly for," Mayor Collins said.

‍

Discussions also highlighted the planned Shute Bay recreational boating facility, with construction expected to begin within the next 12 months. The project will deliver around 200 additional trailer parking spaces and four new boat ramps, helping ease congestion at the popular boating precinct.

‍