Julie Hall
The Whitsundays has a shortage of accommodation, housing, rental, and Holiday. This was largely enhanced by the Southern migration and holiday apartments being sold for long term housing or rentals. The current WRC development culture with excessive headworks charges and approval timeframes must be reviewed immediately to move forward out of this crisis.
This August council has three plus cases against it by ratepayers for not meeting its own guidelines. In one case, this is not only holding up a much-needed housing development project, but it could also cost the rate payers over $5million on top of the recent five per cent rate hike. We must work closely with the community and credible developers to manage design and council costs and avoid expensive and timely court actions.
For each Region: Airlie Beach Holiday units have been sold off as residential apartments, creating a shortage of visitor accommodation. Airlie future prosperity will depend on addressing this shortage with community consultation and also addressing the road and parking issues.
Collinsville is an exciting town to explore, active coal mining, great pubs, proposed gas pipeline and Dam will provide new opportunities for industry and development.
Bowen, Is the beaches and amateur fishing capital of the Whitsundays, Bowen is positioned well to be the centre for new diverse industries. Priorities, international export port and Marina development.
Proserpine, our Sugar Cane capitol is blessed with many growth opportunities, the crossroads of Rail, Bruce Highway, Airport and freight centres, creating a transport hub for the Whitsundays. Continued development of Foust Dam with enhanced RV facilities.
One million grant: Our hospitals need additional birthing centre facilities and more help for our Community Centres that are feeling the pressure as people struggle with the current economic environment and costs of living.
Mike Brunker
We are proactively confronting the housing crisis in the whole of the Whitsundays by firstly reviewing our planning scheme to see what we can do to encourage more construction of social and affordable housing; we are also looking at delayed payments of headworks charges and asking the community to have there say on smaller block sizes of land and bigger unit developments in the suburbs
We have also been successful in getting the Australian Local Government association to call for a national summit with state federal and local governments to seek solutions from all levels of Government.
For Airlie Beach progressing with the Skyway project to have land-based activities, in Proserpine its continuing to improvements of Lake Proserpine at Peter Faust dam for expanded camping use.
Collinsville is to refurbish our Mainstreet out there to make it more prosperous for the businesses and visitor experiences.
In Bowen its all about improving the state Development area so that we can get more Projects like Gilmore Space to diversify the state development area
If I had a 1-million-dollar grant, I would build some units for the victims of Domestic violence in a central location to assist with re housing and removing families from this toxic environment.
You only have to Vote 1 if you choose too, I am not handing out HTV cards out of respect of voter intelligence and the increase COVID risk so respectfully asking you to just Vote 1 Michael Brunker for Mayor who has the experience to get thigs done
Philip Batty
The first thing I would do is make it a priority, find solutions, tackle it, get on with it starting now.
The housing crisis is one of the most significant issues facing the entire region today. It can be separated into two categories, the social housing challenges and the residential/rental supply issues.
In some respects the social housing is the easier of the two to improve. We have a moral and social obligation to care for people in the region who are doing it tough. We are the most supportive caring family in the Whitsundays always there to step up when someone needs us. So the answer to social housing is, build more, make it better and keep caring.
The residential and rental markets are just as simple really but the scale is the barrier, well the barrier from some. The effect of not taking on this challenge is to delay growth and prosperity for the entire region by restricting employment, relocation, retention, and attraction of our populous which almost every business and hundreds of families are experiencing right now.
There is a solution, not total, but big enough to have a serious impact on the problem. It is a solution I have researched, costed, risk profiled and thought about for some time. It is not however a detailed plan which I could share publicly yet, it would involve Local, State and Federal government cooperation to achieve therefore any detailing now would be counterproductive. It would of course be fully disclosed publicly. I believe I can make this happen.
If I had $1m to spend on something I would not “spend” it, I would invest it.
There is currently $87 BILLION dollars in grant support funding available from the federal government. I would invest in some expertise to tap into these funds turning the $1m into $10m, $100m, $200m or more to spend on community improvements. But thats just council getting funds to improve the region, the $1m investment will also provide every business in the region with a resource which will help source apply and win grant funding opportunities for them to plan and grow their business and the economy.
Jan Clifford
As the Chair of the Whitsunday Housing Company, I am acutely aware of the Housing shortage which is not just confined to the Whitsundays.
It is a national issue which must be addressed at all levels of government. Social housing is a State issue and Tax Incentives are a Federal Issue and I will use my extensive experience and
contacts within those levels of Government to ensure any possible solutions are sought for our region.
Proserpine: To continue to encourage visitors by providing the free overnight stop and continually upgrading the Lake Proserpine facilities
Bowen: It’s about livability; making sure that the parks and gardens etc. are kept to a high standard and upgraded as necessary and allowing and promoting appropriate development.
Collinsville: To continue providing the Community with infrastructure that enhances the livability of the town. The Waterpark is a great example.
Airlie/Cannonvale: To lobby for funding to build a multi-story carpark on Waterson Way which will double as a place of Safe Refuge in the event of another cyclone
In reality, $1M is not a lot of money in the scheme of things with Council applying for and receiving many millions of dollars’ worth of grants each year for targeted projects. If this was a windfall grant, I would properly use it to install Solar Heating at our Aquatic Facilities across the region or put it to the communities of the region for their suggestions.
Peter J Hood
It’s not just the Whitsundays, it’s a problem across Queensland and Australia. However, Council can make it a little easier and here’s a few suggestions on how we can improve the current situation:
1) A quick housing audit so we know what we’re dealing with – owner-occupied, long-term rentals, short-term rentals and unoccupied housing;
2) Streamlining Council processes for residential housing approvals that have no objections; and
3) Changing WRC rating structure to shift unoccupied housing stock and short-term rentals into long-term rentals.
2. In one sentence for each, what are the priorities for the region’s diverse townships? Proserpine, Bowen, Collinsville, and Airlie Beach.
We always seem to leave out places like Dingo Beach, Gumlu, Shute Harbour, Conway Beach, Lethebrook and the islands, as well as the other small communities. While there are local issues that are important, it’s the big picture priorities that cut across our whole region – jobs, housing, transport, disaster planning, crime, the environment and accessibility. Some of those are issues that WRC can deal with directly, some of them Council needs to push with the State and Federal governments. At the heart of it is a simple question – “What kind of Whitsundays do you want for your kids, your family and your community?”.
3. If you received a $1 million dollar grant to use for the region any way you wanted, what would you do with it and why?
While a million dollars seems like a lot, for most government spending it’s just a rounding error. Even putting it into an essential project like flood-proofing our roads wouldn’t get you past the initial study.
I’d ask all our wonderful community groups to apply for seed funding up to $10,000 on something that would make a real difference. That would provide survival funding for at least 100 local groups that don’t always get the support they need.
It could be something as simple as a new belt sander for the Bowen Men’s Shed, a few computers for Collinsville Connect Telecentre, some money to enable the Whitsunday Social Craft group to continue or fuel for the fantastic work that Whitsunday VMR do. All with a simple application and a quote with Council paying the suppliers directly.
Al Grundy
Housing Shortage: The housing shortage has been building for a number of years, and Covid has bought it to a head. We cannot wait for the Federal or State Governments to hold a summit. We should look at every local possible opportunity, working with the community, council, developers, agents, housing companies, builders to find a local solution/s.
In the short term all options should be on the table from temporary camps or a tiny village to incentives to encourage granny flats or second dwellings on existing lots. With the current housing shortages, council can pursue a temporary local planning instrument with the State, to deliver solutions that would not normally be allowed in our town plan.
In one sentence, what are the priorities for each township: For Collinsville, to support projects that encourage families to want to live in the town. Projects such as the recently built water park, and the soon to be completed main street upgrade.
For Bowen, to encourage investment in new developments, including the marine engineering precinct and to further promote and facilitate opportunities in the surrounding areas including Abbott Point.
For Proserpine, to protect our sugar cane industry from urban sprawl through appropriate land planning and to continue to promote Proserpine as an important administrative, schooling and medical area.
For the Beach, to carefully manage the growth, so that the impacts from a quickly growing population does not lead to unintended consequences, such as social problems or infrastructure pressures, eg. Congested roads, or lesser visitor experiences.
One Million Dollar Grant: with the current housing shortage, I would employ a Project Manager to co-ordinate a program to implement a housing solution(s), working with local builders, developers and community. I would also allocate some budget to expand programs in cooperation with our libraries, programs such as the First Five, which assists with improved literature outcomes for children up to five.
