A belated seasons greetings to you all.
The year has started with the return of the wet and we witnessed a large number of stranded motorists and other travellers. Thank you to everyone who went above and beyond to keep our community and visitors safe and dry during this time.
The Whitsunday is renowned for its mateship and swiftness to band together in times of disaster, and this was demonstrated once again last week. We must all take this as a timely reminder to remember “If it’s flooded, forget it” and to also make sure our disaster kits and evacuation plans are ready for storm season.
The floods however did highlight to me that we have limited options for safe places of refuge in the Airlie Beach /Cannonvale area other than the local accommodation houses. The PCYC Whitsundays and our Local Disaster Management team always do a wonderful job at stepping up when disaster strikes. However, it would be wonderful to have a second option within the Airlie Beach, Cannonvale and Jubilee Pocket areas in times of major disaster if the PCYC in Jubilee Pocket was unavailable.
To mitigate this, I want to seek funding to build safe place of refuge in the Airlie Beach/ Cannonvale area. Key Focus Area 5 of Council’s Operational Plan suggests considering a safe place of refuge to be located within a Multi-Storey Car Park Facility addressed in the Airlie Beach Parking Strategy. This will give dual usage to the facility and make it a worthwhile investment in our region. I will be heavily focused on lobbying for funding for this as one of my top priorities for 2023.
In other news, the long-awaited Stage 1 upgrade to the Shute Harbour Lookout will be completed in the first quarter of the year, weather depending. The works will offer two new picnic settings, a drinking fountain and an expanded concrete footpath to give our residents and visitors another wonderful location to stop for a while and take in the magnificent views of Shute Harbour and surrounds.
I have a long wish list of other projects I would like to champion in 2023; stay tuned for that.
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