LNP lays out a plan for North’s future

With over three years to go until another election, LNP leader David Crisafulli has shared his plans for our region.

HE STILL has three-and-a-half years in the political wilderness but that hasn’t stopped David Crisafulli laying out his plans for the region yesterday.

The former Townsville City councillor and now LNP state leader and his deputy David Janetzki spent the day in Townsville spruiking policy and the way forward for the party after the devastating electoral loss to Labor in October last year.

At a Townsville Enterprise Limited lunch he spoke of his love for North Queensland and the plans for the state and his party.

Kicking off the speech he laid out what is his future vision was for Queensland.

Deputy Opposition Leader David Janetski and Opposition Leader David Crisafulli with Townsville Enterprise CEO Claudia Brumme-Smith. Picture: Craig Warhurst.

“I believe in agriculture and I want to see it sustainable,” Mr Crisafulli said.

“I want farmers to have certainty.

“I want them to have water allocation but I want them to be the most environmentally sustainable farming on the planet.

“I want our mining industry to be strong and I am never going to shy away from saying the word coal or copper, or any of those other minerals that have made us great.

“They (miners) have to hit a bar that makes us proud and give us investment in jobs, high-skilled jobs, high-paying jobs … and I will never walk away from using our natural assets to make a tourism offering world class.

“But again it has to be innovative and it has to be environmentally strong.

“There is also an argument for business and business relocation.

“They all don’t have to be headquartered in Sydney and Melbourne and they don’t have to be headquartered in Brisbane. They can be headquartered in regional Queensland.”

Mr Crisafulli then went on to target the Labor government on a number of fronts.

He called out an infrastructure spend that had fallen from $56bn to $52bn across the state.

He said he didn’t like that.

“Money has never been cheaper … and now is the time to be borrowing for infrastructure,” he said.

He called out a reduction in road spending in Townsville by 11 per cent and listed a number of projects that hadn’t been completed or fully funded.

He called out the state government’s record on health, citing that Townsville had the “worst elective surgery on time” in the nation.

“Thirty six per cent, nowhere else in Queensland has that.

“Three thousand five hundred people were on the waiting list and just 10,000 people just wish they were on the waiting list.

“It’s not good enough.”

Mr Crisafulli also spoke on law and order and said it would have been wrong for him not to comment on the issue plaguing the city.

“When 18,000 people sign a petition to reinstate breach of bail as an offence you know there is something worth fighting for.”

He said that’s the bad news but he also wanted to share the good news. “Townsville is a resilient city, it’s a city for years has been able to shackle away from governments that haven’t given it it’s fair share and it’s found a way thorough.

“I am sensing a bit of optimism in the place.

“A slow but sure turnaround and I want you to know that there is a better way ahead.

“So for the next few years this is what you are going to get.

“You are going to get us looking strong and dependable. You are going to get us fighting for you.

“You are going to get us prepared to say when something is good and when something is bad.

“And above all as a party, one that looks and sounds like one that is ready for government.”

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