Water security, climate change, Cashless Debit Card: Jack Dempsey on federal election

He’s a popular mayor in Bundaberg but how will Hinkler federal candidate Jack Dempsey convince Hervey Bay voters he’ll be their voice too? He spoke to the Chronicle about his plans.

He knows it’s where he’s got much of his work cut out for him.

Hervey Bay will be key in deciding who leads Hinkler come May 21 and it was Jack Dempsey’s first stop the moment he announced he would be standing as an Independent.

Despite its booming population, the city and its tens of thousands of voters faces another election where neither major party candidate lives within it’s limits (LNP incumbent Keith Pitt lives in Bundaberg and Labor’s Jason Scanes in Aldershot).

Mr Dempsey not only lives in Bundaberg – he’s also the mayor there and was previously its state MP along with serving as the former Queensland Minister for Police and Community Safety in the Newman era.

So, after a visit to the Urangan Pier and, in between greeting seniors and young people on school holidays, he spoke to the Chronicle about his plans to convince the Hervey Bay portion of Hinkler voters he would split his time and priorities evenly should he win their vote.

He’s a convert to the anti-Cashless Debit Card camp, telling the Chronicle that if elected, he will move to scrap it.

He believes it’s divisive and has caused unnecessary stigma and says he’ll focus on jobs training programs (the LNP recently committed $4.5m in job-ready funding for five local organisations) and other positive approaches rather than support the controversial welfare program.

“If it’s so good, why isn’t it everywhere else in Australia?” Mr Dempsey said.

Hinkler MP Keith Pitt speaks in parliament. PHOTO: Gary Ramage INSET: Cashless Debit Card

“We need to work together rather that look at punitive and negative ways (of combating the jobs issue).

“We are one of the most caring communities – we donate more to the top five charities than anywhere else … unemployment, housing in an area that’s already disadvantaged, it’s got to change, but I just think we can make sure we do it in a more caring way.”

He wants action on climate change, is committed to a net-zero target and says water security is his “non-negotiable”.

If elected, he will advocate for the federal government to pay at least half the cost of $76m needed to create a water grid and build a desalination plant.

Lenthalls Dam on the Fraser Coast. Photo Contributed/ Fraser Coast Regional Counicl

He’s already spoken about this to George Seymour, mayor of the Fraser Coast council, which was recently told in a report by engineering company Cardno, that a treated water grid, connecting the Hervey Bay and Maryborough water schemes at an estimated cost of about $31m and a desalination plant capable of supplying 7.5 megalitres a day of treated water by 2036 at an estimated cost of $45m would “provide long-term water supply security for the Fraser Coast”.

At its March meeting the council endorsed the Fraser Coast Water Supply Security Strategy – Planning Report as a guiding document for future investment in the regional water network.

Mr Pitt, whose government committed in the recent federal budget to fund $600m of the Paradise Dam fix for Bundaberg, says Labor’s not interested, “as demonstrated by the Member for Maryborough’s suggestion of a pipeline to take water from Paradise Dam to Hervey Bay slapped down by the State Water Minister”.

Like most candidates before him, Mr Dempsey’s also got big plans for the redevelopment of the Hervey Bay Marina – a project the local business community has spent more than a decade campaigning for with little traction.

Hervey Bay – Urangan marina. Photo: ALISTAIR BRIGHTMAN

He promises a “world class” marina will be a priority and that as an independent he’s best placed to get local, state and federal decision makers in the one room, pointing out that in recent years the relationship between state and federal leaders on opposing political sides has been hostile, as evidenced in the stand-off over the Hinkler Regional Deal.

He has the same pitch when asked why his focus is largely on state issues, like hospital upgrades in both Hervey Bay and Bundaberg, explaining that the federal government is often best placed to inject funding into state projects where resources are stretched and he would lobby for that to happen in a health district that he says has been neglected for 30 years.

His skills as a Minister, working with all sides, he says will help him work with the Wide Bay Hospital and Health Services board to get proper finances to where they are needed as well as more doctors to the region.

Mr Pitt says the federal government is already doing it’s bit and it’s the state government that’s dragging the chain.

“The hardworking men and women at our local hospitals are doing their best, but they have been let down by the Queensland state Labor government.

“I urge the state government to match our funding to their hospitals, or even to match our 50 per cent on overall health funding.

“Federal government funding for Queensland Hospitals has grown by 114 per cent from $2.7bn in 2012/3 to $5.7bn in 2020/21, yet over the same period Queensland funding for their own hospitals has only grown by 55 per cent.

Hervey Bay Hospital Emergency Department. Photo: Alistair Brightman

While he’s confident his relationship with leaders in all three levels of government is his trump card, Mr Dempsey been quick to shrug off claims of a cosy relationship with Labor (earlier this year, before Mr Scanes was announced, political insiders predicted Labor may not field a candidate at all if Mr Dempsey were to run as an Independent against Mr Pitt) and he maintains he’s made no deals.

He won’t be telling voters who they should preference – he just wants them to put a number 1 next to his name. The rest, he says, is up to them.

He also says locals have made it clear they are done with negativity and he looks forward to a “positive” campaign despite ongoing rivalry between he and the LNP incumbent.

That appears unlikely given the first day of the campaign involved an exchange where Mr Pitt said locals should demand the mayor resign from the council and Mr Dempsey returned fire, effectively labelling the Hinkler MP as the Minister for Coal and questioning how much of an influence mining companies had on his decisions.

Both Hinkler and Wide Bay, of which Hervey Bay was formally under, have long been considered safe Coalition seats.

The state seat of Hervey Bay however had also been considered safe in the four terms it was held by the LNP’s Ted Sorensen who retired ahead of the last election and was succeeded by Labor’s Adrian Tantari.

Independent federal election candidate Jack Dempsey at Hervey Bay’s iconic Urangan Pier.

While Mr Dempsey is “under no illusions it’s a hell of a task to achieve’, he is hopeful feedback he’s getting from locals indicates the city is once again ready for change.

He says locals are telling him they have felt “under-represented” and promises he will not only have an office in Hervey Bay but also split his time equally between here and the Rum City.

Mr Pitt maintains “Independents can’t deliver anything. A vote for an independent is a vote for Labor and each-way Albo”.

Voters will held to the polls on May 21.

Also standing for Hinkler is Amy Byrnes for the Animal Justice Party, Zak Menhennett for One Nation, and Kristy Nash for the United Australia Party.

Read their profiles here.