FINAL PITCH: Lockyer candidates say why you should vote for them
Lockyer candidates give their final pitch to voters on why they should vote for them
Gatton
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WITH only one more day of full campaigning before Saturday’s state election, the four major candidates vying for the seat of Lockyer have given their final pitch on why you should vote for them.
Here’s what they had to say:
UAP – ANDREW ROCKLIFF
In his final pledge to voters, Andrew Rockliff says he has “learnt a lot” and is already planning for the next time he has the opportunity to run.
If successful on Saturday, his goal is to fully fund a brand new, two lane Brisbane Valley Highway from Fernvale to the Warrego Highway to make it safe for residents to commute.
Mr Rockliff, a former Correctional Officer, says he stands by the pledge he made to serve and support corrections and parole staff to assist with new projects to help divert young people from the scourge of Crystal Methamphetamine (ICE) that continues to plague local communities.
In the last two weeks of the campaign, Mr Rockliff said how hard it had been for minor party candidates like himself to compete against the major parties due to the length of pre poll voting time combined with the size of the electorate.
“I would suggest that one week is more than enough”, he said.
Rockliff highlighted how hard it was to be moving to the various polling stations as a one man operation stating.
“I focus on where I am so I can be more meaningful to locals,” he said.
LNP – JIM MCDONALD
Incumbent MP Jim McDonald says he has worked hard during the last term to establish positive working relationships with local, state and federal governments to help solve local issues.
He says he has helped thousands of Lockyer residents deal with a range of issues be it personal health matters or drought funding, through to securing $16 million of grants for various community groups in the region.
McDonald said the “most exciting thing” was securing $60 million from the federal government for Warrego Hwy safety upgrades.
And if elected, an LNP state government would provide a further $15 million that is needed towards this project that includes upgrades to intersections at both Summerholm Road and Fairway Drive at Hattonvale and pedestrian related upgrades at Withcott.
In addition, McDonald said one of the most important reasons for why he should be re-elected was his support for the Lockyer Valley and Somerset Water Collaborative that so far had been able to negotiate the policy settings of the current Labor government.
Mr McDonald said under a Frecklington LNP government 50,000 megalitres of water from the Wivenhoe Dam will be secured “when available” which is in line with the recommendations of the Collaborative.
He said the biggest challenge throughout the campaign for him was “having so many good news stories to tell whether it be the work that we have done or the people we have helped”.
PHON – COREY WEST
Corey West in his final pledge says Lockyer should vote for him because he is one of 90 candidates across Queensland representing Pauline Hanson’s One Nation stating they are no longer a minor party.
Mr West states that voting for him would result in water security because he was a farmer and small business owner who knows what it is like to operate a farm without water.
Mr “I have lost two years of crop to drought and now I’ve got the best rain I’ve had in 10 years”.
West also said that voting for him would lead to immediate action to repair the poor roads across the electorate as well as increased transport including buses to commute around the region and to Ipswich and Brisbane stating that “without a licence it is very hard to get a job”.
Additionally, Mr West wants to see processing of food and the creation shelf-ready products happening in the Lockyer Valley rather than relying on other entities to fulfil processing and packaging.
Mr West is a father of two children aged five and seven, and said his “driving force is to try and make sure they have a secure future where they can get a job and buy a house in the area when they grow up”.
INDEPENDENT– JIM SAVAGE
Jim Savage says voters should support him “because what you see is what you get” saying there are two sides of what he believes a politician should be responsible for with their electorate including firstly the physical wellbeing of the people i.e. jobs, safety and law and order and secondly the social policies in both proposed and in place.
Mr Savage said he was “not bribing voters” referring to the LNP’s rego rebate policy.
He said he would not allow anything to get in the road of the Water Collaborative’s securing of 50,000 megalitres of water from the Wivenhoe Dam but said he was also pushing for a brand new dam to be built in the Lockyer Valley at the mouth of Blackfella Creek.
Mr Savage said he was the only candidate in the electorate that opposed full-term abortion and the Safe Schools program that was focused on LGBTIQ people in school.
“There is so much we can do without having to do a lot of work to bring tourist dollars into this town. We are doing nothing,” he said
Additionally, Mr Savage said another of his primary focuses was drugs and he planned to create a drug hotline, saying “if something is not done now we are going to have more and more families in this community destroyed by drugs”.
“Being an independent is a very longshot” Savage said.
But he has been reassured by the support he has received from former One Nation supporters who have followed his move away from the party stating “whether you like what I say or not, you know you’re getting the real deal”.
A more detailed summary of all the candidates pledges is available on the Gatton Star.
Make your vote count this Saturday, 31 October 2020 and follow the Gatton Star’s coverage for all the latest updates.
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