RCOE Steven Boxall on Dawson’s safe-seat status in federal election 2022

Yet again it appears we are being overlooked and will be faced with a real fight to win back even a small slice of the revenue our powerhouse region produces for the nation, writes Steven Boxall.

I’m a keen observer of federal politics, especially the pre-election pork-barrelling season that occurs, I’m not calling out any party as they all do it.

I concur totally with Professor Ross Garnaut who wrote an opinion piece saying: “The election campaign is being conducted as if Australia has no fundamental problems and can afford to squabble over personality and trivia”.

Professor Garnaut went on to highlight that “the election campaign has headed in the wrong direction, with endless commitments to debt-funded increases in public expenditure”.

The last figure I saw since the start of the official election campaign was some $833m per day has been announced in combined election commitments, and if you look at a visual heat map there’s an absolute direct correlation between marginal seats and those commitments.

Having attended an underwhelming Dawson Candidate Q&A Session with limited depth in answers and zero commitment to delivering any specific or tangible outcomes for this region, I’m left wondering what the successful candidate, regardless of their party, will actually do for our region.

So, I framed my question around the hundreds of millions of dollars delivered for Townsville, Rockhampton and Gladstone during the election campaign and asked what fight and mongrel will they show over the remaining weeks of the election campaign to secure actual dollar commitments for the Dawson electorate.

Most candidates didn’t answer the actual question or couldn’t answer, the most relevant but sad statement came from Labor candidate Shane Hamilton who said, “the best thing voters of Dawson can do is make sure the result is close and that we become a marginal seat for next election”.

Within Dawson there are a range of incredibly important shovel-ready projects that have been well planned, widely consulted on, and will contribute to the social, economic and environmental future of our region: Harrup Park Great Barrier Reef Arena Stage 2, Mackay Waterfront PDA, Resources Centre of Excellence Stage 2, Mackay Electric Vehicle and Energy Training Centre CQU/Tafe and The Mill Sports Centre of Excellence CQU, just to mention a few.

Yet again it appears we are being overlooked and will be faced with a real fight to win back even a small slice of the revenue our powerhouse region produces for the nation.

In a world where we are so focused on equality and governance, it’s hard to believe we let this pork barrelling continue.

Here’s to a nailbiting close result in Dawson and we will soon see who delivers for Dawson between now and election day.