Our say: Time for LNP members Trevor Watts, David Janetzki, Pat Weir to reward Toowoomba’s loyalty at ballot box

OUR SAY: The LNP has been swept to power and our three local MPs are all in government together for the first time — now the real work begins and voters will be watching.

If Saturday night’s results should tell us anything, it’s that Toowoomba residents want an LNP government to deliver results for them — and it should put all our MPs on notice.

Voters overwhelmingly sent this message with their ballots in the city’s three seats, leading to enormous swings to Trevor Watts, David Janetzki and Pat Weir that in some cases were historic.

In five elections, Mr Watts has turned Toowoomba North from a marginal seat that would swing with the times to a blue ribbon electorate for the conservatives.

His primary vote (58 per cent) is currently the fifth-best in the entire state for the LNP, a truly unthinkable result just a few years prior.

All three men should be commended on their results and campaigns, especially Mr Janetzki who will soon hold the keys to Queensland’s coffers as treasurer.

Pat Weir; David Janetzki with wife Mel and daughter Lizzie; Trevor Watts with Jeremy Bazley.

Loyalty was spoken about in the days leading up to the election; Mayor Geoff McDonald highlighted Toowoomba’s commitment to the LNP even as the region has been sometimes overlooked because of its safe status.

With all three MPs now in government, there can be no more excuses in delivering for the region what it needs.

Housing — and the lack thereof — remains an enormous issue for Toowoomba, as any person trying to secure a rental property will explain.

Youth crime was a common theme across the state, and it’s one of the areas where you could argue the LNP had not taken a “small target” approach.

While recent statistics have seen some improvements in the local rates of crime, residents will want to see how $275m in investments into early intervention and rehabilitation will manifest on the suburban streets of Newtown or Rangeville.

Toowoomba still needs a new high school in its western corridor, something the LNP articulated back in 2019.

Here’s hoping there are some tough conversations between Mr Weir and Mr Janetzki about securing a site and funding for that delivery.

Then there’s the matter of the Toowoomba Regional Council’s desperate request for funding of the $270m Cressbrook Dam upgrades — something neither side of politics committed to during the campaign.

A flyover of what the new Toowoomba Hospital precinct will look like. Concerns have already been raised about its future capacity.

But the region’s healthcare concerns should be a top priority, and the new government should move immediately to explore how our region was “short-changed” (as Mr Janetzki put it during the campaign) with its new $1.3bn hospital.

Health professionals and other experts have slammed the two-campus approach that is already under construction and it still remains to be seen if this can meet our future capacity once it opens in 2027.

All of the LNP’s promises during the campaign — including but not limited to a business case into a second Highfields connection, $1m for school safety upgrades, changes to legislation around CSG exploration, a $15m manufacturing hub for Toowoomba — will be followed up on in the coming months to see if they are being advanced.

So, as was repeated ad nauseam by people in blue shirts last night: now the real work begins.

Let’s hope these guys have the nerve and skill to get results for our region, which is an economic powerhouse for Queensland and should be treated as such.

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Originally published as Our say: Time for LNP members Trevor Watts, David Janetzki, Pat Weir to reward Toowoomba’s loyalty at ballot box