Trevor Watts named Assistant Minister to the Premier for Cabinet and South West Queensland

The new LNP state government has created several assistant minister roles to provide residents living in regional Queensland with a direct line to the premier.

Toowoomba North MP Trevor Watts was named Assistant Minister to the Premier for Cabinet and South West Queensland.

South West Queensland residents will have a direct line to the new state cabinet in Trevor Watts, after the Toowoomba North MP was named Assistant Minister to the Premier for Cabinet and South West Queensland.

It is one of several new roles created by the LNP government that aim to give a louder voice to people living in regional Queensland.

“I will be their strong local voice,” Mr Watts said. 

“I will be meeting with the community, I will be meeting with the mayors, I will be getting out and about making sure that their needs and service delivery desires are taken to the leadership team in Brisbane so that we can deliver for all of Queensland.”

Mr Watts will be elevated to the role at a commissioning ceremony later this week, after which he said he will start receiving briefings on key infrastructure projects that were stalled under the previous Labor government.

Water security and health will be on the top of his agenda.

“I will work very hard with Ann Leahy, who knows South West Queensland very well, to make sure that the whole region has good water security,” Mr Watts said.

“Health services under the Labor government have not stood up to the expectations of the community, not just here in Toowoomba, but all through South West Queensland.

“We’ll be looking to do a good review of those, listening to locals and bringing the solutions to the table to make sure that people are getting fair health services equitable with those in the city.”

The community is also hungry for details about the stalled passenger rail and the ongoing repairs to the Toowoomba Bypass.

Mr Watts said it would take some time before the new government had the full picture of the status of those projects.

“I asked a lot of questions around the Toowoomba Bypass over a number of years and all we got off of two ministers, both Mark Bailey and Bart Mellish, were very simple conversations and trucks paying a toll for a road that they can’t use effectively and efficiently and in a productive way,” he said.

“Now being in government we will have an opportunity to revisit some of that and understand what’s gone on.”

Originally published as Trevor Watts named Assistant Minister to the Premier for Cabinet and South West Queensland