May 27, 2015
Member for Nanango Deb Frecklington says Labor is trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the South Burnett with their new “Building Our Regions” program as it is only half what the LNP had promised.
Mrs Frecklington said today she was extremely disappointed that the highly successful “Royalties for the Regions” funding program, started under the LNP, was being scrapped.
“We established the Royalties for the Regions program as soon as we were elected in 2012 to end Labor’s shameful neglect of regions like the South Burnett,” Mrs Frecklington said.
“Labor never cared and had no policy to look after country regions. Now, they are putting in a half-hearted effort and trying to convince us that their funding is an infrastructure bonanza, when it really is nothing like that.
“Labor have single-handedly reduced the amount we had pledged to the regions – $500 million to just $200 million – and they are trying to make that seem like a good thing.
“In my Electorate of Nanango, Royalties for the Regions brought great benefits for the region, with more than $25 million for projects like new overtaking lanes, upgrades of wooden bridges and dangerous intersections.
“We also saw a major commitment of $10 million for the upgrade of the Kingaroy Wastewater Treatment Plant, a project which had to be done but for which the local Council had no funding.
“The Labor program really does show absolute disregard for rural and regional areas.
“The LNP understands regional areas like the South Burnett are the engine room of our State economy and resource rich regions like the Nanango Electorate deserve to see the benefits of this industry.
“I’ve also taken the opportunity in Parliament this month to express my disappointment in the scrapping of the Royalties for the Regions program.”
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