May 14, 2016
LNP candidate for Maranoa David Littleproud may live in Warwick but he’s no stranger to the South Burnett … in fact, he used to live and work here.
Mr Littleproud lived in Nanango in 1995 while he was working in then-National Australia Bank branch.
His banking career kept him on the move over the years until he finally ended up in Warwick where he is currently Suncorp Bank’s regional manager for business and agribusiness for south-west Queensland.
He and his wife Sarah also own a rental goods business in the town.
“I have actually lived and worked in Maranoa all my life,” he told southburnett.com.au in a recent interview.
“I grew up in Chinchilla, started in the National Bank and went to Miles and then Nanango, and then went out to Charleville and St George.
“I moved to Stanthorpe and did a little bit of time in Cunnamulla and then ended up in Warwick 16 years ago.
“I swapped to Suncorp five years ago.”
Mr Littleproud was born in Chinchilla and born into politics.
His father is former State MP Brian Littleproud who represented the seats of Condamine, and then Western Downs, for the National Party between 1983 and 2001.
Over the years, Mr Littleproud Snr served as Minister for Education, Youth and Sport; Minister for Environment and Deputy National Party Leader.
During most of the “Joh” years Mr Littleproud was a humble backbencher, only being elevated to the ministry late in 1987 after the Fitzgerald Inquiry had been initiated.
The retiring Member for Maranoa, Bruce Scott, has held the seat for The Nationals / LNP for 26 years, and commentators paint it as a safe seat for the LNP.
But Mr Littleproud said he couldn’t take anything for granted.
“I sense that there’s some work for us to do to continue to keep the people’s trust in Maranoa,” he said.
“Bruce has done a great job on that. Over the past three years, we’ve been able to get $1.2 billion for the seat of Maranoa and that’s a huge achievement in key infrastructure.
“That just goes to shows that while on paper it’s a safe seat, we haven’t taken it for granted. We have made sure that we have continued to invest in Maranoa.”
Mr Littleproud said he believed Maranoa was “on the cusp of a new dawn”.
“Agriculture is the common thread that links (all of Maranoa) together and I think, fundamentally, we have what the world wants,” he said.
“So it’s now our job as a Federal Government to provide that infrastructure to allow us to be the global players that we need to be.
“I think we’re going to see an Australian export hub on our doorstep in Toowoomba – Wellcamp Airport, the second Range crossing, and I’ll be fighting very hard to get the Melbourne to Brisbane rail line to come through.”
Mr Littleproud said he hoped the link would come up just east of Goondiwindi and then link to Toowoomba, although the final route was still being worked out.
“This lays a foundation for infrastructure to come off it,” he said.
“We have got to be realistic that the government doesn’t have rivers of gold out there. This is a significant investment in the country’s infrastructure and our part of the world.
“But once we lay this infrastructure it does lay the foundation for other projects down the track.
“I’d like to see rail become more prevalent right across the country.
“We’re going to have an investment in the western line, which is Quilpie into Oakey with a hub in Morven. The little community of Morven is going really benefit from that …
“Oakey is about to do a huge refurbishment of their abattoir so they are really keen to get more stock in from that western line.
“Rail will take that pressure off our road infrastructure that is costing us so much to maintain because of the number of trucks.”
Mr Littleproud said he also saw advantages in the location of the South Burnett, particularly if more work was done on water security and improving water efficiency for farmers.
“The fact that (the South Burnett) is not in the Murray-Darling Basin means there’s nothing impinging the region from actually innovating in more water infrastructure,” he said.
He said there currently a $500 million fund for new water infrastructure projects. Local councils could identify projects that would build resilience into the local agricultural sector and funds would be allocated through a competitive process.
“This is about us engaging with local communities and them telling us what the key water infrastructure that will actually drive their economies, drive their agricultural sector,” he said.
Mr Littleproud said another “connectivity” factor for Maranoa – complementing rail, the Wellcamp Airport and the second Range crossing – was telecommunications.
“If we want to be part of the global economy, we have to have the tools to compete in it and to be part of it,” he said.
“We’ve got what the world wants and it’s important that we are able to be part of that global economy.
“Telecommunications is a key part of that. We have invested $100 million into the mobile black spot program and Maranoa has picked up 16 towers.
“There’s another round of $60 million about to be announced. I’m hoping that Maranoa will pick a fair swathe of that money up for more mobile towers.”
He said the mobile phone gaps along the New England Highway would start to be filled in over the next six months with new towers at Cooyar and Crows Nest.
“I see as a big issue for me is telecommunication, filling those gaps in key infrastructure. That’s what a Federal Government’s job is – to provide the infrastructure in telecommunications.
“It doesn’t matter whether it’s Kingaroy or Birdsville, people are screaming out for better telecommunications.”
If elected, Mr Littleproud plans to keep the current Maranoa electorate offices open in Roma and Dalby, the joint office in Warwick and also put a representative in Longreach.
“Dalby is centrally located between Kingaroy and Warwick, and Stanthorpe and Nanango. Roma is to service the western part.
“But I intend to put a person out in Longreach. Winton is nine hours away from the local office in Roma.
“Lawrence (Springborg) and Bruce (Scott) have an arrangement where they fund an office between them in Warwick and I’ll respect that if elected and continue to keep that office funded.”
However, the electorate allowance for Maranoa only covers two offices – Dalby and Roma – so the extra staff would have to be funded by Mr Littleproud.
