September 5, 2016
The results of my “South Burnett’s Biggest Community Survey” are in, with 762 surveys returned – a 6.3% response rate.
Thank you to everyone who took the time to share their opinion.
It provides an excellent insight into the feelings and opinions of the region.
Importantly, this data provides me with concrete evidence of our region’s needs, and it will help me fight for the things important to the South Burnett community.
I would especially like to thank Eline Beijsens, a local girl who took time out from her university break to help input all the data.
It was a huge task and wouldn’t have been possible without her assistance.
Here’s a short wrap-up of the key findings:
Health
78 per cent support my push for a brand new Kingaroy Public Hospital. This result gives credibility to our ongoing call that we desperately need a new public hospital in Kingaroy.
It also supports results which showed 56 per cent of people are not satisfied with the level of access to health services, and 39 per cent of people rated overall health services in our community as “average”.
Proposed Kingaroy Coal Mine
59 per cent do not support the proposed Kingaroy coal mine, while 20 per cent support it and 19 per cent were undecided. The remaining two per cent had no opinion on this issue.
Agriculture
72 per cent of people do not think the Labor Government are doing enough to support agriculture in Queensland.
Jobs and the Economy
85 per cent believe the high level of State Government debt is a problem, and the same amount believe that continuing to increase State debt is a problem.
77 per cent also believe that this high level of debt means the Government won’t build vital infrastructure. I agree with these results.
Education
68 per cent support chaplains in our schools, and 66 per cent of people are in favour of a standardized national curriculum.
Roads
75 per cent of people are not satisfied with the standard of our road network.
This is also reflected in the number of people contacting my office with complaints, so it is an issue which continues to be a priority.
Cost of Living
85 per cent of people are worried about the Labor Government lifting the price freeze on family car registration.
65 per cent have had to cut items from their weekly budget to cover rising costs, and 81 per cent feel like the cost of living has increased beyond wage growth in the past five years.
Law and Order
There is a definite support for the former LNP Government’s criminal gang laws, with 67 per cent saying they do not support Labor’s decision to scrap this legislation.
94 per cent agreed we need tougher measures to deal with domestic violence offenders.
83 per cent of people want more police, but I’m glad to see that 69 per cent of people felt safe in our community.
More details about the survey results can be found on my website
