July 22, 2019
How good is Yarraman – a town that fought for common sense and won!
June 28 was a huge celebration for the town when the Yarraman Men’s Shed was officially opened.
It has been a long haul for our Yarraman men who have been trying for more than two years to secure the old DAF Forestry Shed on Mill Street.
I was so pleased to support the group from the beginning to help them make this dream a reality.
Getting to this point was a rollercoaster, with the Shed originally earmarked for demolition by the Labor Government.
It was absolutely crazy the Government would spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to tear down a perfectly good building.
There had also been no community consultation even though the Yarraman Men had made requests to the Government to utilise the facility.
Since then, I have been working with the President Kerry Wyvill and his Yarraman Men’s Shed team to seek permission for them to utilise the building.
We had several more hoops to jump through, including months of waiting for QFES to decide if they wanted to use the land for a new Fire Station, an option which they declined.
It just makes good, common sense to for the Men’s Shed to finally have place to call home.
There are many people who have worked together to make this happen, including Helene Johnson from the Yarraman Heritage Museum, who coordinated the leasing arrangements, and President Kerry Wyvill, and the many Yarraman Men’s Shed members who worked behind the scenes to help support the project.
I’d like to congratulate everyone involved and feel very honoured to have been given the privilege of officially opening the Yarraman Men’s Shed.
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Well Done Saint Mary’s Year Six
I was very impressed by the Saint Mary’s Kingaroy Year Six Class recently, who invited me to their school to hear their ideas about the war on waste.
Each student wrote a persuasive piece for me to read on their suggestions for cleaning up the South Burnett.
This was a really great, proactive initiative.
Top marks to their teacher, Mr Harrington, for inspiring the students to look at this important topic.
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Parkside: The Quiet Achiever In Wondai
Thank you to the Parkside team who let me ‘mill’ around their sawmills recently.
Parkside Hardwood Sawmilling Company is one of Queensland’s quiet achievers.
They run two mills in Wondai, where they employ 70 people, and they’re a family-owned company doing great things in the timber business.
In fact if you have a hardwood deck on your home, the timber was probably processed by Parkside!
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Peanut Van Turns 50
The Peanut Van is a Kingaroy icon and I was very pleased to be a part of their 50th anniversary celebrations recently.
I dropped down to the Van to share my secret Peanut Slice recipe and congratulate owners Rob and Chris Patch, and Van manager Rowena Dionysius, on this fantastic milestone.
Here’s to another 50 years … and here’s my secret recipe, Rob!
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NAIDOC Celebrations In Kingaroy
It was wonderful to be a part of Kingaroy’s NAIDOC celebrations this month and see the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags being raised in Kingaroy’s Memorial Park alongside the Australian flag.
As far as I’m aware, this is the first time all three flags have flown in Memorial Park.
A little earlier this year, the South Burnett Regional Council marked Reconciliation Week by adding these two flags to the Glendon Street Forecourt’s display.
Thanks must go to the new South Burnett Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation for hosting their first Kingaroy event.
It was great to see a happy crowd – and such a large number of children – joining in the celebrations.
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Labor’s Latest Attack On Queensland Farmers
The Palaszczuk Labor Government has delivered another cruel blow for regional Queenslanders after finally releasing the long-awaited drought report.
This report was completed in January and it took six months to be released – and now we know why.
Axing important water and transport subsidies that keep cattle alive and help crops survive are devastating cuts for our farmers.
It’s obvious the Palaszczuk Labor Government is anti-farmers, anti-regions and anti-jobs.
The LNP won’t stop fighting for our farmers.
[Photos: Nanango Electorate Office and southburnett.com.au]
