There is so much to share this month from Parliament and here at home, including updates on the Cooloola Great Walk and Teewah airstrip, and much, much more!
Firstly, we trust everyone had a wonderful Easter, and given the volume of visitors, happily, there were relatively low numbers of non-compliance. Thank you to our police, Council, and QPWS teams, as well as residents and visitors who, for the most part, respected our community and each other. However, for those who left more than their footprints, including rubbish and dirty nappies on our beaches, Shoey and I, along with others, collected them from where they were left. Shame on you!
In Parliament, I made a Private Members Statement regarding our ongoing efforts to improve committee processes, ‘our de facto upper house’, to address both old and new failings to get the best outcomes for our communities. My Legal Affairs and Safety Committee has been tasked with reviewing support for victims of crime, which is an enormous body of work, and with us already working on three inquiries, the eight weeks given do not do justice to victims and their families. After unsuccessfully seeking leave for this to be debated in Chamber and writing to the Committee Legislative Assembly, I am more determined than ever to get this review of our systems done and await the response to my latest requests! My speeches on this and all other bills before Parliament are available at www.SandyBolton.com/Parliament/Speeches.
The Department of Environment and Science (DES) is seeking feedback from our community until 12 May on the future of the Teewah Airstrip, which has been utilised by community including for evacuations during fires. Option one is to transfer the current Landing Reserve wholly to National Park tenure, and option two is to transfer part of the Landing Reserve lot to National Park tenure and retain the cleared landing area (approximately 10%) as Landing Ground Reserve or some other form of appropriate tenure for community use. We have further information on our Facebook post available at www.bit.ly/SandyBoltonFBpost17April2023,with a Noosa 360 update to be posted soon.
The Kabi Kabi Registered Native Title Claimants have provided responses to questions asked of our office following a women’s gathering at Poona Lake. We have posted the answers in full to Noosa 360 (www.SandyBolton.com/Noosa360). Simply search ‘Cooloola Great Walk’ for our latest updates regarding.
This year, after stops at Kin Kin, Cooroy, Cootharaba & Tewantin, our next Mobile Office ‘Moby’ will be in Peregian, so keep an eye out for details on Facebook/ LinkedIn for those wanting to book a ‘one-on-one’ appointment. In the meantime, if you have any questions or require assistance regarding state-related matters, please do not hesitate to contact our office at 5319 3100 or email noosa@parliament.qld.gov.au.
As always, please stay ‘in the loop’ via Noosa 360, as there is always so much happening between columns. In addition, follow ‘Sandy Bolton MP’ on Facebook to receive updates as soon as they are available, especially our regular ‘weekly wrap’ with the news from the week, and subscribe to our e-newsletter (www.SandyBolton.com/Newsletters).
With Anzac Day approaching, my heart overflows with gratitude and reverence for the brave men and women who have served our country and am always honoured to join our current and former service members, and their families, at the Cooroy & Tewantin services to pay tribute to their selflessness and sacrifice. Lest we Forget.
Until next month.