The Queensland election is finally over giving Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s Labor Party a two seat win and the go ahead to form government. A reshuffle of key ministerial positions means a new look cabinet will be announced tomorrow with men and women equally represented.
Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ) President, Sunshine Coast Mayor Mark Jamieson said the re-election of the Palaszczuk Government meant the strong partnerships the Government and local councils had built in recent years could continue to deliver benefits for Queensland communities.
Mayor Jamieson said the LGAQ had already met the Premier and senior ministers in the days following the election to discuss issues such as disaster management, roads and water funding and improving digital connectivity in regional Queensland.
“This Government knows that local councils have a good understanding of what matters to their local communities,’’ he said.
“Councils employ 40,000 people and are responsible for $108 billion worth of community infrastructure so we are one of the State’s most important drivers of economic growth.
“When local councils and the State work well together, the whole of Queensland reaps the benefits. The community expects us to work together in their interests and that is what we intend to do.
“Look at what we delivered to communities over the past few years as a result of this strong partnership – the jobs boosting Works for Queensland program, increases in transport infrastructure funding and strategies to address the impact of climate change on coastal communities just to name a few.”
Mayor Jamieson said the LGAQ’s top priorities for the new Government were ensuring the State was in a good position to deal with any natural disasters over the summer and pursuing the policy proposals outlined in its 10 Point Election Plan.
“We won some major commitments from the Labor Party on roads, jobs training and funding for indigenous communities and we intend to ensure this Government implements what it promised,’’ he said.
“We also intend to pursue issues such as the reform of the complex system of grants to local government.”
