By JOLENE OGLE
PALMER’S PUPs were on show at the Palmer Coolum Resort on Tuesday, with the team gathered to pledge their support for a local international airport.
Queensland party leader John Bjelke-Petersen said it was time to change the dismal employment situation on the Sunshine Coast with a stimulus injection in the form of an airport expansion.
“The Sunshine Coast is experiencing a substantial lack of jobs, causing high unemployment and forcing large numbers of contractors and other workers to travel to Brisbane each day for work,” he said.
Mr Bjelke-Petersen said the Palmer United Party would work with the party’s senate leader and Queensland senator, Glen Lazarus, to seek funding for the airport upgrade.
“We need an international airport to stimulate the region and create more jobs so families have a secure future,” he said.
“Stimulus can be best achieved by building a new runway at Maroochydore Airport so the Sunshine Coast can attract thousands of visitors from Asia.
“We must be able to offer Asian travellers the opportunity to fly direct to the Sunshine Coast.”
PUP Maroochydore candidate James McDonald took a firm stance on the contentious issue of the Sekisui House development proposed for Yaroomba beach.
“We don’t believe there should be a high-rise development on the beach at this location,” he said.
“We want to have an environment that can be used by our children in the future.”
Mr McDonald slammed the planning process, saying due process needs to be followed to prevent secrecy and the community should be allowed to object or protest, if they wanted to.
“The planning process, the way they’ve gone about things, is just not right,” he said.
If the Sekisui House development is rejected, Mr McDonald said a lack of local development wouldn’t affect the expected increase of international visitors, with surrounding towns such as Maroochydore and Noosa set to benefit.
Noosa PUP candidate Ian Woods said he believed the local government should have more say when it came to large-scale developments in local areas.
“We need to strengthen local government’s power to deal with such projects,” he said.
