Queensland LNP leader David Crisafulli believes Noosa is one of 14 electorates LNP can and needs to win at the October election to take charge of the State Government and will be throwing the party’s weight behind its campaign to place retiring Mayor Clare Stewart into the seat now occupied by Independent Sandy Bolton.
Speaking to Noosa Today on Monday, Mr Crisafulli said while he believes people are calling for a change of government, he had no criticism of Noosa’s current MP.
“Politics so often becomes a personality contest, you won’t hear me here say a bad word against the state member here because I don’t have a bad word to say, and I won’t,“ he said.
Cr Stewart reinforced his sentiments saying, “I’m not going to bag Sandy but I’m certainly going to say if the community want a change of government, we need to win seats and they can vote for me“.
After a visit to local markets with Cr Stewart, Mr Crisafulli said “the overwhelming view (he) got from people here is a strong desire to change the government“.
Three things overwhelmingly we got hit with – youth crime, the hospital and the inefficiencies of that and your (SEQ) planning scheme, he said.
In relation to crime Mr Crisafulli said “youth crime is definitely the pinch point in Queensland“.
“The number of repeat offenders has gone from 10-20 per cent in the last 18 months. The increase in crime has been just mind boggling. In the last eight years statewide break and enters are up 50 per cent, unlawful entries up 100 per cent and all have increased in the last 12 months,“ he said.
“It’s not about locking them up, you’ve got to give kids hope and love, that’s important. At the other end of the scale, you’ve got this group of hard core – on repeat – round and round. They are the ones who just keep getting turned back into society, and it’s not working.
“The number that worries me is the number of victims and that’s increasing.
When asked if he would wait for the results of the bipartisan inquiry currently underway by the Youth Justice Reform Select Committee being chaired by Ms Bolton, Mr Crisafulli said: “any step in the right direction we’ll embrace, a couple of things can happen immediately“.
He said a provision in the Youth Justice Act says detention must be the last resort. “That does not make sense when you’re dealing with someone who has had 80 offences. We believe that should be removed immediately. At the other end of the scale, the government keeps talking about how much they’re spending on early intervention, it’s not working.
“We need to work out what we need to be doing a lot more of and what’s the best around the world and get it here now and turn kids around.“
In relation to the Noosa Hospital, Cr Stewart said: “Nothing’s been done to the hospital since 1998 when it was first built. We need more services, we need expansion there and that’s what the hospital is asking for.“
“The demountables there, that was fast tracked by council after the emergency doctor came to see me. We can do better than that. How they invest is up to them, they’re the hospital. They need to work with the government very closely and that I see can be achieved for the benefit of the community,“ she said.
“The Emergency Department is a big part of our community. Every family is affected by that.“
The private hospital, which provides an emergency department available to the public, needed security of tenure in order to invest and state government was responsible for giving them tenure, Mr Crisafulli said.
“There are only seven emergency beds. Hospital staff do a great job. We need to give them the tools to do their job better. We’ve got a growing community, an ageing community and we have to make sure SCUH (Sunshine Coast University Hospital) works as well,“ he said.
One of LNP’s key pillars is doctors and nurses back in charge. There’s been centralisation in Brisbane. We believe power should be given back to the regions. We’ve got health and hospital boards, let them be in charge of their destiny and give them the money, he said.
“When I speak to doctors and ambos they are fatigued, frustrated, they’re over it. They have to be valued. We talk about better resources, better triage-ing, sharing data in real time and putting doctors and nurses in charge as a starting point.“
In regard to the state government’s SEQ plan, Cr Stewart said there had been a complete lack of investment in infrastructure by the state government to match the numbers of people Noosa was expected to accommodate within it.
“As a council we’ve done a housing strategy supported by community with planning scheme amendments sitting on the Ministers desk since February last year.
“We’re supposed to be in a housing crisis, these are real tangible things we can implement, we’re still waiting,“ she said.
“If you want to change the government you have to vote for change,“ Mr Crisafulli said. “I believe we’ve put forward the best candidate this region’s seen in a generation. I hope they consider that, they’ll have someone who can advocate for them.“
At the 2020 Queensland Election Labor won 52 seats, LNP won 34 and there were seven other seats including Noosa.
Independent Sandy Bolton retained the seat she first won in 2017, with more than 65 per cent of the vote, a swing toward her of 4.3 per cent, LNP’s James Blevin gaining just over 32 per cent of the vote.
