Fiona Simpson MP
Shadow Minister for Transport and Main Roads Shadow Minister for Road Safety
LNP Member for Maroochydore
Steve Dickson MP
LNP Member for Buderim
Andrew Powell MP
Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Mental Health, Drug Strategy and Health Personnel (Assisting the Shadow Minister for Health and the Shadow Minster for Justice and Corrective Services)
LNP Member for Glass House
6 April, 2011
Bligh Labor ignores high voltage concerns
THE Bligh Labor government has been accused of trashing the concerns of local Sunshine Coast residents by approving the controversial SunCoast Power Project near a school and through platypus habitat.
Sunshine Coast MPs accused the Government of failing to address some “major” outstanding issues regarding the final alignment.
LNP Member for Buderim Steve Dickson said it wasn’t only local residents and landholders who were being ignored – so too were the staff, students and parents of the Sunshine Coast Grammar School.
LNP Member for Glass House Andrew Powell said clearly the Minister had not considered the local community nor the environment in the route it had approved.
LNP Member for Maroochydore Fiona Simpson said the high voltage powerlines from Palmwoods to Pacific Paradise had been a long-running project over many years but in the final alignment the Government had still failed to consult with all affected parties.
“While the school is not in my electorate, parents from my area who send their children there are understandably upset that the Government did not include them in considering the alignment,” Ms Simpson said.
Mr Dickson said Environment Minister Kate Jones rarely drew breath spruiking her green credentials, but was mute about the wildlife corridors and platypus habitat areas now under direct threat from clearing along the chosen route for the giant powerlines.
“The SunCoast Power Project needs to be put on hold so that proper public consultation can be undertaken and alternative routes properly examined,” Mr Dickson said.
