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Home arrow Media Releases arrow $20 MILLION FOR TOWNSVILLE MALL UPGRADE
$20 MILLION FOR TOWNSVILLE MALL UPGRADE

By Nicholas Stanton,


Prime Minister John Howard visited Townsville today to announce that a re-elected Coalition Government will deliver $20 million towards redeveloping the public use areas of the Flinders Mall.

“The Coalition’s commitment of $20 million is the Federal Government’s contribution towards the $60 million cost of redeveloping the Mall. The Townsville City Council has confirmed its $20 million contribution,” Member for Herbert, Peter Lindsay, said.

“This is the most significant announcement for the CBD in a generation,” Mr Lindsay said.

“We will build a CBD lifestyle precinct that continues the tradition of developments like the Strand and Riverway.

“This visionary announcement will turn the hopelessly outdated, embarrassing and unfriendly Mall into a vibrant, fresh community heart, a gateway for visitors that will do justice to the lifestyle and economic powerhouse that is North Queensland.

“Safety and accessibility will be improved as will be amenity, comfort and convenience.

“Thanks to the strong economy run by the Howard Government, Townsville is going to have the most modern and dynamic city heart in Australia.”

Mr Lindsay also congratulated the Townsville City Council and local developers on their proposal.

“The redevelopment of the public use areas will allow the $200 million Flinders Plaza proposal to proceed,” Mr Lindsay said.

“Currently the mall is run-down and suffers from anti-social behaviour. This development will fix these problems.

“This mall revitalisation will include providing 150 retail outlets, a cinema, fitness centre, cafes and restaurants.

“I call on the Queensland Government to confirm that they will contribute their $20 million share.”
   

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A barrel just aint big enough

By: wil (Registered ) on 16-11-2007 02:51

Panicked pork anyone? The PM didn't even walk the mall he's found eleventh hour funding for (years after he was handed the submission)...maybe he didn't want to add to the "anti-social" behaviour this development will apparently "fix". Very thoughtful of you John.

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Stop the Whining and face the facts

By: NickStanton (Registered ) on 16-11-2007 07:08

Isn't it interesting that the labor party finds so much time to attack the coalition's motives and timing rather than policy and fact. Is it perhaps because they have no valid arguments with the policies being executed by the coalition?  
In the years of labor the $20M which can now be spent on things like the Flinders street mall, would have gone, along with another $9,980M to the banks as interest on our debt. Who deserves our taxes more? The banks? Or the people? 
Just admit that the money will be used to help the people of townsville, the redevelopment will be very beneficial to the community, do your usual photocopy for the ALP pamphlet, and move on please. 
Tell me, what vision does George have for Townsville excluding the me-toos from the coalition, and the plans from ALP head office. I think the people want to keep their representative of Townsville in Canberra, rather than vote him out for a representitive of the ALP in townsville.

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Ailing Health System to receive,....

By: Birdz (Registered ) on 19-11-2007 09:36

In some parts of Australia there are dental clinics with waiting lists of nearly 5 years to get your teeth fixed. 2 years just to progress up to where you are on the short list and here the government has pledged to spend a mere $20,000,000 on a shopping mall. How many dentists would this employ.? How many wards could stay open in country hospitals if they had an injections of funds like this ? How many doctors could be trained to fill the gaping hole in our rural health services with this kind of money? 
It might not be enough but at least it would show the people who you govern, that you are genuine in trying to fix the problems facing this country here and now, not pushing it so far ahead that it becomes someone else's problem for the future  
I believe Mr Howard should live in the suburbs and have a reality check on what it costs families to live on. With what money do they have left over, very few use it for medical and dental expenses, because since the 30 % rebate came in for hospital and medical benefits, private health insurance is just another luxury for many families. 
Yes,it would be nice to pledge $20,000,000 for a worthwhile cause, not just for big business.

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Balance

By: NickStanton (Registered ) on 19-11-2007 10:59

I totally understand what you are saying 'Birdz' sometimes it is tempting to look around and mentally prioritise government spending. A few points though. First of all this redevelopment is NOT a subsidy for big business, it is going to benefit all the struggling shopkeepers in the Flinders Street mall, which is basically a dead zone at the moment. It is also targetted at controlling the anti-social behaviour which is rife in this area. To address the concerns you have about regional health, concerns which I assure you are formost upon my mind, I must first point out that federal funding is not the key issue. After an incident involving my grandfather at Cairns Base hospital earlier this year i met with my local state member, and even he admitted that money was not the problem, although failed to agree that it was his government's appalling management. The biggest hurdle to regional heath (I am speaking for QLD here but I am sure the issues facing the rest of Australia are very similar) is the city-centralised managements of our health systems. I might take this opportunity to point out that that the man in charge of removing our 59 successful hospital boards, and replacing it with 13 Brisbane based bureaucracies, was in fact Wayne Goss' chief civil servant, one Mr Kevin Rudd, as part of his slash and burn cost cutting og QLD services. To properly address the regional health crisis we need less talk of dollars, and more talk of management, Rudd's centralisaton has failed in fatal ways in QLD, why would it work to take it even farther? 
As for spending money on vital infrastructure, this is important for local communities, for citizens, for small businesses, and for the very reputation and standing of our towns.

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