Townsville Community Voices

Today Community Voices Mayoral candidate Jenny Stirling announced a plan to ensure Townsville's air remains safe to breath.

"If elected we will be evaluating our options to purchase, lease or enter into agreements with service providers to acquire multiple,
mobile air quality monitoring systems. The systems will be aimed at industrial pollutants which have negative health and environmental impacts, including dust and lead."

"The community needs to take ownership of this situation. Relying on the EPA or industry run monitoring systems does not respond to community needs and concerns."

"If the council is in control of the equipment then we can release the results in a timely fashion, and position the equipment at places identified by the community without delay."

"There is such a lack of real data in many debates with industry because the companies own, and do no release many internal document. This results in disagreements being based on anecdotal evidence, and being drawn out, costing time and money."

Deeragun to Townsville could be used NOW as a corridor for light rail. Queensland Rail have railmotor's across the state that could be used for this service.

At Deeragun there is availability for a car park. As you cross the  railway line at Bohlevale State School turn left there is room for about 100 car parks.

A platform for passengers could be built, it needs to be no more than 20m long, Bowen has similar platform for the tilt train. Deeragun will be designed to cater for wheelchair access. The current Townsville station already has wheelchair access. Access to the platform would be gated or turnstile with prepaid ticket, no ticket, no access. This way driver does not check tickets. There is a communication building already on site at Deeragun, which could be upgraded to include public phone.

New Qconnect for public transport in Townsville could be extended, to include rail travel. Check out the website www.qconnect.qld.gov.au.

Community Voices want to make Townsville a world leader in waste management. 

Their policy includes improved recycling collection, stabilisation and revegetation of the of the old Queens Rd dump site; making rubbish disposal free; provision of a covered slab at the tip to support the recycling tip shop; and a campaign to reduce packaging waste bought into our city 

Community voices believe that the tip fees stops many people from properly disposing of their waste.   Gail Hamilton, Greens candidate for the Community Voices team "we would make the tip free, not just a few weekends a year, but permanently." 

Ms Hamilton, and environmental engineer, said "we are also concerned about leachate from the old dump polluting Ross River, due to natural erosion of the river bank.  We would revegetate the river bank, which would both stabilise the tip site as well as create a wildlife corridor." 

The Community Voices team are set to improve the welfare of new parents and their children in Townsville. 

As part of their Families policy, Community Voices will establish a Family Centre, similar to existing community centres but with a strong focus on families of young children, and the volunteer organisations who support them. 

Community Voices Families spokesperson, Gail Hamilton said that was a definite need in Townsville for a specific venue for families to go to find information on parenting as well as activities such as Australian Breastfeeding Association meetings, parenting workshops and play groups.  "There are already many of these services available within Townsville City, but they are scattered.  This reduces accessibility as well as increasing costs."

An ideal family centre would be staffed each day and include:

Today the Community Voices Team released it's Public Pool Policy for the new city of Townsville. 

Mr. Newey said that  "Top of the agenda was that there be no change in the

public use of Tobruk pool on the strand and that every measure available to the CV team would be employed to keep it as it is". 

"Trubrok Pool is an icon in Australian swimming with such greats at Murray Rose, Dawn Fraser using the pool for training in the lead up to Olympic games " Mr. Newey said. 

Community Voices intends to continue to develop the public use of pools with the installation of a water theme style facilities, similar to the ones installed on the Strand

to enhance the neglected Kokoda and Long Tan Pools.  

"Many people actually bypass these large investments in public use utilities to drive to the Strand to enjoy the water features on hot summer days. It makes sense to investigate

the development of these water park style facilities closer to the suburbs" Mr. Newey Said.  

Launching their policy for Magnetic Island today, Community Voices Mayoral Candidate Jenny Stirling took Townsville City Council to task on its record in regard to Magnetic Island.

"TCC's excessive pandering to developers has created an abysmal situation at Nelly Bay Harbour for all users.  Since its opening, the community has experienced enormous difficlty with luggage handling and, for all the taxpayer's money spent there, the walkway is still exposed to the elements.  Placing the barge terminal right beside the ferry terminal has resulted in ongoing bottlenecks around a carpark that was never going to handle ferry and supermarket needs.  Many Islanders find the design of the harbour entrance a hair raising experience when the wind and waves bear directly across the ferry's approach route and the first impression of the Island created for visitors has been blighted by what many locals and visitors describe as ugly and innaproriate architecture for the beautiful World Heritage tropical island.

In next weeks council elections, Townsville voters are being asked to elect 12 councillors from a field of 49 candidates, plus one mayor from a choice of 5. For the first time in several decades Townsville Council will be undivided, meaning all voters have the opportunity to vote for all candidates, and there are no wards as in the past.

Gail Hamilton, Greens candidate for the Community Voices team, welcomed this change as an improvement in democracy. "In the past, we have had Townsville City Council dominated by one party, and because of the ward system it is possible that each one of those councillors may have had no more than 50% of the primary vote. That means 50% of voters do not have a chosen representative on council."

An undivided council allows for a better representation of the community, and it is likely that the make-up of the new council will be a healthy mix of people.

Mr. Newey, today released the Traffic, Parking and Transportation Policy for the Community Voices team in Townsville.

“When elected, Community Voices team would undertake a full review of the Council road, traffic and transportation network in Townsville”, Mr. Newey said today”

The emphasis would be on working to improve the efficiency of the road network system and the use-ability of the current and future public transportation systems, including the integration of light rail for the northern suburbs.

Peter Newey says – “For too long we have seen the slow degradation in the point to point travel time throughout the Townsville regional road network.”. The expansion of the outlying suburbs have placed additional pressure on the existing road network.

Today Jenny Stirling, Mayoral candidate for Community Voices released her policy for the Northern Beaches saying, “It’s all well and good to be building facilities like Riverway and claiming to have no debt but if a Council neglects their basic function of providing capital works and infrastructure for rate payers then this is a false economy.  

“We recognise the importance of a City to have the alternative lifestyle offered by the environment of the Northern Beaches and will address the issues neglected in the past by the Tyrell Council.” 

If elected to Council, Community Voices will:

• Address the recommendations of previous town planning, coastal erosion and stormwater studies and prioritise urgent works required.

Community Voices Mayoral candidate Jenny Stirling today announced a Community Voices council will make it a priority to improve the energy efficiency of Townsville houses. This will include evaluating and embracing the recommendations of the Energy Efficient House Design for Tropical Queensland report.

Townsville and Thuringowa are experiencing a building boom, but a lot homes are not being built with recognition that we live in tropical North Queensland. Some don't have insulation, some have dark coloured roofs, and some don't allow roof mounted solar hot water systems. [1][2][3]

"Having a white roof can reduce the temperature of the ceiling by up to 20 degrees over having a dark roof, and this can be the difference between home where the air conditioning can't keep up, and one which barely needs air conditioning."

"The Council and the builders are aware of this but existing regulations neglect this essential part of the equation. It is the duty of care of the Council and builders to make sure their home buyers are fully informed, and not sold concrete ovens." [4]