Peter Lindsay (Herbert, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

Not a lot of cities have that. I thank my female colleagues for their interjections. Of course, we also have the Townsville Crocodiles, which is the male equivalent in the National Basketball League. We have the Cowboys in RL as well. I say to all of the Cockroaches here tonight: we won last night and that is a fantastic result, although in the first half I was somewhat concerned. I congratulate and thank our local community for helping me deliver this Regional Partnership’s program, and I also thank the North Queensland Area Consultative Committee for helping get this money through. Make no mistake: this will be a magnificent addition to our city, and I am very proud of being part of the team that has delivered that.

One of the projects that I have not yet delivered but I certainly have told my community that I am going to deliver is the CBD revitalisation in Townsville. In the new CBD vision for Townsville, gone will be the dated, decaying and unfriendly mall. In its place will be a dynamic, fresh, people friendly retail and entertainment precinct, a CBD that North Queenslanders deserve and can be proud of; a popular CBD that people enjoy visiting. The design of the mall will open up the currently cluttered and unused spaces to allow increased participation, views and safety. Expanded street-front shopping and alfresco dining will encourage people into a friendly, market atmosphere. A historic main street retailing environment and flexible, people friendly areas will combine to create a dynamic atmosphere where business and people will flourish. Community interest in this project is very significant and that has created an environment primed to produce a result that the community wants and business needs.

This is an important project. The CBD in Townsville, contained within 100 hectares, accounts for 10.4 per cent of all economic activity in North Queensland. It is home to more than 1,080 businesses and it contributes more than a billion dollars to gross regional product annually. It employs 16 per cent of the Townsville-Thuringowa labour force. It captures 73 per cent of visitor retail spending and it is the major economic asset for North Queensland. That is why it is vital that we have a revitalisation project for Townsville’s CBD. It is the administrative and commercial hub of North Queensland and provides the largest concentration of retail floor space in the region. As such, it fulfils a number of unique roles within the retail market. It provides retail services to our CBD employee population, to the household market and to the visitor market. The Townsville CBD is both a workhorse and a show pony. It is the administrative and commercial hub of North Queensland. It is the visitors’ gateway to the region; it is our front door.

Flinders Street Mall, in my view, needs change. The current mall is hopelessly outdated and presents a poor face to the powerhouse economy and culture of North Queensland. The solution that has been developed is based on the best experience from around the world, with the addition of a unique tropical North Queensland touch. Townsville is a city that certainly punches above its weight in terms of its contribution to Queensland’s and Australia’s economy and identity. The people of Townsville, the largest independent regional city in Australia, deserve this development.

The solution needs to provide amenity, comfort and convenience. It has to be an inviting and safe place, accessible to all by day or by night; to have people friendly surfaces, with improved shade and circulation, connecting activities and experiences designed to enhance the shopping and entertainment experience; to be a lifestyle precinct for all people that continues in the tradition of developments like the Strand, Palmer Street and, hopefully in the not too distant future, Jezzine Barracks. There has got to be a home with a sense of belonging. There has got to be people inclusiveness. There has got to be economic viability. And there has got to be the special aesthetic character of the place, with integration of street furniture, paintings, plantings, artwork and lighting combining with the existing trees and greenery. Our community is very much behind improving the current sad and dilapidated mall. I give a commitment to the people of Townsville and North Queensland that I will do all in my power to make sure that this revitalisation proceeds. It is very important for our city and for our economy.

In the time I have left to speak in this debate I might just make an observation about amalgamation in Queensland. We have two councils in the region: Townsville and Thuringowa. Neither the councils nor their ratepayers have been consulted by the Queensland government. I believe that consultation should have taken place. I think the Beattie government have an agenda to just override the wishes of the people of Queensland—and override it they will with their numbers. It is not the way to do business, and people do not forget that. On a matter as big as this you really do need to ask the people of the region what they think about their councils and whether amalgamation is good. Yes, if we had had a choice we would have only had one council years ago, but that was not how we evolved. Now that the Beattie government have decided that we perhaps should change things, they should be asking the ratepayers and not just unilaterally deciding to force this on the people of North Queensland and elsewhere in the state. I ask the Beattie government to rethink their position.

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