Road upgrade is overdue

Mark John braved the 'road' to Queensland
and he wants the Federal Government to fix it

Last month, as Chairman of the Barkly Regional Economic Development Committee, I attended several meetings in Mt Isa, travelling with a delegation from the Department of Industries and Small Business.
A wide range of topics were discussed ranging from cross-border trade, service delivery, the Alice to Darwin railway and opportunities for business from both sides of the border to take advantage of the project, the Melbourne to Darwin railway and associated opportunities that project will create in the Gulf Mineral Province and of course, the atrocious state of the Barkly Highway from the NT Border to Mt Isa.
On our travels, and after less than an inch of rain over the area, we counted 43 water crossings on the highway in 95 kilometres. Most of the 183 kilometres of highway from the border are in excellent condition, wide, well marked and with good shoulders, however, the remaining 95 kilometres are nothing short of "goat track" standard.
The water crossings ranged from narrow, shallow road run-off to quite deep and dangerous flooding. The shoulders become very dangerous after a roadtrain has had to move over to allow other vehicles to pass and if these damaged sections are hit at any sort of speed, the consequences would be horrific.
The general state of this section of the highway, as I have said, took up a major part of the discussions with the various groups we met with. The Tourist Association, Chamber of Commerce and Industry and MITEZ (Mt Isa to Townsville Economic Zone) Committee all feel that the dangerous state of the highway is drastically reducing the number of tourists that would like to travel the region, is impacting on the road transport industry by increasing costs and in general reducing the level of trade between our two centres.
The Barkly Regional Economic Development Committee, the Mt Isa City Council, MITEZ and both the Regional Tourists Associations will commence lobbying the Federal Government for a commitment of funding to bring this "goat track" up to national standard as soon as possible.
In all, the trip was of great value to Tennant Creek and the Barkly Region as it lead to greater co-operation between our two centres, a combined and more powerful voice when lobbying Government and with the Queensland and NT Governments promoting the highway, an increase of tourists coming to the region will be seen. The flow-on effects from greater co-operation between regions both in the Territory and across our borders will help create economic development and future prosperity for all. Yes, we still need to look at what is happening on our own patch, but by taking a wider and less parochial view of what is happening in the country, we will generate, through co-operation, a broader economic base from which to expand and grow.

 

What did we vote for?

Maggie Hickey, Leader of the Opposition wants
the Territory Government to come clean

Can anyone recall the Country Liberal party talking about privatisation of all public hospitals before the last Territory election?
Were Territorians given the opportunity to vote for or against sell-off of public utilities like the Power and Water Authority, at the August 1997 election?
Did the Minister for Public Sector Employment send a letter around to public servants saying that "Planning for Growth" was going to happen if the CLP got re-elected?
Did the Election Minister let us know that he was going to do away with school based nurses after the election?
Of course not.
We currently face the most massive revolution in Territory public administration ever, but not a word about it before Territorians voted. And why? Because they knew that Territorians wouldn't cop it.
What a dishonest, shady way to go into an election. I say dishonest quite deliberately. These plans have been worked on not just for months, but for years. Denis Burke for instance, says he's been working on privatisation of hospitals for the last three years. If he's allowed to get away with his plans, he will be committing future Territory governments to a private health system for another generation. Small hospitals such as Tennant Creek's will fare badly under a profit-driven administration.
Is that what we all voted for?
It's time for everyone to tell Shane Stone and his mates that they may have won the election but don't have a mandate for their plans because they didn't have the honesty to tell Territorians what they were going to do.
Territory Labor opposes any move to cut services and jobs and increase costs to Territorians. Please make your voice heard too. Protect jobs, services and your wallet against this dishonest Government.