Infrastructure is Crucial for our Future
FOR HERVEY Bay to be a prosperous and liveable city in the future, the right Infrastructure is key. This fact cannot be reiterated enough. However, the right infrastructure requires long term planning and political guts to make it happen. The...
FOR HERVEY Bay to be a prosperous and liveable city in the future, the right Infrastructure is key. This fact cannot be reiterated enough. However, the right infrastructure requires long term planning and political guts to make it happen.
The problem with our political system is we have very short terms which means our politicians’ main focus is on short-term wins to increase their chances of getting re-elected. Another issue is that our politicians don’t want to spend money in election years as it can be an unpopular decision if rates or taxes go up. These issues cause resistance to make the big, long-lasting decisions about multimillion dollar pieces of infrastructure that could change the course of a city for decades.
Hervey Bay is at that cusp in its lifespan where major planning needs to happen. We are now at a size and maturity level with a population of over 60,000 which could grow to 100,000 in 20 years. This puts us at a point were our current infrastructure is not fit for purpose. Forty years ago, we were five sleepy villages and have never had the benefit of a city heart with infrastructure such as town halls, government buildings, showgrounds and stadiums.
Now is the time to make the hard decisions and plan for the future. We need a major building in our CBD like the library/council chambers building to stimulate the CBD revitalisation. Hats off to the Council for having the guts and the foresight to back this building. It will be a legacy project.
However, we can’t stop there. We need better airport facilities and more flights, perhaps with a real airport corporation running the airport. We need our harbour and marina to be freehold and to expand to cater for our growing tourism and recreational market. We need a sports stadium to hold 10,000 people so we can get State level competition and take advantage of the Olympics.
We need to look at our medical infrastructure and secure land and planning for more hospital facilities in 20 years’ time. This is especially important given our aging population. Our roads need upgrading and key intersections need lights.
Our Esplanade is our number one playground but needs more facilities, parklands and carparking to cater for the next 20,000 people and our ever-increasing tourist numbers.
We seem to have a minority of vocal knockers in the community who appear to have more influence on political decisions than the quiet majority. It is time for the business community and our politicians to work together to plan and commit to big infrastructure even if it is not popular with this minority.
With Glen Winney of FCPIA
