VAL SCHIER'S LETTER
I write in response to former failed mayor Val Schier’s letter on 28/9.
Maybe if she actually had a vision for the city and region, she wouldn’t have been a one term wonder.
But history shows she was.
Who does our esteemed former mayor think secured the federal government’s funding contribution for Munro Martin Parklands, Cairns Performing Arts Centre, Cairns Tennis Centre, Cairns Basketball, Cairns Hockey, Cairns Netball, Tobruk Pool and the Cairns Gallery Precinct to name just a few.
I also note no one from her beloved Labor/Greens Party has never put forward, or delivered, any coherent policy to drive down insurance prices.
Yet the Morrison Government has announced a $10bn reinsurance pool that will be legislated this year and in effect from 1 July 2022.
I honestly struggled to think of one thing Val delivered for the city apart from rate increases, her self-serving, self-praising book and who could ever forget the “Valcano” proposal.
Our city and region has come along in leaps and bounds over the past decade, and let me assure you, it’s certainly not because of anything Ms
Schier did.
PS: PS: Val, when construction starts on the Daintree microgrid, which your beloved Labor Party opposed, later this year, I will certainly extend you an official invitation so you can see for yourself what it’s like to actually deliver something for the community, a concept that history shows was absolutely foreign to you.
WARREN ENTSCH, Federal Member for Leichhardt
REINSURANCE POOL
Prime Minister Morrison certainly announced an impressive $10B reinsurance pool. But a few weeks afterwards the Budget, which covers income and expenditure planned for the next four years, contained nothing. Zip!
It was a handy announcement for Mr Entsch (CLN letters 4 Jun) but on his Government’s own figures he’ll be elected and retired before any money is actually provided.
Alternatives? Well, the Federal Parliament could simply pass a law which made Australia as a whole responsible for any cyclone disaster damage over (say) $10,000 to tropical households. It could phase out over ten years to only cover houses built or renovated to cyclone standards. It would be a worthwhile way to help develop our North for the benefit of all Australians.
SEAN m, Clifton Beach
LESLEY PARKER IS RIGHT
Lesley Parker is right about renewable energy and climate. Too many with vested interests in the renewable energy scam are involved in the spin to promote products that are built from coal energy.
Lithium for batteries is mined by child labour and all of this stuff is difficult to get rid of at the end of their useful life.
Councils should abandon such nonsense and concentrate on delivering the basics that rate payers expect at the lowest price possible, not waste billions on something that will not make one iota of difference globally or locally.
I don’t want to pay for your expensive solar and wind farms which are nothing but virtue signalling.
Turn your air conditioning off and use fans if you want to save power. I can’t afford to use mine anyway as so many can’t. Wake up and drop the ‘Woke’ agenda. Get back to what you were hired to do!
SUZY, Cairns
HOUSING CRISIS
Can someone please explain to me why Cairns Regional Council is promoting an initiative to encourage people to move to Cairns when there’s insufficient accommodation for the existing population?
Also, in the Council election before last we were promised a rail link between Cairns Airport and the CBD. Where is it?
There seems to be enough hot air from Councillors to warm us on cool Winter nights.
MICHELLE, Bentley Park
STATE OF ORIGIN
Origin - yes roses are red, always maroons, go maroons, the mighty maroons. NSW always suck.
Go my nephew Gagai we will do it again, I’m a QLD supporter and Rabbitohs is my best team
ELLIS, Mount Sheridan
IN DEFENCE OF VAL
The Federal Member for Leichhardt, Warren Entsch’s heavy-handed response to former Cairns mayor Val Schier’s reasonable criticism of his serial inaction suggests that he, like Scott Morrison and the modern Liberal Party, has a problem with strong women who speak out.
Mr Entsch’s affected poor memory and misrepresentation of the achievements of our first and so far only female mayor needs to be jolted.
One of Val’s first projects as mayor was to undertake a comprehensive flood mitigation program that continues to this day to protect residents and businesses in southern Cairns suburbs, Gordonvale, Caravonica and the CBD. As an impacted resident I am especially grateful for this achievement.
Her council upgraded Barlow Park and the Manunda sporting precinct, opened a regional tennis centre and built playgrounds at Mossman and Edmonton, areas neglected by the previous council.
Val created the Cattana Wetlands, a magnificent achievement that not only protects native flora and fauna, but has become a popular natural asset for locals and visitors to use and enjoy.
Val Schier became mayor hot on the heels of the Global Financial Crisis in 2007 and she acted immediately along with the region’s economic development organisations to win funding for infrastructure projects in the region.
Another great achievement was securing, during the GFC, $154 million in federal, state and council funding for the Cairns Entertainment Precinct, an achievement which Mr Entsch ridiculed as the “Valcano” in his letter.
Mr Entsch, as our federal Liberal MP, knows full well the much despised and unlamented Liberal government of Campbell Newman, the local Liberal Party and the Unity team on the Manning council scuttled this major economic development project.
The CEP was to be an all-purpose centre housing a major theatre, an art gallery, museum and space for community events. Situated near the Cairns Port and the Convention Centre, it would have been a major tourism attraction, a much used local venue and it would have revitalised the CBD that deteriorated under Kevin Byrne’s council.
So Mr Entsch and the Liberals can’t lecture this community on achievements. They have held this region back for years.
If Val’s letter got under Mr Entsch’s skin, it will be interesting to see how he copes up against Labor’s Elida Faith in the upcoming federal election.
DAVID A, Bungalow
