Friday 24 August 2012

Leaked email shows Cairns MP Gavin King has been ‘loose with the truth’ on CBD


Labor MP for Mulgrave Curtis Pitt says that a leaked email from Cairns MP Gavin King to Cairns Mayor Bob Manning detailing plans for work on the Cairns CBD, proves he has been deceiving people in Far North Queensland.

Yesterday in State parliament, Pitt asked Premier Campbell Newman to acknowledge that the LNP planned to replace Labor’s $38 million funding commitment with a tokenistic $3 million project for the Cairns CBD.

“The Premier didn’t seem to know anything about plans for the Cairns CBD when asked about this and quite simply didn’t answer the question. Has the Member for Cairns not kept him in the loop or is Mr King acting alone?” said Mr Pitt.

In the leaked email (above) King says:

“The $38 million that many people were concerned about ‘losing’ is staying in FNQ.”

The email acknowledges that there is $38 million that won’t be ‘lost’ to FNQ despite King previously saying it didn’t exist.

“Mr King himself wrote an article in The Cairns Post in 2011 that talked about the previous Labor Government’s budget announcement of $38 million," Curtis Pitt says. “Mr King has been caught out being loose with the truth on numerous occasions and it’s very disappointing.”
Mr Pitt said the email also revealed that only $3 million will now be spent on the CBD instead of what was previously a $38 million package for the Far North under Labor."

“This is a loss of $6 million straight up from the $12 million that has already been allocated as a line item in the 2011-12 budget, with the remaining $26 million included in the forward estimates,” Pitt said. “With a $3 million commitment, no wonder Mr King was being ‘tight lipped’ about the costings of his CBD proposal in the newspaper earlier this week.

“And it’s no wonder that CBD business people aren’t optimistic about the city getting its fair share in the budget, with Craig Squire saying:

“I think it’s disappointing; we were on the verge of getting some good money but we’ve been shafted.”

Curtis Pitt says the email also makes it clear the money King is using as ‘currency’ for local negotiations is not guaranteed as it is still subject to the Cabinet Budget Review Committee.

The email goes on further to say that the remaining $32 million will be spent to improve flood immunity on two bridges on the Bruce Highway between Cairns.

“If the government does intend to spend money on the Bruce Highway between Cairns and Ingham, residents in my electorate of Mulgrave or further south in Hinchinbrook may benefit, and of course I would welcome that,” Pitt says. "But residents of the Cairns electorate must sure be asking – can Gavin King hold on to any funding?"

“At a time when the Far North needs support from the State Government, the LNP has announced they’re walking away from projects that would’ve provided vital jobs and economic stimulus to the region," Curtis Pitt says. “Since becoming the local member, his contribution to the Cairns electorate to date has conservatively been ‘’minus $95.3 million’ – based on lost state funding of $38 million for the CBD project, and $57.3 million for the Cairns Entertainment Precinct."

“It gets worse when you throw in the $40 million value of the port land and the $40 million from the federal government for the CEP. If the full $38 million is made available for Cairns and the Far North, people need to remember that it’s because it had already been previously allocated," Curtis Pitt says. "Even the LNP Member for Leichhardt Warren Entsch said the Newman Government has no excuse for scrapping the Lake St upgrade."

“The money may well have been [committed] by a previous government, but it’s the government that made the commitment, not a political party.” [-Warren Entsch]

In terms of how the LNP views Cairns, Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney let the cat out of the bag earlier this week Curtis Pitt says.

"When he said ‘it’s not all about Cairns’ as it was when the ALP was in government. If ‘Brisbane’s man [King] in Cairns’ does indeed turn this around and bring on some projects to replace the shovel ready ones he’s lost, I’ll congratulate him," Pitt says. “But that’s the point – these projects that have been lost were well advanced in their planning or were shovel ready.”

Gavin King’s statements

* On radio 4CA, the Member for Cairns said on 13 June:
“This $38 million was just a figment of Anna Bligh’s imagination.[and].the reason no dollars were spent by the previous Labor Government was because there was no money.”

** Article ‘Construction, tourism big winners’ written by Gavin King, 15 June 2011 said:
“The budget also contained the first $12 million of a $38 million package to overhaul Lake St Bus services and City Place...”

Budget reference
*** Capital Statement 2011-12, page 111 – Cairns Bus Station and Barron River Bus Stops.

5 comments:

Bryan Law said...

Time now to keep Gavin accountable.

Bryan Law said...

Bob Manning
Mayor
Cairns Regional Council

Dear Bob,

I am deeply concerned about this e-mail purporting to be from Gavin King to you about "opening up" City Place. Is it genuine? http://www.cairnsblog.net/2012/08/leaked-email-shows-cairns-mp-gavin-king.html

You promised at a forum in City Place on 1 April, while you were campaigning to be elected as Mayor, that you would harness local creativity and control when it came to fixing City Place. You specifically said you would not abdicate that responsibility to Queensland Transport.

I would appreciate an opportunity to meet with you soon about City Place, and about how this issue can be resolved in a way which pleases the majority of ratepayers.

Cheers
Bryan

D.J.HUNT said...

As I've said in other forums, Gavin King has been given a free ride by the local media because of his personal connections has not been asked the hard questions or for details on MANY of the claims he has made recently. It has taken Mike Moore to bring up issues that any other politicians would have been called on in the media but he continues to get an easy ride from his mates and colleagues.

Luigi said...

Hi and how are you all
I would not go as far as stating that Cairns enjoy a social media networks. We only are enjoying a broadcasting media corporation best suited to do sport reporting rather than cover main stream media events. Social media minded networks tend to expose wrong doing and incompetence, instead up here they just sweep it under the carpet pretending it does not exist
Thanks. -Mike for giving us an opportunity to speak our mind

Luigi said...

Hi and how are you all
I would not go as far as stating that Cairns enjoy a social media networks. We only are enjoying a broadcasting media corporation best suited to do sport reporting rather than cover main stream media events. Social media minded networks tend to expose wrong doing and incompetence, instead up here they just sweep it under the carpet pretending it does not exist
Thanks. -Mike for giving us an opportunity to speak our mind