Deputy Premier, Minister for State Development, Infrastructure and Planning
The Honourable Jeff Seeney
LNP to act on housing crisis
There is a pressing need to act on the housing crisis in regional Queensland mining communities where country towns had been smothered by the resources boom, Deputy Premier and Minister for State Development, Infrastructure and Planning Jeff Seeney told Parliament today.
Mr Seeney declared that the Urban Land Development Authority (ULDA) would be transformed into a smaller unit within the Department of State Development to address regional housing issues.
He said the ULDA was symptomatic of Labor’s failure to plan and provide infrastructure to cope with the mining boom.
Mr Seeney was answering a question from the Member for Gregory Vaughan Johnson who asked the Deputy Premier to explain the role of the ULDA in solving the housing crisis left to the mining towns of Blackwater, Moranbah and Emerald by the Bligh Government.
Premier Campbell Newman told Parliament today the Government had started transferring planning powers back to 17 larger local governments in south-east Queensland from the ULDA in keeping with LNP election commitments to empower local government to make planning decisions.
The Deputy Premier said the ULDA would still have a role in regional areas, but as part of his department where it would be tasked with dealing with planning issues that were important to country people and country towns.
Mr Seeney said the Newman Government would seek to keep mining camps and country towns as separate and distinct entities.
“Country communities weren’t protected by the failed Labor Government and country people live with that failure every day where entire towns were smothered and taken over as mining camps because of poor planning,” Mr Seeney said.
“We will get the planning process in hand so that it can’t happen again.”
