I am proud to present this year’s Budget to the residents of our community. It is a budget that supports our first responders and provides state-of-the-art facilities and capacity for them to deliver world-class services to Macalister.
Our local paramedics are big winners in this year’s budget. Beenleigh Ambulance Station, one of the biggest outside of Brisbane, will receive a $16.5 million dollar investment towards a brand-new station to support the growing demand for health services.
When I attended Beenleigh Ambulance Station only last month to inspect one of their newly delivered vehicles, I was amazed at the number of staff who operate out of that station, and it will only grow as we increase our QAS workforce and QAS fleet.
On top of my 2020 commitment to build a new justice precinct for Beenleigh, the Police Fire and Ambulance services in Beenleigh are undertaking generational renewal under this government.
In this year’s budget we will see the planning work for the new Mount Cotton Road permanent Fire and Rescue Station come to fruition with $8.2 million of a $10.5 million total expenditure to bring this contemporary emergency response facility to life.
Not only will it provide a first-class futureproof facility for our firefighters with capabilities to cover the entire electorate and surrounds, but it also provides peace of mind to some of our community that is at risk during bushfire season.
Road bottlenecks will also be targeted in this Budget for Macalister residents. Kicking off the 10-year Beenleigh Better Roads Project is a $3.7 million dollar upgrade to the City Road-Logan Street intersection.
Traffic frequently backs up onto the roundabout, previously known as the ‘Bin Chicken Bayou’, and onto the northbound lanes of the M1. The upgrade will see an increase in turning lanes for traffic coming off the roundabout and onto the Beenleigh ring-road.
There are so many winners for my electorate in this budget. There are the cost-of-living electricity rebates but more importantly for my young families is the free kindy. Free kindy will give my families the head start that these kids need, to set them up for success.
