Hervey Bay Lacks Key Infrastructure

HERVEY Bay is one of the fastest growing cities in the country and the latest Census shows our current population is at 63,492. Hervey Bay could easily be a 100,000-population city in the next 20 years. So why don’t we have the infrastructure to match our population base? Why do cities that are half our size have better infrastructure than us? There has been recent debate over whether Hervey Bay should have a convention centre. The answer is ‘Yes, of course it should.’ The question should be ‘How do we not have one already?’ We are a tourism destination that should be the perfect venue for conferences, retreats, concerts, theatre productions and major events. We also severely lack any land-based tourism attractions

that aren’t reliant on good weather. With the Olympics coming up in 2032, we could hold lead events. But we don’t have a stadium that could hold 10,000 people. We don’t even have the capacity to host football events like Bundaberg’s recent Cowboys’ game. We are also getting bypassed for a new level 5 hospital which is going to Bundaberg. This is in contradiction of all the statistics that say Hervey Bay will have the biggest population base in the area over next 20 years. Hervey Bay’s current average age is 51, but our health facilities do not reflect this. We do not even have a cardiac ward at our hospital. Private enterprise and developers can see the growth

and opportunity which is leading to major investments including Bunnings, Spotlight, multiple new land estates, apartment complexes, and new medical centres to name a few. Why are all levels of government not seeing the glaring gap in our infrastructure? And, why aren’t they doing everything they can to get the needed infrastructure built and gather community support? For a city this size, with our growth trajectory, we seriously lack key infrastructure to make this a truly liveable city and provide the cultural, entertainment, health, and moveability infrastructure we deserve.

with GLEN WINNEY of FCPIA

@fcpia.frasercoast www.fcpia.com.au