Mayor takes issues to premier MAREEBA Mayor Angela Toppin had the ear of Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk last week when she travelled to Brisbane to hold meetings with several MPs to ensure that the needs of the shire remained top of mind. “The Mareeba Shire is growing, and by working closely with the State we remain ‘on the radar’,” she said. At a meeting with the Premier, Mayor Toppin presented a proposal which council believes will alleviate the housing crisis in the shire and lobbied for the Mareeba Bypass and long-awaited upgrades to the Mareeba Hospital. “The Premier was supportive of the housing proposal and we look forward to working with departmental staff to progress this in the Mareeba Shire,” she said. “We also look forward to progressing the discussion around the Mareeba Bypass and hospital in the near future.
“It was wonderful to represent the great Mareeba Shire, and I thank Cynthia Lui MP and Craig Crawford MP who were instrumental in securing meetings with the Ministers.” Mayor Toppin also met with Deputy Premier Steven Miles, Queensland Housing Minister Leeanne Enoch and Minister for Transport Mark Bailey. “The meetings were an opportunity to advocate for those top priority issues affecting the Mareeba Shire, which we need the State to address,” she said. “Along with housing and health matters, I advocated strongly for a future-proofed solution for the Kuranda Range road, improved community safety, long-term planning for infrastructure in Kuranda and the Mareeba bypass. “Each of these matters has a significant bearing on the future success of the Mareeba Shire and, indeed, Queensland.”
Mareeba Mayor Angela Toppin with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Member for Cook Cynthia Lui in Brisbane last week.
Shire hands over bypass road case MAREEBA Shire has put forward a strong argument to the State Government that the long-awaited Heavy Vehicle Mareeba Bypass should be built as soon as possible, with Mayor Angela Toppin personally handing the council’s submission to Minister for Transport Mark Bailey last week. The submission argues the importance of the bypass to improve safety in Mareeba’s main street, revealing that Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) data from 2020 shows 13,500 vehicles were using Byrnes Street daily, including 1000 heavy vehicle movements. “In fact, the whole of the state-controlled road network through Mareeba simply cannot cope with the growth in local and regional traffic, with serious congestion and safety issues at almost all state-controlled intersections,” Mayor Toppin said in the submission. “Our community can no longer tolerate this situation and we are calling for action on the bypass.” She said since 2020, there had been a decrease of 1000 vehicles a day using Byrnes Street, but attributed this to the installation of traffic lights and traffic calming measures by the State. “TMR projects on Byrnes Street have effectively discouraged through traffic from using the main street in favour of rat-running through our town’s local streets,” she said. “Since the upgrades on Byrnes Street, council has received various complaints from the public regarding the increase in traffic, particularly heavy vehicles, using local streets which pass by residences, childcare centres, and primary schools.” Anzac Avenue had become another victim of the situation, with around half of the 6,500 daily traffic movements on the street being non-local traffic, “who are using this
“Our community can no longer tolerate this situation and we are calling for action on the bypass” – Mayor Angela Toppin
local street in favour of the congested, inefficient, state-controlled route”. “Additional traffic using local streets, particularly heavy vehicles, has negatively impacted the Mareeba community, as our local streets are also now becoming congested, noisy and unsafe for pedestrians and cyclists,” Mayor Toppin said. “The diverting of regional traffic onto Mareeba’s local streets through the Queensland Government failing to adequately manage its state-controlled road network is spoiling the liveability in our wonderful town and simply cannot continue.” Expected growth in industries within the shire also warranted better road infrastructure, and the bypass would also provide a more reliant transport corridor in heavy rainfall events. As part of your government’s review of the Far North Queensland Regional Plan, various opportunities in Mareeba are being proposed, including expansion of agriculture, mining, aviation and potential for significant industrial growth to support future needs in the region,” Mayor Toppin explained. “While the discussions as part of these planning instruments are indicating that Mareeba is well-placed to further develop as a hub for various industries in the Far North, none of this will be possible without invest-
ment in an effective transport network. “When constructed, the Mareeba Bypass will provide more resilient connectivity for the movement of goods and people, and delivery of emergency and other services in times of severe weather events, reducing the impacts and economic losses across the whole region. “At present, connectivity to Cape York and the Gulf is disrupted during high rainfall events, as the Granite Creek bridge, on the northern approach to Mareeba is regularly inundated, often for several hours at a time and with no viable alternate route available. “Construction of the Mareeba Bypass, with sufficient flood immunity, is imperative to ensure that Far North Queensland remains connected and resilient in times of natural disaster.” Mayor Toppin stressed council believed the construction of the bypass should proceed as a matter of priority. “Council has been advocating for the Mareeba Bypass for many years now, and there have numerous studies completed by the department in this time, however it is now time we see action from the Queensland Government to bring this vital project to fruition,” she said. “Construction of the Mareeba Bypass will make an enormous difference to regional freight efficiency and the flow of traffic throughout Mareeba, thus eliminating the need for ongoing and costly upgrades to state-controlled intersections and councilcontrolled local streets in the future. “This will greatly improve amenity and safety in the town centre and on our local streets and provide greater opportunities for active transport initiatives and economic growth in Mareeba.”
Come and talk tourism at Mareeba think tank LOCAL tourism operators and residents passionate about promoting their region are being encouraged to attend the Mareeba Shire Tourism Think Tank to be held next Wednesday, 8 March. The think tank is the newly established Mareeba Shire Council Local Tourism Organisation’s (LTO) first major step after its successful launch recently. The LTO is a joint project between Mareeba Shire Council and the Mareeba Chamber of Commerce with the aim of making Mareeba a must-see destination. The think tank will be hosted by Tourism Tropi-
cal North Queensland CEO Mark Olsen at the Cedric Davies Memorial Hub in Mareeba from 12noon to 5pm. LTO chair Lenore Wyatt said the think tank would give tourism operators a chance to bring their ideas to the table. “Tourism is everybody’s business, so we are welcoming people’s idea and inviting them to come along to the think tank and work on our strategic marketing plan,” she said. “The plan will identify how we are going to move forward and promote our region over the next 12 months.”
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0400 724 278 The Express, Wednesday, March 1, 2023 PAGE 5