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Welcome to my last e-news for 2022. Where did the time go?

If feels to me - and many others I've spoken to - that we've crammed close to two years worth of events interrupted by COVID-19 into the last half of this year! I hope you enjoy reading about some of my highlights over the past couple of months.

I'm certainly looking forward to some downtime with the family over Christmas and I want to wish all readers and Kurwongbah residents a happy, safe and relaxing time. I want to say a special thank you to those who will be giving up time with family and friends to work on our public holidays - like emergency services, police, health, retail, and hospitality workers.

I also want to acknowledge there are a lot of people doing it tough out there. With expenses going up - electricity, groceries, interest rates, rent - this Christmas won't be as happy for some. I've included a list of support services at the bottom of this newsletter so if you or someone you know needs help please use it to reach out.

Shane King MP
State Member for Kurwongbah

Remembrance Day 2022 at Burpengary (above) and Bray Park (below).
LEST WE FORGET

KURWONGBAH SCHOOLS

On October 18 and 19, I hosted Roundtables for my local school Principals, and school P&C and P&F representatives. It was great to have representation from ten schools across the two days including four Showcase Award winners (congratulations to Burpengary State School, Jinibara State School, Lawnton State School and Narangba Valley State School).

We were also lucky to have the Queensland Education Minister, Hon Grace Grace, attend and hear firsthand the feedback from our Principals.

You can watch my Adjournment Speech below for a summary of the issues we talked about this year and I'm looking forward to making these Roundtables an annual event in Kurwongbah.

Congratulations to Ethan Todd from Kurwongbah State School for winning my Christmas Card competition. It was my pleasure to present his prizes - a $50 gift voucher for himself and $100 for his school, accepted by Principal Leanne Odorico.

Ethan's not alone in his creativity, with a Kurwongbah State School team taking out Highly Commended in the 2022 Buy Smart Competition!

There's lots more good news in education right now, like:

✅ Another 37,000 fee-free TAFE places for 2023, delivered in partnership with the Australian Government.
✅ Over 400,000 Queensland State school students now have faster internet. And we'll continue working with Telstra to deliver average internet speeds 40 times greater than their previous bandwidth allocations by September 2023 and up to 200 times greater by 2026.

✅ A new Eat Right Play Right Learn Well $20m grant program - until the end of Term 1, State schools can apply through the Department of Education for grants of up to $500,000 to upgrade school tuckshops and playgrounds.
✅ Our $100m Go For Gold commitment over four years to build and upgrade school sports infrastructure.

KOALA HABITAT MAPPING

My office gets a lot of feedback about koalas on a range of issues. This year, we’ve heard a lot about habitat mapping so I invited some experts out from the State Department of Environment and Science (pictured below) to explain it to us. Thanks to all the locals who came along to our information session at Old Petrie Town on 7 October.

We’re lucky in this part of the world that we do have koalas and it’s the responsibility of all levels of government to make sure we protect them. But it can be challenging to strike a balance between accommodating population growth and protecting all elements of our environment. While no-one wants koalas to come to harm, I do understand that some landowners resent the restrictions that come from having koala habitat mapped on their property.

You can find information about State Government koala habitat mapping here, including how to:

look up any mapping of State significance on your property;
download a free vegetation management report for a property; and
how to request amendments to mapping on your property.

MINISTERIAL VISITS

On Thursday 24 November, the Queensland Treasurer, Hon Cameron Dick, paid a visit to my electorate. In a whirlwind tour covering just a small snapshot of the great things going on out here, we visited local Burpengary businesses - Basil & Vine and Hassum & Levitt; Narangba Valley State High School; and the Patriots Australia MMC Queensland Chapter Clubhouse (all pictured below). Thank you to everyone who showed us around for the wonderful Kurwongbah hospitality.

Speaking of the Treasurer... December's Queensland Budget Update is full of good news:

Queensland has achieved a record budget surplus of $5.18 billion.

We have the strongest jobs growth of any state or territory with 209,200 more Queenslanders having jobs now than at the start of COVID-19.

Queensland’s economy grew 4.4 per cent in 2021-22, stronger than national GDP growth of 3.6%.

We’re continuing to invest in regional Queensland, including a $3 billion investment to fund infrastructure projects across our regions.

You can read or download the Budget Update at https://budget.qld.gov.au/.

On Tuesday 18 October, I joined the Minister for Agriculture, Hon Mark Furner, to visit Zoom Gardens and see how our Rural Economic Development Grant will benefit this great local business.

We also popped by the Sqealing Pig which I've been talking up to the Minister for ages!

And congratulations to the Squealing Pig owner, Gary, who recently won silver representing Australia in the World Butchers’ Challenge in America. They lost only to Germany (in case you were wondering).

On Thursday 17 November, the Minister for Tourism, Innovation and Sport, Hon Stirling Hinchliffe, joined me for a chat with the Pine Rivers Rowing Club - about the possibility of using Lake Kurwongbah for training during the Olympics. We also visited Burpengary State Secondary College where we heard from a range of stakeholders about the importance of inclusivity in sport.

Thank you so much to the awesome team of Midwives and Nurses at Caboolture Hospital, for everything they do for our families and community!

It was my honour to join with Police, Fire and Emergency Services Minister (and my electorate neighbour in Morayfield), Hon Mark Ryan, and help them out with some money for their maternity ward decorations this year. Of course we had to inspect their handiwork :-)

LOCAL INFRASTRUCTURE UPDATE

The New Settlement - Deception Bay Road Bruce Highway Interchange Upgrade is nearing completion and the last project update for 2022 is out 👇

It was great to see money allocated to the Burpengary Train Station Accessibility Upgrade in the 2022-23 State Budget!

Queensland Rail is working to award the contract for the upgrade of Burpengary Station in early next year, with works expected to commence in mid-late 2023. I look forward to keeping our community updated as we reach more milestones on this $30m project.

The preferred alignment for Stage 2 of the Bruce Highway Western Alternative was announced last month and meetings are currently underway between the Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) and landowners identified as directly impacted. I acknowledge this is a difficult time for those households.

A second round of wider community feedback is also open and will continue until 12 February 2023. You can submit feedback to ncr_planning_comms@tmr.qld.gov.au or via the website at https://www.yoursay-projects.tmr.qld.gov.au/bhwa/stage-2 where you can also view more detailed maps.

I encourage the community of Narangba (where the road enters my electorate) to take advantage of the "What would you like TMR to consider in future project phases for Stage 2" feedback function. Whether it's noise barriers or wildlife initiatives, what do you think could and should be considered as the corridor planning progresses?

The Queensland Energy and Jobs Plan is all about a future of cheaper, cleaner and secure energy for Queenslanders, powering good jobs in new regional industries.

We're creating Australia's largest energy SuperGrid and building the world's biggest pumped hydro station - the battery of the north.

And best of all our plan keeps Queensland’s energy assets in public hands for the future.

I'm an electrician who worked in the power generation industry for most of my career, so I know how exciting this is. I'm also a member of the mighty Electrical Trades Union (ETU) and I know they are pumped for this plan which will revolutionise our industry, preparing us for a future with renewables.

Check out the speech I delivered in Parliament on 27 October 👇

DV Safe Phone

Thank you so much to everyone who has dropped in a mobile phone to our DV Safe Phone collection point.

We've only been running this appeal for a couple of months and we've already sent in almost 20 phones to be provided to front line services that offer support to victims of domestic and family violence.

Please keep the phones coming in, especially as we hit the holiday season where things can get really tough for some families.

If you need support, or know someone who does, you can search for a service at haltmap.raisley.com. You can also phone a 24 hour hotline for support at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).

In memory of every QPS officer who made the ultimate sacrifice to keep our communities safe. Our thoughts are with their families, especially at Christmas.

HELP IS AVAILABLE DURING THE HOLIDAYS

In an emergency call Triple Zero (000)
Homelessness Hotline 1800 474 753
13 QGOV (13 74 68) for non-urgent State Government matters

13 HEALTH (13 43 25 84) for assistance with medical matters
131 444 for Police Link or visit www.police.qld.gov.au/policelink-reporting
Queensland Urban Utilities (faults & emergencies) - 13 23 64
Energex (power outages) - 13 62 62
Energex (fallen powerlines) - 13 19 62
Lifeline - 13 11 14
Beyond Blue - 1300 224 636
Caboolture Safe Space - 5232 1590
Strathpine Safe Space - 3493 6710
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) for domestic and family violence support

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Copyright © 2018 Shane King for Kurwongbah, All rights reserved.

Our office is at:
Shop 4, 232 - 236 Young Road, Narangba QLD 4504
Our mailing address is:
P O Box 39, Narangba Q 4504
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