- Workforce attraction, education and training, employment pathways and economic development are in focus as the members of the Wide Bay Burnett Fraser Coast Regional Community Forum gather in Cherbourg on Monday.
- The Forum is co-chaired by the Member for Bundaberg Tom Smith and the Member for Hervey Bay Adrian Tantari.
The Queensland Energy and Jobs Plan creates vast opportunities across regional Queensland.
Since 2015, approximately $700 million has been invested in about 400 megawatts of large-scale renewable energy, supporting more than 500 construction jobs for the Wide Bay region
Estimated additional investment in electricity infrastructure for the Wide Bay region of $3 billion by 2040.
The growing Wide Bay region will be home to your future Borumba Pumped Hydro Energy Storage Scheme.
There around 2,500 workers will build and deliver secure, reliable and cheap renewable electricity to firm up the Queensland SuperGrid, power the future of the region, and decarbonise its agricultural exports.
The Palaszczuk Government is also delivering the $100 million Equipping TAFE for our Future program, upgrading TAFE campuses across the regions, building on our record investment in training infrastructure of almost $280 million since 2017.
$85 million has been invested in Advancing our Training Infrastructure which modernised seven flagship campuses across Queensland; the upgrades are ensuring Queenslanders can access a world-class TAFE facility to train in.
In addition, the introduction of Path to Treaty legislation into Parliament sets Queensland on the next steps of the journey, and the Forum continues meaningful conversations around what treaty, truth telling and healing mean at a local level.
Forum members will visit the Cherbourg Ration Shed Museum where they will explore Indigenous history as a continued step towards truth telling.
Quotes attributable to the Minister for Seniors and Disability Services and Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships Craig Crawford:
"The Wide Bay Burnett Fraser Coast Forum will continue to explore some of the great initiatives relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples,'' Minister Crawford said.
"This comes with historic legislation now introduced into Parliament on Queensland's Path to Treaty.
"It paves our way forward for First Nations peoples and the Palaszczuk Government to work together on truth-telling and reconciliation, towards a future treaty or treaties."
Quotes attributable to Member for Hervey Bay Adrian Tantari:
"The forum proactively seeks opportunities to enhance the local economy through the Queensland Energy and Jobs Plan," he said.
"We will have further discussion around the proposed Borumba Pumped Hydro Project, and how to grow the region in a sustainable way through the Wide Bay Burnett Regional Plan 2022."
Fast Facts
- The Paradise Dam Improvement Project will support approximately construction 250 jobs.
- Since 2017, the Queensland Government has invested $6.8 million in Wide Bay Burnett Fraser Coast training infrastructure through new or upgraded facilities at TAFE campuses at Bundaberg, Cherbourg (Nurunderi), Gympie, Hervey Bay, Kingaroy and Maryborough.
- Since the introduction of Buy Queensland on 1 September 2017, the Queensland Government has invested, through procurement, $1.85 billion with 6,550 businesses in the Wide Bay Burnett Fraser Coast region, as at 31 December 2022.
- Downer will build 65 new six-car trains and associated infrastructure with 800 jobs supported in the region. Delivered as part of the $7.1 billion Queensland made Train Manufacturing Program.
Further Background
- Attending is the Minister for Seniors and Disability Services and Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships, Craig Crawford.
- The Wide Bay Burnett Fraser Coast Regional Community Forum is one of seven to be held in regional centres across the state on Monday, with similar forums for Far North Queensland, North North West Queensland, Mackay Isaac Whitsunday, Western Queensland, Central Queensland, and Darling Downs South West Queensland.
- This is the first meeting of the Forum members in 2023, with three more Regional Community Forums scheduled throughout the year.
- The Regional Community Forums are part of the Queensland Government's Advancing Queensland's Regions strategy, supported by the Office for Rural and Regional Queensland.
