Greater Whitsunday region’s election priorities spotlight investment in road network.

Greater Whitsunday Alliance (GW3) has released its 2024 Queensland state election priorities that underscores the critical need for investment in roads, housing and future industry growth for the Greater Whitsunday region.

The Greater Possibilities for Greater Whitsunday and Queensland election priorities document outlines strategic initiatives and investment commitments needed for the Greater Whitsunday region.

The advocacy document highlights the importance of the region’s ongoing contribution to Queensland’s economic prosperity in the lead up to the Queensland state election on Saturday October 26.

GW3 Chief Executive Officer Ms Kylie Porter said the Greater Whitsunday region makes an oversized contribution to the Queensland economy, with a total economic output of $74.4B each year.

“Our regional economic contribution across key industries including mining and METS, agriculture, aquaculture and tourism is significant and demonstrates our region’s strategic importance to the Queensland economy.

"This priorities document is a call to action for our state government leaders to invest wisely and ensure that the Greater Whitsunday region remains the Queensland economy’s heavy hitter.”

Ms Porter said importantly, these election priorities emphasise that roads in the region are too often closed in response to a weather event or incident and without action the cost to the region will exceed $1.4B over the next ten years.

“Road closures and a lack of investment is costing the Greater Whitsunday regional economy dearly.

“The impact to our industries and our economy is significant with the region losing $287M in revenue and 215 full time jobs annually.”

Ms Porter said the biggest losses across the region’s industries included mining, accommodation and food services.

"Our roads and infrastructure are not just pathways; they are the lifelines of our economy and community safety”.

Ms Porter said the priority for the region’s roads was to ensure the Queensland Government delivers planned projects on time; accelerates project planning to construction delivery and costs and plans projects that require investment.

“There are 20+ road improvement projects slated for the region with more than $700M in investments committed across the Mackay, Isaac and Whitsunday LGA’s.

“On-time delivery of these planned projects is critical to promote and support prosperity and to improve safety across our region’s road network,” Ms Porter said.

Mackay Regional Council Mayor Greg Williamson said the importance of delivering our planned road projects on time is crucial to the growth and development of Mackay and the whole of the Greater Whitsunday region.

“By accelerating projects from planning to construction, we ensure that our infrastructure keeps pace with our community's needs and economic ambitions.

"Given our region's susceptibility to road closures, with an average of 16.5 closures for an average of 4.2 days, it is fundamental that we adhere to planned timelines and accelerate project completion.

“By minimising disruptions and ensuring efficient project completion, we enhance the quality of life for our residents and bolster our local economy."

Mayor Williamson said highlighting our region’s priorities is essential for making informed decisions to drive real change and progress. By prioritising infrastructure development, we can address community needs and enhance our economic future."

Isaac Regional Council Mayor Kelly Vea Vea said the Greater Whitsunday road network, which supports billions in economic output for the State, is in dire need of investment.

"Our roads were never built for the size and scale of traffic that uses them. Many of the roads across the area are regularly closed due to flooding or starting to literally fall apart,” Mayor Vea Vea said.

“That is why this election we are putting roads at the centre of our advocacy to all major parties.

“We are calling for a serious funding commitment to support road upgrades across Mackay, Isaac and Whitsunday to ensure we can continue to deliver billions for the state’s coffers.”

Whitsunday Regional Council Mayor Ry Collins said building more resilience into the region’s federal and state road network was crucial as “our section of the Bruce Highway is one of the worst."

Mayor Collins said yet another disaster season will come and go and still there was no progress in building flood immunity into the two bottleneck areas at Goorganga Plains on the Bruce Highway and Hamilton Plains on Shute Harbour Road.

“These issues have been kicked around like a proverbial political football for more than a decade and a disrupted road network has a huge impact on not only our residents but also our booming tourism and agriculture industries.

“The almost annual road flooding events cause chaos at our record-breaking Whitsunday Coast Airport with flights cancelled as passengers and staff can’t access the terminal while the freight network, so important to our agriculture sector, is also left in chaos.

"Having our region virtually cut-off upsets everyone both south and north of us as it is our national highway and the connectivity hub for regional Queensland.

"Our aim is to get bi-partisan support for all tiers of government and political parties. We are keen to work with them all to get an outcome for our community,” Mayor Collins said.

You can read the full Greater Possibilities for Greater Whitsunday and Queensland election priorities document here.

You can read the Costing Queensland Dearly: The economic impact of road closures to the Greater Whitsunday Region here.