By Alistair Gray
Elimbah residents are angry at how the Labor Government has treated them. There was a lack of support from Member for Pumicestone Ali King, also the Assistant Minister of Housing, who failed to take an active interest in their plight and fight for the 140 homeowners who are to have their homes resumed.
Effectively, the town of Elimbah is to be split in two by the Department of Transport and Main Roads proposed route of the Bruce Highway Western Alternative Stage 4, now known as the Moreton Motorway, with impacts on the communities of Moodlu, Caboolture East and Elimbah. The proposed works have nothing to do with solving the problems of the Bruce Highway; instead, it’s about interconnecting suburban travel.
The proposed works segregate the entire Elimbah community, including Pumicestone and the greater Elimbah area, along with the school and Elimbah Village, with kids going to school now having to navigate the proposed four-lane highway. With the significant land movements involved, there are concerns about the impacts on land that already floods, the direct impacts on food production from the farming area and the destruction of native habitats, including Koalas.
The impact places the whole community in limbo while the proposed routes are sorted out, with nothing likely to happen for 15 years. The effect of the uncertainty is that asset values have fallen by 40-60%. With 25% of the population at retirement age and significant paper losses, they cannot sell. The uncertainty means affected residents are unable to make life decisions with significant impacts on their mental health and their well-being. Residents ask how they replace their homes in a cost-of-living crisis, when their asset values have reduced.
“How does the government accept accountability for the burden and level of impact that it is putting on people now?” spokesperson for the Elimbah District Community Jason Smith said.
“The consultation was a joke; it wasn’t a consultation. It was you’re being told. There was a lot of misinformation,” Mr Smith said. “We’ve addressed that with Bart Mellish (Minister for Transport and Main Roads), Ali King and directly with the TMR and we’ve provided all the feedback. “I think the most disappointing thing for the community, besides the non-consultation process, was that we ended up with 11,000 odd signatures on a parliamentary petition. We are not asking for the highway to be stopped. We’re not against growth. We’re asking for the current route to be scrapped and that they go back and find a far more suitable route that creates less impact on the community, something that makes sense. It doesn’t make sense to other civil engineers looking at this. Bart Mellish didn’t take any action; it should have been a ministerial direction to the TMR. Instead, the TMR is providing direction to Mellish and his responses.”
Since then, Member for Glass House Andrew Powell has followed up with a three-minute speech on behalf of the community in parliament, seeking answers for the community and a response to the petition. The frustration in the community is exacerbated by the lack of timeline and the response; ‘we are looking at it’. There is a feeling the matter has disappeared until after the election.
“We have just become another pawn in a political game and they don’t care about the people out there. Now, the interesting thing is if you look at Toowoomba, which went through a very similar situation, the previous Minister for Transport provided ministerial direction to the TMR to stop it. What’s the current Labor cabinet doing? Nothing. They’re doing nothing to support us,” Mr Smith said. “As far as Ali King is concerned we’re just a tiny little portion of her electorate right at the very end with maybe three streets affected. That’s nothing. There’s nothing there to incite Ali to, you know, kick and scream. She’s got us a meeting with Bart Mellish. She’s attended a few community events and said a few words. She even said at a community meeting that it doesn’t really affect her electorate. It only affects a handful of streets. But it does affect the greater Elimbah area, which takes into account another 12 - 15,000 people. Yes, it directly affects 40 properties in her electorate and much of the rest sits in Glass House, but that doesn’t mean it’s only affecting those 40 properties. It affects everybody that uses that area that lives in the greater Pumicestone area that travels through Elimbah.”
“Andrew Powell and I can’t believe the government disrespects the affected communities so much that it will not give them certainty and peace of mind until next year, at the earliest. It’s just not good enough,” LNP candidate for Pumicestone Ariana Doolan said.
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