Our current mayor says the latest budget is a “financially responsible outcomeâ€. A mayoral candidate … Jim McKellar … describes it as “a callous disregard for the financial plight of many Fraser Coast residentsâ€.
Who is right?
Well maybe Jim has a point because Council was not able to spend all the money it allocated in the last budget … there may be as much as $30 million left unspent. Yet the latest budget takes an additional $10 million dollars from ratepayers … many of whom are struggling to survive financially.
Sure the Council may be looking at building up its cash reserves but when so many businesses and individuals in Hervey Bay, Maryborough and beyond are struggling to survive in these difficult times now is hardly the time to be making the struggle even harder.
Perhaps it’s time our Councillors realized that governments spend money in tough times and save money in the good times. They do it to hasten the recover and it’s the fiscally responsible thing to do. It’s a lesson that our Council needs to learn because if they don’t this area will never recover.
So the State budget is out and Hervey Bay has not been entirely forgotten.
Health
Hervey Bay and Bundaberg will be sharing $5.6 million towards the construction of an oral health clinic in each centre.
Environment
$1.8 million will be spent on various environmental programmes in the Wide Bay Burnett region including irrigation distribution in the Lower Mary Catchment area.
While that money may not be spent in Hervey Bay anything that’s done to improve the Mary River has a positive impact on Hervey Bay’s fishing fleet.
Education
$3.5 million will be shared by Hervey Bay Special School and St Helens State School. The money will go towards the construction of new classrooms.
Community Projects
$249,000 will be spent on upgrading the Hervey Bay Recreation Centre and $940,000 will go towards the construction of the new Craignish auxiliary fire and rescue station.
Other spending that will benefit Hervey Bay includes $57.6 million dollars to upgrade and expand the tilt train fleet with the work being carried out in Maryborough and a further $97 million dollars for the ongoing construction of suburban passenger trains at EDI.
$4.7 million dollars will also be spent on upgrading the Maryborough to Cooloola Road – the most direct route from Hervey Bay to Rainbow Beach and Tin Can Bay and a road that has been in dire need of an upgrade for some time.
Over the years there have been some unusual vessels anchored in Hervey Bay but I can’t ever remember seeing two large Army landing craft out there before.
These two were spotted anchored off Scarness around 7am this morning and they were still there several hours later.
The royal wedding is now passed into history but we keep on seeing images of THAT hat … in fact if you saw the royal wedding you would have seen lots of images of some unusual head pieces.
Not many people know but Hervey Bay has it’s very own milliner … Sheneek … and while none of her creations made it to the royal wedding they are beginning to appear all over Australia thanks to their online store.
The price tags that went with some of the hats you would have seen at the royal wedding might make you feel a little faint Sheneek’s prices are much more reasonable.
It seems that Hervey Bay is about to feel some more pain from the rising Aussie dollar (rises that some economists suggest will go on for quite some time thanks to what economists call the “carry trade”) as stories begin to surface that two more large backpacker hostels are set to close their doors soon.
If reports that we have heard are correct one is already in receivership and the other will close simply because large numbers of backpackers aren’t coming to Hervey Bay any more and the hostel is losing money.
With around 2,000 homes for sale, many new business premises remaining empty in Hervey Bay and the continuing closure of many small businesses on the Fraser Coast it’s not hard to be pessemistic about the future of this great town but perhaps it’s time for some optimism.
Hervey Bay has always had a two-stage economy … there’s the retirees and others moving in because of the lifestyle and then there’s the tourists. Both stages of the economy have been in the doldrums for quite some time but the Easter weekend … and April as a whole … saw an increase in tourism numbers.
We certainly aren’t back to the levels that experienced a few years ago but there are positive signs that the industry is recovering and that’s great news for Hervey Bay. Some local business groups have given up waiting for the Council to do anything and are now following the lead set by Holiday Hervey Bay and doing what they can to promote this town themselves.
So perhaps it’s time to stop being so negative about our future and start thinking that there may be a positive outcome for this town after all. At least one small business is already thinking that Hervey Bay is a great place to do business:
It looks as though Hervey Bay will have a new restaurant opening in the near future. Several people have tried running a cafe/restaurant next to Wetside but for various reasons have not succeeded. Perhaps this time we’ll see a positive result.
It’s another big weekend in Hervey Bay this weekend and after a week of showers and gusty winds the weather looks like being very good.
The sun certainly wanted to get off to a positive start today and it wasn’t letting clouds block it out as it rose over Fraser Island this morning.
The Bay to Bay yacht race is on this weekend and the Hervey Bay Triathlon is making a return after an absence of 10 years.
Unfortunately for some people who live along the Esplanade as far out as Point Vernon right through to Urangan the Triathlon brings with it road closures between 6am and 10am on Sunday so if they’re not out by 6am then they’re not going anywhere till the competition finishes
We’ve also got a gathering of Hotrod enthusiasts happening in town this weekend so you’re sure to see plenty of highly polished metal out there on the streets. We caught this beautiful 1947 Plymouth convertible cruising the Esplanade this morning.
All that activity is expected to bring around 2000 people to Hervey Bay this weekend and that’s sure to be good for the town. There were a number of ‘No Vacancy’ signs up around town this morning and that’s always a good thing to see,
We couldn’t have asked for better weather here in Hervey Bay this Easter and tourist industry in town is enjoying it even more.
The ‘No Vacancy’ signs are out up and down the Esplanade … the cafes and restaurants have been packed throughout the day and well into the night ever since Friday morning and Hervey Bay hasn’t had it this good for several years.
It’s not just the resorts and motels that are full; the caravan parks are bursting at the seems too and there wasn’t an empty spot in the Caravan Park on the Esplanade in Pialba when we passed this morning.
The beach and the Wetside have definitely been the places to go in Hervey Bay this weekend. This was the beach on Saturday afternoon:
And at the same time the Seafront Oval had been turned into a car park to cope with all the people who wanted to spend time at Wetside.
While the sun is shining today the wind may put some people off and there are showers forecast for Anzac Day.
Tapping into the Queensland housing boom and the quirky culture of small town Australia, SUBDIVISION follows the story of the Kelly Family, a family deeply entrenched in the community of Hervey Bay and property development for their livelihood.
Digger Kelly (GARY SWEET) and son Jack (ASHLEY BRADNAM) are local carpenters, and with mum Betty (KRIS MCQUADE) doing the books, life could not be more simple and sweet for an honest and hard working Australian family.
It’s an Australian story filmed here in Hervey Bay and it’s out on video right now. Check it out at your local video store and see what happens behind the scenes.
