To A Happy 'Fitter' New Year

Many of us tonight will make a resolution or two.  A popular resolution will be to get fitter in 2012.  Could we extend this to making a resolution for a fitter Central Queensland in 2012 also?  What would it mean if we were to make this resolution?  ‘To get in good health and physical condition’, I think that’s what most of us mean when we say ‘I want to get fitter’.  Can this also be relevant for a geographic region also?

Our politicians will tell us CQ is in great shape – never better, billion dollar projects; jobs, jobs and jobs.   Is CQ fit though?

Are our rivers, harbours, agricultural land an indication of good physical condition? People living in their cars, creating an environment that encourages prostitution to flourish are these indicators of a region in good health.

I therefore hope that many of us will make a resolution for a fitter CQ tonight.  Along with this resolution however should be one for strong ‘fit’ leadership for our region.  As without strong ‘fit’ leadership I fear it will be difficult for the other resolution to be achieved.  The resource boom will provide our region many opportunities.  Strong ‘fit’ leadership will be required to recognise and grab those opportunities that will lead to a fitter CQ.  But also be prepared to stand up opposing those projects that may be thrust upon us which may in the long term be detrimental to a fitter CQ. This ‘fit’ leadership will need to be proactive, on the front foot, not reactive jumping on populist issues after the damage is done.  It certainly can’t be sitting on its hands cowering behind bureaucratic processes, committees and awaiting the production of expensive authorless ‘fuzzy logic’ expert opinion called a report.  Opportunities good and bad will have passed while other experts are deciphering what the report says or doesn’t say.  “Fit’ leaders will be pro-active in pushing for the early rollout of the national broadband network (NBN) for this region, high speed train linking Rockhampton and Gladstone, an environmentally sensitive resort for Great Keppel Island, a high school for Gracemere, better vehicle access at the southern entrance to Rockhampton and a foreshore development that will attract tourists to Yeppoon because they know these aspirations are needed to help make CQ fitter.

2012 looks to be an exciting year.  You can choose to passively sit by as the 366 days pass by (taking an interest in the Olympics of course) or indicate to the mining companies, south east Queensland State Government and Canberra that Central Queensland is more than just a mine which you fly workers in and out of to exploit.  There will be two elections in the first quarter of the New Year.  If you make a silent resolution tonight for a ‘fitter’ CQ that your kids and their kids will want to live, work and play in, consider not  the party the candidate represents or the fuzzy logic of their promises, but which one’s are offering ‘fit’ leadership, willing to put their neck on the line to make our region fitter. 

To keep the resolutions you make tonight will depend on your actions.  Just like your future, it’s yours to make, not to see. Let’s make 2012 a good ‘fitter’ one for us individually and as a community.

Happy New Year here’s hoping we’re not met with the challenges that we were presented with at the beginning of this year. 

A Chrstmas Aspiration for the 3H's

A Christmas Aspiration for Happiness, Health & Harmony

When did money become the goal and not a vehicle to obtain a goal?

‘Show me the money’, ‘Follow the money’, ‘I want more money’; long forgotten it seems that money is supposedly the root of all evil.  It now appears to be an aspiration itself; not what it can buy.  Why do we now pursue the ‘almighty dollar’ and not the benefits it is supposed to be able to provide? 

Happiness, health and harmony are listed again and again amongst the most popular aspirations for people.  As the richest generation ever to live on earth are we now concurring that money can’t buy happiness, - health or harmony.  That amassing money is the next best option.

I recall reading a book within which a fisherman who lived simply by the beach with his family was mentioned. He only fished for his family and friends needs.  Each afternoon he would be home enjoying the company of his family and friends.  He was asked why not buy a fleet of boats, employ workers, export your product, float a company to get the capital required and make a lot of money.  The fisherman asked, ‘what will I do with all the money?’  “You could retire, live by the sea, fish when you want to fish and enjoy the company of your family and friends’ was the reply.

In the season of goodwill, I hope we all get the chance to stop for a moment and reflect on what is happening in our lives.  Central Queensland is rushing into a massive resource boom.  However in this ‘rush’ to make money, what are we sacrificing? A fly in fly out workforce that separates workers from their families for up to 21 days at a time; a harbour we no longer care to eat the fish from; a water supply we have concerns about drinking from; irreparable damage to valuable farming land and the water below it; increases in housing rental prices forcing long time residents to leave towns, replaced by a mobile workforce. 

In this column I have listed a number of aspirations for Central Queensland.  A high speed train linking the cities of Rockhampton and Gladstone; a wave pool for Yeppoon foreshore; a reality website TV show for Mount Morgan; the early rollout of the National Broadband Network (NBN) etc, as I believe that decentralisation is essential in providing for a better future for all Australians.  By providing this type of infrastructure Central Queensland can be a more attractive destination for people to live, work and play in.  We need to assess what kind of future do we want for this region and for our country.  A short term fix may deliver bigger problems in the future; environmental and social.  Pause, take a breath and lets again place happiness, health and harmony as our main aspirations, not money.  May the decisions made during this boom reflect on the3 H’s and not the almighty dollar. 

Happy Christmas, I do hope you get to spend it with family and friends.  Remember the future is not to see, it is to create.

P.S.  Central Queensland lost one of its champions this month with the passing of Lloyd Willie.  As Robert Louis Stevenson said, “the man is a success who has lived well, laughed often, and loved much; who has gained the respect of intelligent men and the love of children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who leaves the world better than he found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul; who never lacked appreciation of earths beauty or failed to express it; who looked for the best in others and gave the best he had”.  Lloyd Willie was a success, which I’m sure will be appreciated even more in time.

A Dr. Suess Prescription for Rockhampton

Can Rockhampton take Some Medicine from Dr Seuss?

“This year the school had seven Australian representatives………”; this is no aspiration for a future speech night at one of Rockhampton’s high schools.  This was said last week at North Rockhampton State High Schools Presentation Night.  Similar comments were no doubt echoed by other high schools throughout the region.  Approximately 1000 former students within our region are about to embark on the next stage of their life journey, taking the career path, hopefully all optimistic about making their mark.  However many will leave our region to do this.  Which in one way is a shame, but as champions of Rockhampton they will each play a part in building a perception of the Rockhampton Region in the cities and companies in which they’ll study and work.

A couple of weeks ago I questioned the perception ‘Beef Capital of Australia’ was creating with people outside the region of Rockhampton.  As an alternative slogan I suggested “Home of Australia’s Future Champions” could be a more positive perception creator.  North Rockhampton High School’s speech night reinforced my thoughts.  For an aspiration to be realised it’s important to identify the foundations that already exist, and build upon them.  Rockhampton does produce champions; we’ve just produced another one thousand.  Imagine what a deliberate plan to foster this aspiration could achieve.  Not just for the elite, after all a champion is anyone who has strived to achieve more than what others may have thought was possible.  To be Dux of the school is to be a champion, to represent Australia is to be a champion, to achieve best marks in a subject is to be a champion and to complete twelve years of education when the expectation of others was you would not go the distance, is to be a champion.

I hope these young adults continue to be champions by striving to find out how great he or she can be.  To strive beyond the expectation and be proud to say you come from Rockhampton, a region that produces champions – a champion region.  One of these champions quoted Dr Seuss in his speech to the North Rockhampton High School graduating class of 2011, “you have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes.  You can steer yourself any direction you choose.  You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And you are the one who decides where to go…..”.  I think the Rockhampton Region can take something from this Seussism.  Times have changed, it’s time Rockhampton chose to steer a new direction.  A direction that builds on its current strengths and the opportunities with and around us.  What vision do you have of Rockhampton Region and how will you contribute towards its attainment?  Sadly these questions aren’t being asked or answered enough.  I hope we hear of the aspirations of the graduating classes of 2011.  Their personal aspirations, their aspirations of the region they’ll always call home and maybe how they hope to contribute towards attaining them.

In keeping with Dr Seuss, I congratulate and encourage the Grade 12’s of 2011 to continue to be champions with another of his quotes, “you’re off to great places!  Today is your day!  Your mountain is waiting, so…. Get on your way”.

Good luck and as Dr Seuss also says, “only you can control your future”.

What History Can Teach Us

Generally when faced with a problem, we (mankind) have found a solution. It seems though at the moment we are more intent on creating problems than finding solutions. There must be a huge problem, that we allocate so little to finding solutions to the extra problems being created in attempting to fix the big problem.

It’s Time we Took A History Lesson

The sun was just rising, giving the sky a bluey grey glow.  He looked across the Yeppen Lagoon at the lighted train carriages taking the Rockhampton based workers to work for the start of their shift.  This is not an aspiration for a bullet train to take Rockhampton based workers to Gladstone to start their shifts at the LNG plants.  This was 1926; the Rockhampton based workers were being transported by train to start their shift at the Mount Morgan mine.  I asked why the workers didn’t live at Mount Morgan.  “There was no where to live there Warren”, was the reply.  Here we are 85 years later with an accommodation crisis in Gladstone and we don’t have a dedicated passenger train from Rockhampton to help alleviate the problem.  Baffling to me, why this hasn’t been identified as a “significant project for the State”.  Not only back in 1916 (and beforehand) were workers being transported by train to work at Mount Morgan, special Abt Rack locomotives were imported to overcome the obstacle the Razorback with its steep incline provided.  Footage of this can be seen via a 3D presentation at the Mount Morgan Rail Museum.  How determined and innovative they must have been.  Eighty five years later our solution to meeting the labour demand appears to be fly in fly out.  Is there a lesson to be learnt here! Mount Morgan must have wished it was screaming out for long term sustainable development when it was the richest gold mine in the southern hemisphere.  Fly in fly out is not going to assist the long term sustainable development of Central Queensland.  We should look at history and learn from it, the good and not so good chapters.

A bullet train between Rockhampton and Gladstone will benefit both cities, not just during the job boom, but for the future.  Each city has complimentary strengths that need to be jointly marketed.  I also hope we hear more about a possible hovercraft transport route between Zilzie and Curtis Island.  Now’s the time to demonstrate how determined and innovative Central Queensland still is.

By the way, the person at the beginning of the column who was looking across the Yeppen Lagoon is my grandfather.  He was sixteen then and had just finished doing the Gracemere milk run by horse and cart.  He will be 102 in January.