Maxine McKew, the former journalist turned Labor politician, is the parliamentary secretary for infrastructure and regional development in the Rudd government. Maxine, made a quick trip to the Sunshine Coast recently to launch Regional Development Australia, and to scan her eyes over the Coolum beach on which she frolicked as a young girl.
While Maxine is notorious for being the only person in Australian history to defeat a sitting Prime Minister, she is quickly earning her stripes as an efficient political insider and effective communicator.
PART OF Maxine McKew’s role is to oversee the activities of RDA Australia wide a partnership in which the commonwealth contributes funding, the state provides admin support and local government provides councillor leadership all focussed on highlighting regional planning issues and offering potential solutions.
In launching RDA in Maroochydore, Ms McKew stressed the Rudd government’s “very ambitious nation building agenda, providing the infrastructure investment, the regulatory reform and the national leaderships on issues like urban policy”.
She acknowledged that the Sunshine Coast of her youth is changing, and that the current population of 300,000 would swell to 500,000 by 2030. She said this presented challenges of development and environmental sustainability at a time of an ageing, and a growing population.
Innovation and creativity are needed if we are to re imagine the future. “For example. We have become better water managers because we had to be. We now have to apply the same innovation to other indices… energies, liveability, affordable housing. ”
While Ms McKew was happy to mention the broad brush strokes of federal infrastructure, like the upgrade of the Bruce Highway and funding of the $4.2 million North Shore Community Centre, she did not comment on the most sensitive issue on the Coast the escalating fight with the state government over accelerated urban growth plans for the region, and the alarming lack of infrastructure attached to those plans. (See: OSCAR’s view P.41)
Presumably RDA Sunshine Coast will express concerns about transportation, health, education and other infrastructure needs as time goes by. Ms McKew did highlight the low levels of educational attainment on the Sunshine Coast as against the state average, suggesting a fully wired Australia ,through a national Broadband network, would improve that situation.
In thanking Maxine McKew for launching RDA Sunshine Coast, Councillor Debbie Blumel confirmed the lobbying role of the new organisation. She and Councillor Lew Brennan are the council reps in a ten member group of local business leaders and academics.While the RDA is a political, Councillor Blumel hopes they will be a coordinating influence, seeking to “unite and empower” the community’s aspirations.
We must get past the sense that bigger is better and dinosaur technology must move on”, said Councillor Blumel. “The Sunshine Coast RDA are committed to innovation, science and evidence-based practice”, the latter comment probably giving some comfort to the increasingly vocal and frustrated resident population.
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