Keep Valley action plan: locals
THEY might not know what the LNP's new strategy is, but the people of the Mary Valley do know they would hate to see any more money spent on consultants.
It's been almost three years since the then-government announced the Traveston Crossing Dam would not go ahead and now the LNP has announced a new strategy will be delivered within a month.
But residents like Dave Sims who worked on the Mary Valley Community and Economic Action Plan say there already is a good strategy, one the Mary Valley wants.
Mr Sims, new Friends of Kandanga president, said up until now it had been difficult to deal with the government.
"Now we're just relying on our local member to push the barrow for us," he said.
"We really want Kandanga to get back on its feet, it's just starting."
Mr Sims said he had seen some co-ordinator general staff on the ground recently but hoped there would not be any more paid consultants turning up.
"We've seen that many consultants. The fourth consultant on the Mary Valley land sales spent two days here and flew back.
"They don't need new information.
"We hope the new government will be a bit better."
Mary Valley renewal team spokeswoman Glenda Pickersgill also worked on the action plan.
"There's been millions of dollars spend on consultants. We want to move forward," she said.
Ms Pickersgill said she hoped the government would use the existing plan.
"We're interested to work with the government on that. I think open, transparent communication is important."
She agreed with Landcare's Steve Burgess that about 10% of the land purchased to build the Traveston Crossing Dam should be up for sale.
Mr Burgess said that would be in line with the current market and not flood it.
But, more importantly, it was better than the 1% that the Labor Government had tried to sell off.
He said the announcement there would be a new strategy and further auctions halted came as a surprise to residents.
"We read it on the front page of The Gympie Times," he said.
"We don't know what it (the strategy) is, but whatever the government does it would be really good if they took a look at the (Mary Valley Community and Economic Action Plan) document."
Mr Burgess said the community had already put a lot of effort into an action plan, which had taken a lot of consultation.
"The last thing we want to see is a bunch of consultants come in and start from scratch. That would be a disaster." And that was what had happened every time a new co-ordinator general was appointed in the past few years since the dam was canned.
"It's been slow, but we don't want a whole pile suddenly come on the market for a fire sale. That would have a bad impact on everybody."
He also said the land needed to be managed by locals instead of bureaucrats.
"This is not only about the impact on Gympie Regional Council residents, but the Sunshine Coast Regional Council also. A lot of people there were badly impacted. They've been left out of the renewal.
"We just want to see some action."
Ms Pickersgill said the process so far had been frustratingly slow.
"It's been three years and millions of dollars and hardly anything has happened."
