Gibson calls on Bligh to stop move | Gympie News | Local News in Gympie

David Gibson is calling on Anna Bligh to stop the relocation of jobs to the Sunshine Coast.

MEMBER for Gympie David Gibson has said Anna Bligh should save herself $300,000 and stop the relocation of Department of Transport and Main Road’s jobs to south-east Queensland.

Instead of moving the design office jobs to the Sunshine Coast Ms Bligh could keep the 100 odd jobs in Gympie, Mr Gibson said, and save herself money in relocation costs.

Bligh has proposed offering families an extra first-home owners bonus of $3000 if they move out of south-east Queensland to regional centres like Gympie, but she is sending 100 families into south-east Queensland, according to Mr Gibson.

“More than 100 families will be moved by closing the Main Roads design office,” he said.

Gibson said if Bligh was genuine about trying to take the pressures of liveability in south-east Queensland she should be driving it by having government departments located in regional centres.

“I’m calling on Anna Bligh to keep the design office in Gympie and save $300,000. It’s not too late. The decision doesn’t stack up financially, it was one of the most expensive options,” he said.

Mr Gibson said the move didn’t have the support of Bligh’s own policies, if the state was offering incentives to move people to regional areas.

“If she fails to stop the relocation of Main Roads we’ll see her announcement was nothing more than a lot of hot air and she has no genuine commitment to improving our liveability across the state,” he said.

The Transport Minister Craig Wallace has previously said there would be no forced relocations but the design office move will eventually see only 20 jobs retained in Gympie with the rest to move to the coast. An online petition protesting the relocation will remain open until December 18, 2009. It can be found at www.parliament.qld.gov.au/ then follow the link to Current EPetitions.