Truss in emergency talks to land Flight Training Group in Maryborough
21st November, 2008
The community is right to feel disappointed and disgusted with the Fraser Coast Regional Council’s bungling of the proposed flight training school at Maryborough Airport, Federal Member for Wide Bay Warren Truss said today.Mr Truss spoke with the South Australian based company, Flight Training Group, and said he offered to do all he can to bring the Council, the State Government and the company back to the negotiating table.
“The company was so disillusioned by the attitude of the Fraser Coast Regional Council to the project that they were no longer confident that a flight training school could operate out of Maryborough airport,” Mr Truss said.
“It now seems possible that the project could be lost to a neighbouring town. While the company considered Maryborough and Hervey Bay an ideal site for the flight training school and were impressed by the can-do attitude of the former Maryborough City Council, it was clear to them that the new Fraser Coast Regional Council had a totally different attitude.”
Even if the current issues could be resolved the company doubted that there would be sufficient cooperation from the Council in the future to enable the school to operate efficiently.
“It should never have come to this. This is a project that Maryborough needs. It is disappointing that the new Council administration could let this opportunity slip by,” Mr Truss said.
“Council must immediately reinstate negotiations to secure the flight training school for Maryborough. This project is vital for our community and we need to do all we can to secure new industries, particularly in these challenging times.”
Mr Truss said the State Government should also intervene to circumvent the bureaucratic processes and bring the flight training school to Maryborough.
“The Former Maryborough Councillors are to be commended for their work and support for this project. But in light of our forced Council amalgamation, Maryborough’s voice and influence has been so diluted that their efforts have not been enough to overcome the prejudices of the new administration.
“I have met with Flight Training Group’s Mr Keith Morgan on a number of occasions over the last two years and I was always very impressed with their plans. I suspect that many people, even in Maryborough, did not appreciate what a superb facility was being proposed and what a difference it would have made for the town.
“I am disgusted and dismayed that the new Council has dilly dallied with the flight school’s development application to the extent that the company, in despair, is likely to go elsewhere.”
Mr Truss said it was high time for Council administrators to take a broader strategic approach to Maryborough and other communities outside Hervey Bay.
“I hope we can salvage this opportunity. But the Council must work cohesively for all communities.
“The loss of vital, local community projects that help to sustain jobs is one of the consequences of forced amalgamations that I feared the most. I will do all I can to ensure those fears are not realised, but we need the enthusiastic support of all parties to make projects like this happen.”
