Stuart Robert (Fadden, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Defence Science, Technology and Personnel) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Recently, I met with Colin McBain from the local board of the Helensvale Golf Club. The golf club is facing a bleak future: due to waterlogging, the course has been unplayable for 373 days of the last three years. It is surrounded by flood plains which the Labor state government has oversight of, and there is insufficient drainage which has caused excess runoff to inundate the golf course rendering it unplayable for an average of 130 days a year.

Clearly, members are now not renewing their full-fee membership due to the course being useless for a third of the time. The Labor state government is using the golf course as part of its flood plain and is avoiding putting in sufficient drainage which would solve this problem for members of the Helensvale Golf Club.

The future of local jobs is in jeopardy. If flooding continues and the club becomes unsustainable then the community will lose a great local hub used by community groups, club members and locals. The Labor state government in Queensland is unnecessarily burdening the Helensvale Golf Club and the community by not adequately maintaining the state government land that they have a duty and, indeed, a responsibility to look after. The cost of the Labor state government’s inaction will be higher to the community than the cost and the implementation of the drainage.

On behalf of the Helensvale Golf Club I implore the Labor state government to live up to and realise their responsibility for the drainage of this property.