| Dear resident |
The State budget has dominated the news during the past week. It was a very hard budget for many people, but it was the budget we had to have, but arguably did not deserve.
Unfortunately the Bligh and Beattie Governments squandered every new opportunity, looted every Government-owned corporation, then finally borrowed too much just to pay for recurrent expenditure and limited capital items.
In simple terms, Queensland was living beyond its means. Whilst I empathise with those who have lost their employment, I sincerely hope other doors will open. These will be difficult times.
I am urging residents to have their say in the South East Queensland Bus Network Review by Sunday, September 23.
Translink wants to hear people's views on individual bus routes and use the information to improve service frequency, reliability and affordability. More details
Combining my experience as an MP and medical practioner, I recently spoke at the Gold Coast launch of National Stroke Awareness Week at Southport.
Lifestyle issues including smoking, obesity, alcohol consumption, lack of exercise, family history and high blood pressure affect people at any age and put these people at risk of having a stroke.
More details
Building a cruise ship in the Broadwater will result in massive upstream problems along both the Nerang and Coomera Rivers.
Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate's support for a terminal for 300-metre plus ships on land adjoining the Broadwater will require massive dredging and blasting of the seabed coffee rock of the existing eastern Broadwater channel.
I spoke in Parliament of my opposition to building a terminal in the Broadwater and tabled a 1998 report by Gutteridge Haskins and Davey which said dredging could not be done below the 4.5 metre mark from the Seaway to the Sundale Bridge and only to 3.5 metres from the Seaway to the mouth of the Coomera River.
View my speech
Birthdays and wedding anniversaries are important milestones in our lives. Requests for congratulatory messages for those celebrating their 90th and 100th birthdays and 50th and 60th wedding anniversaries can be made to my office.
Request for a congratulatory letter
I am always interested to hear your views on any issues in our electorate or in the wider community. If you are interested in obtaining a booklet of my speeches please phone or call into my office. I am always happy to speak with you.
Yours sincerely
Alex
Alex Douglas MP
Member for Gaven
|
SPEED KILLS AND LITTLE SUPPORT FOR INCREASED SPEED LIMITS
New unpublished research shows there is little support for increasing the speed limit on Queensland's rural highways, Dr Alex Douglas MP told State Parliament today.
Tabling the RACQ research, Dr Douglas said less than five percent of members surveyed supported increasing the limit above 110 kms, while more than 50 percent wanted the limit reduced to less than 110 kms.
"As a general practioner I see what speed does to accident victims and the number of lives that are destroyed and ruined by speed," he said.
More.....
| |
|
ANNE PANITZ AND KAY STEVENSON - OUR MOST COMMUNITY-MINDED SENIORS
Two tireless community workers have been named joint winners of the Gaven Most Community Minded Senior Citizen Award in Nerang this morning.
Dr Alex Douglas MP, Member for Gaven, announced Anne Panitz of Nerang and Kay Stevenson of Pacific Pines as joint winners at a community morning tea.
"I couldn't separate these two wonderful seniors who are both quiet achievers but give so willingly of their time without seeking recognition," he said.
Dr Douglas started the award in 2010 to recognise the contribution of seniors in the community.
More......
| |
|
|
Alex and 2010 winner Edna McLeod, Anne Panitz, Kay Stevenson and 2011 winner Beverly Boothby. | |
|
|
Please feel free to join my walking group, Walk and Talk with Alex, on Monday at 7 am at Bischof Park. Keep fit and meet new friends.
DR ALEX DOUGLAS MP
State Member for Gaven |
|
 |
|
FINDING LAND FOR OUR KOALA POPULATION |
Member for Gaven Dr Alex Douglas MP says the State Government is looking at buying land from landowners in South-East Queensland to protect koalas.
"With koalas listed as vulnerable to extinction in the south-east, increasing the protection of their habitat is important for their long-term survival," Dr Douglas said.
The government wants to buy land identified as suitable for long-term protection.
More...... |
|
TREAT SUICIDE WITH SAME RIGOUR AS OUR ROAD TRAUMA |
Gaven MP Dr Alex Douglas has told State Parliament of his concerns for an escalation in suicides which must be approached with the same rigour as reducing road trauma.
"The causes of suicide are many but if clearly economic factors are major ones, then let us try to mitigate these in all our communities," Dr Douglas said.
"Governments must set the example of what to do and what not to do.
More......
|
|
PROJECT BOOYAH RECOGNISED FOR TURNING LIVES AROUND |
A Nerang-based pilot boot camp, Project Booyah, has been successful in Queensland's annual Child Protection Week Awards.
Project Booyah, jointly run by the Police, Nerang PCYC, Nerang Child Safety Service Centre and Kokoda Youth Challenge won the Youth Participation Award.
Member for Gaven Dr Alex Douglas MP said the program had been instrumental in a drop in offences for participants with challenging behaviours.
"It has been turning around the lives of participants," he said.
"My experience from working in State Corrections for many years is that the best strategies for achieving real change come from adaptation through life experience, careful mentoring by experienced, patient adults and never giving up."
More.....
|
|
Community Group Updates |
If your community group wishes to place an update, notice or event in our newsletter please send no more than 150 words to [email protected]and we will do our best to include it in our next edition. |
|
CERAMIC EXHIBITION SHOWS NERANG LIFELINE |
A ceramic exhibition by the Nerang Community Respite Care Association focuses on their bus fleet which is like a lifeline for many of its aged clients and adults with disabilities.
Member for Gaven, Dr Alex Douglas MP has congratulated the association for an impressive exhibition currently on in the Gold Coast City Gallery foyer until October 7.
The project focuses on the Respite Association's bus fleet acting as a life line for many aged clients and adults with disabilities and their carers.
Each client produced a self-portrait in clay, which was seated in one of three ceramic buses.
IMPROVED SAFETY ON PACIFIC MOTORWAY
Gold Coast MP Dr Alex Douglas says new legislation to create a unified national heavy vehicle industry will ensure the industry's local economic survival and the safety of motorists on the Pacific Motorway.
"The legislation will allow the new independent regulator, based in Queensland, to be responsible for regulating all vehicles in Australia over 4.5 tonnes," he told Parliament yesterday.
"The freight transport business is the most critical industry in Queensland and if the trucks stop, the nation stops with a massive concertina effect."
|
|
