We are an important tourism destination and an increasingly dynamic economic centre and we need a Heavy Rail link from Beerwah to Maroochydore as an urgent priority. Not only will Heavy Rail enable tourists to easily access our region, it will link communities, service new growth areas, and reduce the number of cars on our roads. All levels of government – federal, state and local – should be working out ways to fund this project and, as mayor, I will be pushing for that at every opportunity.

In the meantime, though, we need an improved internal public transport system which will inevitably involve buses. We must reduce traffic congestion on our roads and get people onto buses. It’s not a matter of reducing the cost of bus travel – what we need is a faster, more reliable, more convenient, safer bus service. 

Translink, which is owned by the State Government, operates buses on the Sunshine Coast and, as a council, we have no direct control over buses. But we can lobby for a better service, and we support the decision of Transport and Main Roads to explore a ‘bus rapid transport’ option, with designated bus lanes, as a first step. But there needs to be convenient, low-cost feeder links to the main bus stations. 

When a developer comes to us with an application for a new building, we insist on adequate car parking provisions. A council that I lead will go further and provide incentives to businesses to deliver their employees to and from the main bus stations in mini-buses, just like the ones used by surf clubs, RSLs, sporting clubs and retirement villages. We will provide incentives to those sorts of clubs to make their minibuses available for the needs of the wider community and we will support private operators seeking to establish feeder networks linking the coastal strip with inland suburbs and the hinterland.