THE proposal for a marina development in Shute Harbour has angered local resident Dan Van Blarcom enough to consider standing for a prospective political party at the State Government election next year.
Mr Van Blarcom says he is currently discussing his position with the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), who he describes as “a party of freedom and human rights, personal responsibility, [a] low tax, smaller, less costly government, local control and property rights”.
Mr Van Blarcom believes the proposed Shute Harbour marina project must be stopped, or re-assessed and placed under local control and that in respect to this issue, current political players are letting the Whitsunday community down.
“Beautiful Shute Harbour and adjacent Conway National Park will be seriously degraded if this ugly proposal is allowed to continue,” he said. In Mr Van Blarcom’s opinion, dredging for the marina would cause “environmental mess”.
“[And] this is public land and seabed,” he said.
“Simply put, if I wanted to build a house, I would buy a block of land. So why do developers get hold of public land?”
Mr Van Blarcom is critical of how the major political parties have handled the Shute Harbour debate to date, saying the Labor Party kept it alive for the time they were in power and the current State Government has picked the project up, putting pressure on Council and removing it from their control.
“[Meanwhile] the Greens are missing in action trying to stop mining and jobs,” he said.
Liberal Democrats president Gabriel Buckley said he had not been briefed on any proposals for Shute Harbour, but he did confirm knowledge of Mr Van Blarcom’s interest in the seat.
“And should the Liberal Democrats achieve state registration in time for the next Queensland election, I would have no problem endorsing Dan as a candidate for the Liberal Democrats in the seat of Whitsunday,” he said.
Nerida Conisbee Ray White Group Chief Economist The latest population projections from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) have just been released. While getting long term projections correct is notoriously difficult, the reality is that in the next 48 years we are very likely to have a much bigger Australia. … Read more
Nerida Conisbee Ray White Group Chief Economist The number of single people purchasing homes is falling but becoming more evenly matched by gender. Increasing cost of housing has meant that the proportion of single people purchasing homes is falling. In 2014, an estimated 26.2 per cent of purchasers were single. … Read more