“Representing the Pumicestone Electorate is a privilege and comes with great responsibility.

Today, I announce that I will not be recontesting the seat of Pumicestone at the next State Election to be held in October 2020.

I have made this decision in what I believe to be the best interests of my family and after a great deal of deliberation.

I am proud of what I have accomplished as an Opposition Member of Parliament and I hope locals feel Pumicestone is progressing in the right direction with the attention I have been giving to the most important needs of our community.  Our number one need is for road upgrades to Bribie Island Road and Beachmere Road. These two State Controlled Roads are major connecting routes, yet they are dangerous and congested in parts and are not meeting community expectations. The best way for the State Government to make a start is to put the $20 million of Federal funding that I advocated so strongly for into fixing Bribie Island Road.  This funding can kick start projects waiting in the wings, like the highly dangerous Old Toorbul Point Road intersection.  These two roads are just too important to neglect any longer – there can be no more delays.

We have all seen the impact of our bridge being closed during traffic accidents and the all-to-usual gridlock being experienced on busy weekends and public holidays.  We need our emergency vehicles to be able to access the bridge at all times without impediment. It carries great risk to the public for emergency service vehicles to navigate a grid-locked bridge in their efforts to reach a potentially lifesaving call.  With the amount of people now living on the Island, coupled with the volume of visitors and tourists who come to enjoy our shores, it’s time for planning to progress on building a new bridge for Bribie now, not in 10 or 15 years’ time.

I am pleased to have strongly advocated for our environment and see the gains for this. We live in a unique area and I firmly believe that a measure of a good community is in how we act as custodians of our environment.  Shellfish collection (excluding Pippis) in Moreton Bay is now banned and our eco-marine environment is better protected because of this.  We now have a container refund station on the Island – no more lengthy trips to Caboolture or Morayfield are needed for locals.

Our pelicans who have roosted on Bribie Island Bridge for decades felt the full force of our community when decisions were made that endangered their safety and wellbeing. I was proud to stand alongside my community as we took up the fight for our pelicans to have their roosts returned. Returning only five roosts wasn’t enough and only the LNP has committed to returning all 13 roosts and removing the callous deterrents that were put in place.

I am also committed to better health services and particularly increasing access to urgent care for Bribie locals.  This is why I was pleased to bring local health providers together recently to work on ways of better servicing the health needs of locals and these discussions are continuing.

I will continue to work hard for my community whilst I am the local State representative and take this opportunity to thank my community for the ongoing support and understanding.

I wish the chosen LNP candidate for Pumicestone great success and look forward to working with my successor to ensure they are part of an LNP government and that Deb Frecklington is the next Premier of Queensland.”