Council Say's No to Construction Stimulus - 2011-08-08

It's a long way between a good idea and getting it up. Take a good look at construction approvals for the first half of this year and you can see that this industry has fallen into a hole, a deep one. We can blame the GFC, banks not lending even rising costs but council must share some of the blame. Gouging the construction industry with high infrastructure charges and delaying development applications in the middle of tough economic times exacerbated the problems the industry was facing. Sure, some of this has been addressed. Not by enough however and not without being dragged kicking and screaming to the negotiation table. Councillors, this city needs jobs and the construction industry, one of our main economic pillars is bleeding, profusely. Jobs in this industry trickle down through the broad business community creating further employment opportunities and confidence. We could sure use some of that. So after commending council last month on its initiative of offering an additional cash grant for new home construction, in their wisdom, the majority of our councillors decided to reject it. What makes this particularly galling is that both sides are claiming political motivation for the decision. Councillors, we don't care! I am reminded of a witticism I wrote some years ago; "The greatest detriment to good governance is politics." I hear another concern was the rising costs of living. Last week it was about the high rate of default in payment of rates. Ladies and gentlemen, if you don't have a job you are going to make the house payments and put food on the table before paying the rates believe me. So back to the decision, well there wasn't one. It was much easier to do nothing. With the pain of continuing businesses collapse, more retrenchments and cut back in city projects the question is what pain has the council suffered? Has there been a cut back in wages and staffing, how about bonuses or perks? I wonder? Some of the many things to come out of Turning Point were leadership, representation, innovation and business acumen but most of all a need for change. With the decisions coming out of council those sentiments can only be reinforced. Bob Janssen President Gold Coast Combined Chamber of Commerce Inc. Media Contact - 0411 741 552 president@gcccc.net

click here to go back