23 August 2019.
It was a willingness to give back to the community that sparked Gerard Rennick’s desire to become a senator for the LNP.
Born in Chinchilla and having lived in Dalby for years before beginning his political campaign, Senator Rennick said he understood the issues plaguing the southwest, and is dedicated to bringing a resolution to the maternity crisis currently rocking Chinchilla, as well as the high death toll on our roads.
The senator said he believes this can be done with investment into and the building of more infrastructure.
“What we have to do is we have to build infrastructure that generates income,” he said.
“What we’ve done… is we’ve gone into this privatisation mode. We’ve privatised income-producing assets. When you do that, you sell your future cash flows.
“In 2008/09 Anna Bligh sold a heap of Queensland state assets. When we sold them, we sold the future cash flows with them. We’ve recycled that into schools and hospitals.
“We should, obviously, be investing in schools and hospitals.
“That’s a very short-term view.
“We need to start building infrastructure that generates an income and then you use that income to pay for your schools and hospitals.”
Mr Rennick also shared his view on the New Acland Mine, and the 12-year wait for approvals for Stage 3.
“I think it should go ahead on the condition that they rejuvenate the mine after,” he said.
“Around Acland there, it’s good country. But my view is, provided they leave it in as good state if not better state than what it was, I think we should encourage investment.”
In his time in Dalby, Mr Rennick met with mayor Paul McVeigh.
Mr Rennick will be giving his maiden speech next month.
