PETER BEATTIE – AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY
What is your vision for Forde?
I want to put Forde on the map, and bring industry and growth to this area.
There is a lot going for us here in Forde – straight up the M1 is the Brisbane airport, the Port of Brisbane, and in the other direction we’ve got the Gold Coast. It’s a good location and a great community, and I’ve got ideas about bringing new tourism and new industries to Forde to generate local jobs for local people.
I also want to show the rest of Australia what’s good about Forde – we’ve got some beautiful parks and reserves, and a growing, diverse community that looks after each other.
My vision is to promote Forde on the national stage and deliver more for this area.
What do you see as the most important issues for the people of Forde?
1) Local jobs and unemployment
2) Roads and infrastructure
3) Education
4) Health.
What’s most important to you personally?
I am passionate about education. Growing up in the small town of Atherton; being raised by my grandmother, education is what gave me the opportunities I’ve had in life.
I had six older brothers and sisters but was the only one in my family to go to university, and to get there I needed a Commonwealth scholarship.
I want the kids in Forde to have every opportunity we can possibly come up with to learn, skill up, get jobs and give back to the community.
Why are you the person to deliver?
When I was Premier, I delivered massive infrastructure projects here in Forde.
We put the M1 in, we built whole new preschool to Year 12 schools, we duplicated the roads and put more police and nurses into the area.
Since leaving state parliament, I have spent time in America initially as a Trade Commissioner for Queensland companies, bringing them into Latin America and getting them into whole new markets and then sharing my time between Australia and the US.
I have the experience, and if voters here elect me as their MP, I will deliver for Forde just as I have done before.
What will change if you are elected?
Many people in Forde have told me they feel like this area has been ignored. I would put Forde on the map.
What will stay the same?
We can keep and build upon the great sense of community that exists out here – people in Logan love Logan, and it’s time we showed the rest of the country why it’s a great place to live and work.
In order to deliver on your vision – what hard realities must the people of Forde face?
I think people in Logan want to send a positive message about the area – just as I did in Ipswich, we have the opportunity to demonstrate to the rest of Australia what is great about Logan.
What can you offer that the other candidates cannot?
The experience of delivering major infrastructure and new industry.
How will you deliver on your vision depending on the outcome of the election?
People who know me know I’ll do anything for Queensland.
I will work with whoever I need to, to deliver some real, measurable, big results here in Forde.
Good to see Peter Beattie still has the passion & vision. Good interview, Stephanie. It does make it so much easier to get such responses from someone when they are used to being interviewed, doesn’t it?
Well done.
Experience is a huge advantage Joy – and it’s an electorate he can genuinely stand for.
Experience certainly is an advantage, Stephanie. Peter Beattie has always come across to me as sincere & genuine in what he is saying & doing. Well, that’s how I see it.
Did Peter just lie? We put the M1 in! If memory serves correctly Wayne Goss labor lost government when eh tried to put in a second highway. The actual planning, designing, resumptions and contracting for the M1 was wrapped up in two years by the Borbidge coalition government. Construction took another two years with three different builders going hammer and tongs. Well yes we did read another Labor liar lying.
That ‘liar’ word makes me sick to my stomach. It’s poor excuse for challenging political discourse, claim and counter-claim, and I for one think the well-being of the nation is best-served without it.