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Wednesday, February 10, 2016
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Preserving history A group of committed volunteers descended on Mareeba at the weekend to commence dismantling a fabled piece of Australian aviation history – Turn to page 5 for the full story.
Knuth’s key priorities By Justin Fris
MEMBER for Dalrymple Shane Knuth has outlined several key priorities ahead of a busy 2016 in state parliament. The prominent Katter’s Australia Party crossbencher – who is one of four who hold the balance of power in state politics – told The Express he was committed to issues not only within his electorate. “I’ll be continuing to drive the ‘no’ case for four year government terms,” he said. “No gov-
ernment has proven credibility over the last 20 years for deserving an extra year. “Four year terms would result in poorer performing government’s and MP’s - who would take the electorate for granted over three and a half years.” Mr Knuth added: “They would then appear to be all friendly and attempt to hand out goodies in the last year.” The implementation of a reconstruction board is also high on the priority list, with both KAP crossbenchers committed to offering stability and
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protection for both the agricultural and rural business sectors. Mr Knuth has also publicly voiced his disdain against proposed cuts to country racing by the current Palaszczuk Government. He vowed to continue the fight for the bush. “Country racing has been absolutely gutted by both governments and previous racing boards,” he said. “We’ll have to continue to fight hard – to ensure that we have the right representation, and allow no more depletion of funding.
“They’ve cut funding and race meetings, almost to the point where they can’t cut anymore. “Country racing is the lifeblood of many rural communities and we’ll (the KAP) be hitting them (the government) hard.” Above all priorities, a better deal financially for the Far North is the fundamental responsibility of Mr Knuth’s role. Mr Knuth said he would continue to lobby hard for a parity of state funds, which could be put toward local education, health, roads and key projects.
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