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Wednesday, December 17, 2014
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It’s starting to feel a lot like Christmas!
ENDS THIS FRIDAY AT 12NOON! SEE PAGE 12
With only eight days to go until Christmas day, the annual Christmas countdown has begun. Getting into the Christmas spirit on Friday night were Mareeba sisters, Mia (7) and Sienna (2) Squillari, who dressed up in their Christmas dresses for the Mareeba Post Office Centre Christmas Night Markets, where they got to meet Santa and put in their Christmas wish list. Photo by Peter Roy.
School shelved By Carl Portella
T
he Board of Directors of the Standard Bearers Academy will not submit a proposal to the Mareeba Shire Council for a boarding school in Mareeba. Directors are now considering a number of future location options (yet to be decided) and believe that there are more suitable places for a significant project of this size. The statement read: “SBA wishes to thank all members of the Mareeba community who showed their support for the proposed project.” Opponents of the project may well rejoice with this announcement, while the majority of others may see it as an opportunity lost in terms of jobs, a $70 million investment project, along with a
$20 million annual boost to the local economy. Mareeba was initially selected because of its inspiring natural surroundings; and for providing an ideal location for agricultural training, sporting and equestrian activities that the school intended to provide to students. SBA planned to establish a state-of-art boarding school for students (irrespective of faith) from grades 5 to 12 and operate in accordance with the strict educational standards of Australia; utilising the Australian National Curriculum, and in accordance with the regulations of the relevant state department of education. Admittance into the school was to be based on merit and not religious affiliation, and the school would provide opportunities for students who experience learning and/or physical disabilities.
The vast majority of the teaching staff would also have been Australian and would include people of diverse faith traditions, to reflect the diversity of Australian society. The project intended to provide a substantial economic, educational and community benefit to the Mareeba Shire. An initial investment of $70 million would have been injected into the local economy and provided employment; and contracting opportunities to local tradespeople during the construction phase. SBA intended to provide employment opportunities to local residents in the fields of hospitality, administration, landscaping and grounds keeping; along with various teaching opportunities. It would have also been a substantial consum-
er of locally produced goods and services, with the expected annual economic benefit to Mareeba Shire exceeding $20 million. SBA also intended to develop and share cutting-edge sporting and performance arts facilities with local Mareeba residents and make the Tablelands a centre of teacher excellence. This would have been possible through the establishment of a leading graduate teacher’s college on campus. Member for Cook David Kempton said although he was not contacted directly by the proponents of the college, he hoped the decision to not proceed with the project was made on economic and sustainability grounds; and not on the views of a few people concerned with events happening overseas. CONT. P3
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