Battle for Whitsunday begins

Member for Whitsunday Jan Jarratt wants to protect our lifestyle, LNP’s Jason Costigan wants a better Bruce Highway and Greens’ Jonathon Dykyj wants
a container deposit scheme - similar to that in South Australia - where people are paid for their recycling efforts.

These are just a few, in a long line of pledges from the three contenders for the marginal seat of Whitsunday which will be battled out over a nine-week campaign.

The state election was called last Wednesday for March 24, with the Premier Anna Bligh announcing local government elections would be pushed back until April 28 – a change the Greens' candidate admits isn’t an ideal situation.

"On the bright side, candidates have more time to campaign," said Mr Dykyj who launched his campaign on the weekend with a near-200km bike ride from Mackay to the Whitsundays.

Mr Costigan however, isn’t so forgiving.

"The date has been forced on the community by a desperate Labor Government with one objective...staying in power," Mr Costigan said.

"They’ve known all along about the March 31 council elections across Queensland and now they have shown a complete disregard for local government by changing the date to suit themselves.

"In the Whitsundays, it means we have to cop Jan Jarratt’s fellow Laborite, Mike Brunker, for at least another month," he said.

Ms Jarratt says it’s admirable of the premier to put the interests of Queensland ahead of her re-election prospects by setting the election after March 16 – once the floods commission inquiry has completed its investigations.

"Changing the date of the local government elections allows sufficient and reasonable time for councillors to campaign independently of a state election. As the Premier said at the time, "What’s at stake here is the truth. The truth about the cause of our floods and that matters to those flood victims but it also goes to the heart of the future safety of our city and our region and its people."

Regardless of the dates, the Whitsundays will be seeing the three candidates out and about a fair bit over the next two months, with the LNP candidate saying "nothing changes".

"Except we’ll have some mates from the LNP coming through town from time to time," Mr Costigan said.

"Hey, I’m the same bloke who grew up down the road in Mackay, the same bloke who has a daughter attending school here in the Whitsundays, the same bloke who loves his rugby league and the same bloke who’s fiercely passionate about this region and North Queensland in general.

"That’s why I’m running for office, because I love this community and want us to get a better deal after 20 years of Labor. That’s right, 20 years. I said at my pre-selection last February, we’ll fight Labor in the canefields and on the beaches and that’s exactly what we’ve been doing."

Mr Dykyj says he will be on leave from his normal employment from February 19 when the government goes into caretaker mode.

"I will be staying positive, open, accountable and accessible. I’ll be knocking on as many doors as possible and; get factual information out there so people can make an informed choice, giving them no reason not to vote 1 Greens," Mr Dykyj said.

Current member and tourism minister Jan Jarratt says it will be business as usual until the caretaker period comes into effect from February 19.

"I’ll be continuing to work hard as the Whitsunday MP and also in my Ministerial duties for Queensland," Ms Jarratt said.

"People can expect to see me in the community finalising arrangements on local projects which are close to my heart. I want to make sure the LNP can’t short change the Whitsundays. On becoming LNP Leader Campbell Newman declared all previous LNP policies to be "null and void" and it troubles me to think that he is likely to see the Whitsundays as an area where savings can be made."

LNP’s Jason Costigan sees it quite differently.

"I want to see a better Bruce Highway, not a neglected one under Labor’s Jan Jarratt. I want to see more overtaking lanes, something they’ve forgotten about until recently. Seriously, why hasn’t she delivered something in this regard in her 11 years in office? People shouldn’t be fooled by media stunts to cover up a politician’s lack of action," the LNP candidate said.

And Mr Dykyj, who has "in principal support" from his two adversaries for a number of debates in the next few months, says he will be concentrating on the electorate as a whole.

"I think that there are a lot of people from all kinds of backgrounds that are over the sameness of the old parties and will warm to the positive, healthy and long term vision that the Greens promote," Mr Dykyj said.

"Especially with the amount of rubbish on the sides of the roads, the Greens want to introduce a deposit scheme - like the one in South Australia - which will reduce waste into the reef, create jobs and recover precious resources," he said.