Understaffed detention centre a recipe for riots

HINCHINBROOK MP Nick Dametto fears a riot could break out amongst juveniles at Townsville’s Cleveland Youth Detention Centre with staff being called away to assist their counterparts in Brisbane. Mr Dametto said he was “alarmed” at reports today that 15 staff at Cleveland Youth Detention Centre had been called away to help at Wacol’s Brisbane […] READ MORE

High alert after south-east COVID transmission spike

THE State Government needs to put a contingency plan in place to prevent a growing cluster of COVID-19 cases in south-east Queensland from spreading north, says Hinchinbrook MP Nick Dametto. Mr Dametto said North Queenslanders were “extremely concerned” about the cluster linked to the Brisbane Youth Detention Centre, which had added to the total number […] READ MORE

LNP ‘clueless’ on economic recovery

HINCHINBROOK MP Nick Dametto has labelled the LNP’s proposal to create a new agency to lead Queensland’s economy recovery post COVID-19 as “a waste of taxpayer dollars”. Mr Dametto said there was no need for such an agency with existing government departments capable of doing the job with direction from the government of the day. […] READ MORE

Hidden health emergency at crisis point: KAP

KAP Leader and Member for Traeger Robbie Katter MP has addressed media today calling for a State Government pledge to fund critical dialysis services for rural patients. Despite a $4.8 million investment in Townsville University Hospital’s renal unit earlier this year, which funded an extra 13 dialysis chairs, critically-unwell patients in rural towns across the North […] READ MORE

Hinchinbrook schools benefit from funding makeover

HINCHINBROOK MP Nick Dametto has welcomed more than $1.4 million in State funding to give local schools a much-needed spruce up. The funding is part of a wider State Government program to refurbish education facilities and included $60,000 to demolish a prefabricated building at Bohlevale State School earlier this year, $250,000 to modernise two learning […] READ MORE

Crime running rampant under Labor’s watch

A SPATE of criminal acts across Townsville this week has left law-abiding residents to “fend for themselves”, says Hinchinbrook MP Nick Dametto. Mr Dametto said the State Labor Government had effectively given up on dishing out real punishments to a core group of recidivist juvenile offenders who are suspected of stealing three vehicles and dumping […] READ MORE

Dametto backs campaign to honour fallen police

A PARLIAMENTARY e-petition calling for consideration on merit of serving police officers whose loss of life can be attributed to suicide being added to the Police Honour Roll has gained the strong support of Hinchinbrook MP Nick Dametto. Mr Dametto is sponsoring the e-petition started by local resident Steven Isles, who lost his father, Senior […] READ MORE

Highway horrors prompts KAP’s calls for action

Katter’s Australian Party Leader Robbie Katter has slammed the Brisbane-based Labor State Government for not acting to address the state of North Queensland’s highways and roads following a horror death toll during the last financial year. The number of fatalities on Townsville roads was up 30 percent from 16 deaths in 2018/19, to 21 deaths […] READ MORE

Regional quarantine plan needed now: KAP

A contingency plan to protect North Queensland from future outbreaks of COVID-19 in the state’s south-east must be developed by the end of this week, Katter’s Australian Party MPs have said. KAP Leader and Traeger MP Robbie Katter said while many had welcomed the Premier’s decision to close Queensland’s borders to New South Wales and […] READ MORE

Eco-trail funding should be redirected

FUNDING budgeted for the State Government’s stalled Thorsborne Trail eco-tourism project should be redirected to other projects in the region, says Hinchinbrook MP Nick Dametto. Mr Dametto said after nearly two years since expressions of interest were called for to develop an eco-tourism experience on Hinchinbrook Island, it had become obvious “the project would not […] READ MORE