|
"Northern Tasmanian mayors have today united as signatories to a letter to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to confirm their support for the University of Tasmania's proposed move to an inner city campus.
George Town Mayor Bridget Archer, Northern Midlands Mayor David Downie, Launceston Mayor Albert van Zetten and Dorset Mayor Greg Howard (pictured above) met at Inveresk this morning to sign the letter: University of Tasmania Vice Chancellor Peter Rathjen and Bass Liberal MP Sarah Courtney were also present.
Mayor van Zetten said he hoped the solidarity from Northern councils would ultimately lead to a commitment from the Federal Liberal Party. Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has already committed to the project, should Labor be elected.
"We will send this letter to the Prime Minister of Australia to say how important this project is for Northern Tasmania," Mayor van Zetten said.
"The Prime Minister has spoken a lot about jobs and growth in this election. Here we have an opportunity to create jobs for Northern Tasmania, but also a transformation of our city and region, to improve our education outcomes. That is why all the Mayors of the region are happy to come together -- because it's about the whole region and how we can encourage and improve education into the future.
"We are very excited that the Federal Labor Party has already committed $150m towards this project, but we want to see the Liberals make this commitment as well because it is a game-changer for Northern Tasmania."
|
It is interesting to note that people from other municipalities, - the mayors and others - were gathered together to sign a so-called Memo'm of Understanding, but a Petition calling for the Launceston Council to hold a Public meeting had to be signed by ratepayers/residents of Launceston only! Any signatures by interested people from other municipalities (like the above mayors) were discounted as invalid, even if they are taxpayers and have an interest how public money and free land is handed out.
ReplyDelete