White Rock School Safety Fence, Pathway and Coffee Club!

07/03/2012 — The Rock News

Member for Mulgrave Curtis Pitt and Councillor Rob Pyne met yesterday to inspect a joint State/Council project delivered at White Rock State School addressing a known local issue, drain safety!

New fencing has been erected to reduce the drowning risk for children attending the new White Rock Kindergarten.

Cr. Pyne said, “The Dillon Close drain runs beside the school and carries significant stormwater from Mt Sheridan. The drain is usually empty, which can create complacency, but locals know when a storm comes the drain has a very fast and deep flow.”

“I will sleep a little better knowing the fence has gone in.”

Sandy, who is in charge of the Kindy was also pleased with the outcome and stopped for a picture.

While Curtis and Rob were there, Council Officers, John and Dallas were laying down a small section of concrete pathway on the opposite side of Progress Road and taking levels to adress a drainage issue. Looking after the school community remains priority number one!

The MP and Councillor made it back to the school at 2:30pm to catch up with parents at the school’s Coffee Club, which is held on Tuesday afternoons at then school.

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New Basketball Courts and Tennis Courts for White Rock!

28/02/2012 — The Rock News

Member for Mulgrave, Curtis Pitt, has joined Local Councillor Rob Pyne, in an effort to ensure White Rock residents are not disadvantaged by the loss of Bak Park which has been earmarked for compulsory acquisition by the Department of Transport and Main Roads. 

Mr Pitt wrote to Minister for Main Roads, Craig Wallace, to highlight the strong sense of community ownership of the park and expressed his concern that the residents would lose a valuable community resource.

The Department of Transport and Main Roads has a requirement for the property and to pay compensation. Mr. Pitt said, “Although small in size, Bak Park has played a big part in the lives of many local residents and has long been a focal point for recreational activity for young people in the area – particularly those who play tennis and basketball.”

Mr. Pitt said, “When the property is acquired for the highway upgrade,  the Council would be entitled to compensation from the State Government to relocate the facilities to a new location for the benefit of the local community.”

Mr. Pitt concluded, “Compensation would be paid to the Council, however it would be Council’s responsibility to decide how that compensation is used. White Rock residents need an assurance that facilities will be replaced like-for-like or to a better standard in their local area, and not moved elsewhere.”

Councillor Rob Pyne has called on Mayor Val Schier and Council Officers to commit to move the facilities to Khalu Park and Reys Park in White Rock. He said, “Curtis and I agree that Khalu Park, named in honour of the respected local family would be a suitable location to receive attention from any state-funded upgrade.”

Cr Pyne said, “Public consultation would then need to be undertaken with local residents to seek their views on providing new courts at Reys Park or Khalu Park.”

In conclusion, Cr. Pyne said, “I want a commitment from the Mayor on this. Once we have that, I believe the state government may even consider funding the new courts prior to the resumption of Bak Park.”

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White Rock kindergarten celebrates opening!

27/01/2012 — The Rock News

The new kindergarten service at the White Rock State School was officially opened today.

Member for Mulgrave Curtis Pitt said the $1.3 million service was funded and built by the Bligh Government as part of a major initiative to improve access to kindergarten programs for Queenslanders.

“This is a significant investment in early childhood education in the White Rock area,” Mr Pitt said.

“This new service was originally scheduled to open in 2013 but was fast tracked to ensure more children in the southern corridor benefit earlier from a quality early childhood education.

“The service is operated by C&K and is part of our government’s commitment to provide extra kindergarten services in areas of need by 2014 to help give Queensland children a flying start to life.

Mr Pitt said the White Rock C&K Community Kindergarten caters for 44 children and has the capacity to offer two kindergarten programs delivered by an early childhood teacher for 15 hours each week.

“This service helps to meet the high demand for early childhood education services in this area.

“It offers parents and children the full range of educational facilities in one convenient location on the state school site.”

“This continues our commitment to deliver universal access to kindergarten programs for children in the year prior to Prep,” he said.

“A total of 108 extra services are planned to be established under this initiative by the end of 2012 with the locations for a further 13 services confirmed to open in 2013 on Catholic school sites.”

Mr Pitt said the Queensland and Australian governments had committed to increasing the percentage of four-year-olds participating in a kindergarten program to 95 per cent by mid-2013.

“Sixty nine per cent of kindy-aged children were enrolled in a kindergarten program in 2011 which exceeded our target of 65 per cent for the year, “he said.

C&K chief executive Barrie Elvish said kindergarten provided children with socialisation skills, early learning and numeracy skills which help to set their path for the ongoing learning journey through school.

“C&K is excited to be part of this significant project,” Mr Elvish said.

Cr. Rob Pyne also welcomed the opening saying, “Well done to the State Government and thank you to Curtis Pitt for bringing this kindergarten online 12 months earlier than the Department had scheduled it. It is a great result for White Rock!”

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Rob Pyne says ‘black spot’ fix to save lives!

04/01/2012 — The Rock News

Cairns Councillor Rob Pyne, has welcomed a pathway linkage that will fix a pathway ‘black spot’ with work that he is convinced will help to save lives! The work has recently been included in the Cairns Bruce Highway Upgrade and will increase safety for cyclists and pedestrians in the suburbs of White Rock, Woree and Mount Sheridan.

Mr. Pyne said, “In terms of safety, this new pathway will replace the existing situation where we have children walking and cycling along the cane train line to go to school in Woree. Others have had to cross a six-lane highway and three pedestrian crossings to get to school. Instead, many just choose to ride the wrong way against the traffic. It has been a major safety issue – an accident waiting to happen. I would like to personally thank the Department of Main Roads and the State MP Curtis Pitt for their work to fix this.”

The new work involves an off-road pathway and a very expensive pedestrian overpass, in work that, “Not only will it be safer, but more cyclists will take the pressure off the road system especially at peak times before and after school when parents are driving to drop off and pick up children,” Mr. Pyne said.

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Cairns bus information now in real time!

26/11/2011 — The Rock News

Wasting precious time waiting for the arrival of a bus will be a thing of the past for Cairns residents with the launch of a unique new high-tech program which allows commuters to trace public transport in real time.

Transport Minister Annastacia Palaszczuk today launched the Cairns Real Time Passenger Information System in Cairns.


“This Real Time pilot will run from November 2011 to May 2012,” she said.

“The entire Sunbus fleet has been fitted with GPS and 3G modems, relaying real time information on service locations at 25-second intervals to electronic bus stop displays across Cairns, and to an online tracking tool.

“Cairns Real Time demonstrates the government’s commitment to providing innovative public transport solutions in regional areas.

“The online bus tracker and electronic bus stop displays will give commuters increased confidence in the usability and reliability of public transport.”

Member for Cairns Desley Boyle said in today’s time-poor society, it was important for commuters to be able to make well-informed journey decisions.

“Real time will make catching public transport easier by providing accessible and current bus location information,” Ms Boyle said.

“Cairns Real Time provides commuters with the ability to see when their bus is due to depart via an online bus tracker or at new electronic bus stop displays across the city.”

The new electronic bus displays are at:

  • Lake Street Transit Mall
  • Stockland Earlville
  • DFO Westcourt
  • Smithfield Shopping Centre
  • Cairns Central Shopping Centre
  • James Cook University.

Barron River MP Steve Wettenhall said Cairns residents and visitors can find out where their bus is before they leave their home or office, or via their laptop or tablet while on the go.

“Bus passengers in Cairns will no longer have to run for the bus or wait at bus stops- all they have to do is look at the online bus tracker on www.qconnect.qld.gov.auand they will know exactly when the bus will be at their stop,” Mr Wettenhall said.

“Information generated by the system will be used in future planning to improve schedules and route services.

“Our government is passionate about public transport and we are committed to getting it right. That’s why we have partnered with Sunbus, and system developer Bacchus Management Systems, to get this pilot up and running.

Through technology like this we can improve bus service usability and reliability, making public transport a quality travel option for Cairns, so South Cairns residents can plan their transport online.

More information on the Cairns Real Time System and the online bus tracker is available at www.qconnect.qld.gov.au.

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