Economic stimulus policy to be reviewed early

The Facilitating Development in the Mackay Region Policy is due to be reviewed in December this year.

But that review will now be done and completed by the end of August following a motion carried at today’s ordinary meeting of council.

A notified motion was put forward by councillors Laurence Bonaventura, Alison Jones, Martin Bella and Russell Seymour.

An amendment to that motion, removing some wording around the current “buoyant” state of the economy, was carried. That amended motion was then endorsed by council.

As part of the review, councillors will be involved in a workshop to understand the changes in the Mackay region’s economic situation prior to staff developing an updated policy.

Councillors in favour of the amendment indicated they shouldn’t be commenting on the current economy as that information would come forward as part of the review.

Mayor Greg Williamson said all councillors agreed an earlier-than-planned review of the policy was prudent.

“This policy was first put in place in 2014 during the economic downturn,’’ Mayor Williamson said.

“It has been reviewed annually and amended to reflect the different sectors of the economy council has wanted to help stimulate,’’ he said.

“It has been successful in helping stimulate many developments in our region, with conditions around projects being completed in a timely manner and using local contractors.”

Nearly 60 applications have been approved under the Facilitating Development in the Mackay Region Policy.

Of those, 28 have been completed and another seven are under construction, with combined construction costs of about $130 million.  Concessions provided for the completed and under construction projects total more than $4 million.

The economic output of those projects is estimated to be more than $270 million, creating nearly 650 jobs.