Nicklin MP: safety and homelessness top priorities for Nambour

Marty Hunt: “I’ve got critical response housing teams going out, literally door knocking tents to see if we can offer assistance.”

Nicklin MP Marty Hunt has described homelessness and community safety as the most pressing issues facing Nambour and pledged to work with all levels of government to address them.

Speaking at the Nambour Chamber of Commerce Coffee Catchup on August 7, Mr Hunt said while there were many positive developments in the town, safety and homelessness were dominating concerns coming into his office.

“The biggest issue in town at the moment is the influx of homelessness,” he said. “Even our community services are contacting my office… they are being overwhelmed.”

Mr Hunt said homelessness was a problem “every community across the world” faced, but believed Nambour had seen an influx “for whatever reason”, partly linked to “other councils and the way they’ve acted or taken action… sort of driving it here”.

He said local services were under strain. “I’ve got critical response housing teams going out, literally door knocking tents to see if we can offer assistance… a lot of people refuse help,” he said. “You might've seen Pastor Dale Dowler from The Shack Community Centre has posted something on Facebook yesterday, which  concerned me. It came across to me as him feeling overwhelmed. So I gave him a ring straight away and he, he's feeling the pinch. His volunteers are feeling the pinch even at The Shack and the wonderful work they do. They are feeling the pinch. They're overwhelmed.”

In response, Mr Hunt said there had been an “escalation of police patrols” and an urgent meeting of key stakeholders was being convened by the council CEO.

“Ted O’Brien wants to be there. I definitely want to be there. The mayor’s going to be there. Cr David Law… police want to be involved, health want to be involved, housing want to be involved. We want to lock ourselves in a room and come up with some sort of action plan moving forward,” he said.

Despite the challenges, Mr Hunt said he remained “positive about Nambour” and believed it would be thriving in “a year or two’s time”.

“I think there’s some wonderful things happening,” he said, citing investment in C-Square, a planned restaurant project, and potential film industry opportunities at the Big Pineapple.

Mr Hunt also pointed to projects already funded or underway, including the new police beat in the centre of town, CCTV upgrades with live feeds to the police station, and the Everyday Foundation Supermarket’s move to Currie Street – a $1 million state-funded relocation.

He said he was “reasonably confident” of securing state funding for the Mill Street project which would work in tandem with Council’s plans for the CBD streetscaping plan, despite it not being in the state budget.

“It’s my town too, I love it and I want to see it thrive,” Mr Hunt said. “Anything I can do along the way, I will do.”