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MARCH 22, 2024
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The bus stops here
New school rejected
Senior citizens association fed up with transport buck-passing l PALM COVE l WESTCOURT
| Nick Dalton
| Nick Dalton ELDERLY members of a senior citizens group are sick of the buck-passing over a call for a bus route diversion and a new bus stop outside their Westcourt venue. They are pleading with authorities for a bus stop opposite their Gatton St hall so they can safely get to and from the venue. Cairns and District Senior Citizens Association president Alison Worrell said the organisation had been campaigning since November 2021 for the bus stop and a route diversion to no avail. She said 66 per cent of their 250 members no longer held driver’s licences and needed bus transport to and from the hall. Ms Worrell said subsidised transport, such as taxis, were always fully booked with long waiting times. The nearest bus stop at the DFO Westcourt shopping centre was too far away (1.5km), she said. “It’s a very difficult walk, it’s not safe and there’s no footpath on Gatton St,” she said. Association member Carol Dalton said when the Mulgrave Rd and Brown St intersection was upgraded, the buses were
LNP candidate for Cairns Yolonde Entsch (from left, second in front), Cairns and District Senior Citizens Association president Alison Worrell and volunteer Peter Hunt with other members calling for a bus stop outside their Gatton St centre. Picture: Nick Dalton
diverted from Till St along Gatton St past the centre, so a precedent had been set. “There was no bus stop but we could hail the bus. Why not make it permanent?,” she said.
LNP candidate for Cairns Yolonde Entsch said she became involved in the campaign in October last year. It also involves a petition of more than 633 signatures.
“It’s a bus stop. I thought it won’t be that hard,” she said, Ms Entsch said the Council of the Ageing had taken up the cause and was advocating for the route diversion and bus
stop. She said the detour, from Lennon St to Till St, then Gatton St, Bosanko St, and Birch St back to English St was 1.3km and took two minutes. CONTINUED PAGE 2
A PROPOSAL for a new school on the northern beaches at Palm Cove has been knocked back. A group of community leaders had asked the state government for a new state school and a tourist hub to be built at the former tropical zoo site on the Captain Cook Highway at Palm Cove. But a spokesman for Education Minister Di Farmer said the school could not be justified. “The department continues to monitor capacity at all state schools, and currently both local schools in the region are below capacity,” he said. “As both schools are projected to remain under capacity there are no immediate plans by the department to build a new school in the region.” Advance Palm Cove president Robert Van Den Hoven said his group had meetings with Mayor Terry James, Barron River MP Craig Crawford, Mark Olsen of Tourism Tropical North Queensland, Cr Brett Olds, mayoral candidates Paul Taylor and Amy Eden and LNP candidate for Barron River Bree James. “All are in favour of our concept. Unfortunately, the response from the state government is negative but we are still waiting for the official reason for the rejection,” he said.