Yesterday’s announcement by Water Minister Mark Bailey that the State Government will proceed with the transfer of the ownership and control of the water delivery channels for Emerald Irrigation Area to local hands has been welcomed by the Member for Gregory, Lachlan Millar.

Local property owners making crucial drought-management decisions in the face of strong El Nino predictions are floundering due to Government uncertainty about the renewal of long-established grazing leases in Queensland national parks.

A public meeting has been urgently called in Blackwater by the Member for Gregory following BMA’s announcement of the replacement of permanent employees with casual contractors under the Downer Group at their Blackwater Mine.

During Budget Estimates last week in State Parliament, Minister for Agriculture, Bill Byrne, admitted he had not held any meetings on wild dog management, a vital issue to western Queensland, since his appointment as Minister.

Failure to implement seven yearly reviews of the number of seats in the Queensland Parliament has condemned rural and remote Queenslanders to lesser representation than other Queenslanders, the Member for Gregory has said in a submission to the Parliamentary Committee for Legal Affairs and Community Safety.

The current review of the Drought Relief Assistance Scheme (DRAS) is an opportunity for the Government to address the gaps revealed by harsh experience in Queensland’s Central West said Gregory MP Lachlan Millar.

Serious concerns have been raised that Barcaldine and Blackall could both be left without kindergarten programs next year and local member Lachlan Millar is calling for the Education Minister to personally intervene.

Gregory’s thousands of rural fire brigade volunteers have been given only days to have their say on whether they should receive workers compensation coverage for a suite of cancers related to fire exposure.

Gregory’s 57 schools have completely missed out on capital works funding in last week’s budget.

Member for Gregory Lachlan Millar MP has called on Education Minister Kate Jones to rethink Labor’s position and urgently find funding to attend to much needed works at schools across the Electorate.

The Parliamentary Committee for Agriculture and the Environment announced a series of reviews into the Queensland Government’s drought assistance measures in parliament last Friday (July 17, 2015).