Mount Isa ratepayers should not be paying more because of the introduction of a waste levy.

The Queensland Government is providing councils - like Mount Isa - with advance payments to ensure they do not have to pass on the cost to ratepayers.

In fact, we are advancing councils more than the cost of disposing their municipal waste, with 105% of their total municipal solid waste, to encourage better management of waste and a reduction of waste going to landfill.

No other Australian state does this.

Mayor McCulloch wants to blame the state government for an apparent impost.

However, she should explain to her community why the Council did not initially apply for State Government funding through the $5 million Levy Ready Grant Program, despite my personal invitation to do so.

Mount Isa City Council were one of only two councils in Queensland that initially declined to make an application to access these funds.

All other councils are now well advanced in their levy preparations.

The Queensland Government is also providing $6 million to assist regional councils and businesses with recycling transport costs, which includes Mount Isa.

The Council is also anticipated to be a major beneficiary of an exemption that means regional councils outside south east Queensland will not pay the levy when disposing of road scrapings for three years.

These measures were negotiated with LGAQ, of which Mayor McCulloch is a member.

Mayor McCulloch needs to be honest, more transparent and upfront with her community on this matter.

While she is playing cheap politics with this issue, the Palaszczuk Government is getting on with investing in the waste management industry to create jobs and improve our environment.

Leeanne Enoch

Minister for Environment and the Great Barrier Reef,

Minister for Science, Minister for the Arts

Recently we had Foster and Kinship Carer Week, when we celebrate and thank carers across Queensland for their commitment to caring for some of Queensland's most vulnerable children.

Foster and kinship carers work selflessly every day to give vulnerable Queensland children a stable home and to give them the care they desperately need and deserve.

It is an opportunity for all Queenslanders to thank these carers and let them know their work and care is appreciated.

Unfortunately, Queensland's child safety system is struggling, and Queensland's most vulnerable are continuing to suffer as a result despite the best efforts of Queensland&'s foster and kinship carers.

While children continue to suffer, more can and should be done by the Palaszczuk Government.

I encourage the Palaszczuk Government to support our foster and kinship carers and to improve child safety outcomes in Queensland.

Queenslanders everywhere should do what they can to support Queensland's vulnerable children and the incredible carers that look after them every day.

Stephen Bennett MP

Shadow Minister for Child Safety, Youth, Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence

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