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At Mackay Base Hospital after the announcement that consultants were being engaged to build the new hospital.

Left to right: Minister for Primary Industries and Fisheries and Member for Mackay Tim Mulherin; Parliamentary Secretary to the Minster for Tourism, Regional Development and Industry and Member for Whitsunday Jan Jarratt; Premier Anna Bligh and Health Minister Stephen Robertson.

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SES volunteers Ruth and Andrew Dewar of Mackay, with their daughters Faith, Margaret and Sarah, at the Department of Emergency Services Volunteers BBQ. The family lived in the SES shed after their house was inundated in the February flood.

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Mackay Regional Councillor George Christensen is served at the Department of Emergency Services Volunteers BBQ by Steve Zsombok, Area Director, Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS); Clacy Fatnowna, Officer in Charge, Mackay QAS; Peter Warrener, Acting Assistant Commissioner Central Region QAS; Jim McGowan, Director General, Emergency Services; and Donnielle Fatnowna, President, Mackay and District South Sea Islander Association.

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Pictured at the Department of Emergency Services Volunteers BBQ are (front) Ruth Dewar, Andrew Dewar, Shay Hudson, Jenny Olmos (Training Co-ordinator, Mackay SES), Justin Englert (Local Controller). Middle: Damien Wood, Sandy Bell, Neville Ross. Back: Minister for Emergency Services Neil Roberts, Mark Riordan and Brendan Wood.

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Mayor of Mackay Regional Council Noel Meng receives a $6 million cheque from Premier Anna Bligh from the Queensland Government’s Q150 Legacy Infrastructure Program. The money will go towards the $12 million Bluewater Quay project. The project will feature boardwalks, a stage, picnic and shaded recreational areas for family barbecues and space for community markets in the Mackay CBD.

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Mackay Turf Club Treasurer Ian Joblin and Club President Stephen Hawkins met with State Treasurer Andrew Fraser and his Parliamentary Secretary Julie Attwood over racing related matters.

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Attending Community Cabinet were Mayor of Isaac Regional Council, Cedric Marshall; Member for Mirani, Ted Malone; General Manager, Community Programs, Mackay Regional Council, Erica Nagel; and Deputy Mayor of Mackay Regional Council, Darryl Camilleri.

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Safe Communities team members Dale Hanson, Robert Ryan, Paul Smith and Mackay Regional Councillor Diane Hatfield. The team have made Mackay and Whitsunday safer communities by reducing injuries on the road, in the home, at work and on the sporting fields.

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Premier Anna Bligh and Minister for Emergency Services Neil Roberts presented a Queensland Ambulance 10 Year Long Service Medal to Harry Beyne. Harry, who has previously worked at stations at Capalaba, Southern Bay Island (Townsville) and Mackay, is Officer in Charge at Nebo Station.

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Michael Sleeman, currently stationed at the Saraji Mine Site, received a 30 Year Long Service Medal. Michael began his career with the Queensland Ambulance Service in Emerald and has worked at a number of locations in the Central Region including Gemfields and Dysart.

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Whitsunday landholder Toni Robinson-Randall was delighted with the Queensland Government’s decision to put a 20-year moratorium on all mining activities, bulk sampling and exploration over the McFarlane shale oil deposit, 15 kilometres south of Proserpine.

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Meeting with Premier Anna Bligh were Bernadette Rutherford, state committee member, Queensland Parents and Friends Federation; Nick Hurley, Principal, St. Joseph’s Catholic Primary School; Vicki Heggie, Deputy Principal of Holy Spirit College; and Eamon Hannan, Principal of St. Patrick’s Senior College.

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Member for Whitsunday and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Tourism, Regional Development and Industry, Jan Jarratt; and Director-General of the Department of Tourism, Regional Development and Industry, Bob McCarthy, meet with a delegation.

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Treasurer Andrew Fraser addressed a Mackay and Whitsunday Regional Economic Development Corporation breakfast on Monday of the Mackay Community Cabinet.

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A $2.75 million Department of Housing unit complex in Bridge Road, Mackay, was named in honour of South Sea Islander community leader Rowena Trieve. Pictured: Member for Mackay Tim Mulherin, Rowena Trieve and Housing Minister Robert Schwarten.

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Deputations were received in Sarina on the Monday morning of Community Cabinet. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Communities Rachel Nolan (centre) met with Alison McKenna, Alan Hayes, Betty Ward and Denise McLeod from the Sarina branch of the Australian Pensioners and Superannuants League.

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Minister for Communities, Lindy Nelson-Carr handed over the Shakespeare Street Child and Family Centre key to George Street Neighbourhood Centre Treasurer Peter Tait and Mackay Children’s Support Program Coordinator Carmel Gibbs. The centre, the first of ten new early childhood education and care centres to open statewide, has been granted a peppercorn rent of $1 a year.

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Chatting with Premier Anna Bligh at the Community Cabinet luncheon at Mackay Harbour Surf Life Saving Club were Dragons Abreast Mackay members Gail Willis, Ethna Collins, Tanja Hanly (partly obscured), Jennifer Campbell, Liz Spring, Barb McBride, Lucy Milburn and Maureen Hall. Inset: Anne Tunnah.

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Senior Sergeant Noela Dickinson received a Queensland Police Medal for 10 years of diligent and ethical service. In 2007, as the District Domestic Violence coordinator, Noela lead her team to win the Department of Communities Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Award. She has spent her 11 years of service with the Queensland Police Service in Mackay, following 12 years with the Northern Territory police working in the drug squad and within indigenous communities.

Above, left to right: Acting Commissioner Kathy Rynders, Police Minister Judy Spence, Premier Anna Bligh and Senior Sergeant Noela Dickinson.

Others to receive 10 year Queensland Police medals were Senior Constable Karen Johnston and pictured below, left to right, Sergeant Neville Cox, Senior Constable Melinda Steele and Mr Craig Pinkstone.

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Safe work practices by Ergon Energy employees has led to $1 million being handed over to community groups around the state. Sharing part of the bounty at Mackay Community Cabinet were Tanja Hanly, Dragons Abreast, Mackay; Deborah Rae, Disability Enhancement Fund; Premier Anna Bligh; Minister for Mines and Energy, Geoff Wilson; Alan Hobson, Proserpine Meals on Wheels; and Andrew Zammit, Dumbleton Rural Fire Brigade.

Other Mackay community groups who helped over the program’s four years include Camp Quality, KidsCan, Meals on Wheels Mackay, Make-A-Wish Foundation, Central Queensland Rescue Helicopter, Angel Flight, Prostate Cancer Foundation and the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

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Head of Performing Arts Kathy George with Mackay North High School string quartet Hannah Prouse, Simon Mollison, Tracey Cook and Simone Maurer. The quartet entertained guests at the community luncheon on Monday at Mackay Surf Club. Twenty four Mackay North State High School band members were part of the Olympic International Orchestra that performed at the Beijing Olympics.