Premier's journal - May 2009
Disaster relief funding activated for the South East
Mother nature has certainly given us a battering this week.
The good news to come from the deluge is the drought has broken and dam levels are now above 70 per cent.
But across the South East, homes and lives have been badly affected, and my thoughts are with those who are mopping up over the coming days.
This morning, I activated the natural disaster relief funding arrangements which can offer financial assistance to those hardest hit. Assistance is available through the Department of Communities on 1800 173 349.
Our SES workers and emergency workers have done a wonderful job, working around the clock to help the recovery effort so a big thank you to everyone involved.
And with more rain forecast over the coming days, I again urge people to be extremely careful on the roads.
Bligh declares SEQ flood Disaster (21/05/09)
Queensland Government help and information - South East Queensland floods
Heavy rainfalls boost SEQ dams
Overnight, our combined dam level reached 62.6%, and may go up even further during the week. This is great news for South East Queensland's drinking supplies - the last time we had levels above 60% was five years ago.
Queenslanders should be proud of their tremendous effort in conserving water during the years of drought we endured and I know our attitude towards water has changed forever as a result.
I encourage everyone to keep up the good work. Despite the current drenching, water remains our most precious resource.
Some good news in the home of the flying kangaroo
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Premier Anna Bligh with Qantas CEO, Alan Joyce.
In these tough times, good news can be hard to come by.
This week we had the terrific news that Qantas will keep its Brisbane Heavy Maintenance Facility open to service the airline's growing A330 fleet - securing more than 500 local jobs.
We fought hard to bring this $85 million facility to Queensland back in 2002. So it was great to be there with Qantas CEO, Alan Joyce, engineers and other staff for the announcement in Brisbane on Monday.
With the global recession hitting the aviation industry, it's really positive to see these jobs staying here, rather than going off shore.
Queensland is, after all, the birthplace of the flying kangaroo!
Bligh welcomes Qantas decision to keep 500 jobs in Queensland (06/05/09)
And the winner is…
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Premier Anna Bligh announces Ben Southall as the chosen candidate for the best job in the world.
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It's official. After much anticipation, this afternoon on Hamilton Island I was proud to announce that 34-year-old Ben Southall from the United Kingdom will be Tourism Queensland's newest employee.
Ben beat more than 34,000 applicants, including 16 finalists, to be offered Queensland's Best Job in the World.
The worldwide response has been nothing short of phenomenal. The key is now to convert that interest into visitors to Queensland, bringing more tourism dollars into our economy, protecting existing jobs and hopefully creating some new ones along the way.
I wish Ben the best of luck in his six-month posting as the "Caretaker of the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef".
Road map to lift Queensland's education standards
This month, I released international expert Professor Geoff Masters' final recommendations for lifting education standards in Queensland's primary schools.
Literacy and numeracy are the foundations of all learning and last year's poor results in the National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) were a sign that our Queensland students were not performing well enough.
We need to lift performance to give our children the best chance.
To find out what immediate improvements we could make, I asked Professor Masters to undertake a comprehensive review of our current system.
And he has done this. In January, following the delivery of his interim report, we introduced mandatory practice tests for literacy and numeracy for Years 3, 5, 7 and 9.
More than 158,000 students sat the practice tests before 20 March, and will now be better prepared for this year's NAPLAN tests, to be held on 12-14 May.
Also on his recommendation we have set a target to have Queensland students reach the level of those in the highest-performing states (NSW and VIC) in literacy, numeracy and science by 2012.
Professor Masters’ final report released on 1 May provides a road map to get us to this target.
I welcome your views and comments on his recommendations. My government will consider this feedback as part of our response.
Submissions close on Friday 29 May.
Last updated Tuesday, September 29, 2009
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