THERE are many reasons behind Ipswich’s rise to be the fastest growing area in the State.
The amazing growth of the city came into prominence last week when we welcomed our 250,000th residents.
Dave and Philisha Riddell said they moved to Ipswich because of the lifestyle it had to offer.
The couple were looking for somewhere that was a little bit quieter and Walloon was their choice.
Things are happening quick here, it was only five or so years ago I went out to interview the 200,000th resident to Ipswich.
The key driver to new citizens choosing this city has been cheaper home prices and new developments such as Ripley, Springfield, Providence and Deebing Heights.
While it has been great to lure residents into Ipswich we did have one major problem in recent times.
That issue surrounded local jobs, we just didn’t have many.
It meant many faced long commuter trips battling traffic snarls on roads that were becoming busier and busier.
The great news is the jobs that were missing from the area have started arriving.
Just last week the JBS meat processing works announced they were starting a second shift early next year and needed 500 workers, major drinks manufacturer Frucor Suntory is on the hunt for hundreds for its soon to be completed Swanbank production centre and they also need 500 or so workers for the Gatton correctional facility when it opens just up the road.
We are also building a major hospital at Springfield, expanding the Ipswich Hospital, increasing the size of St Andrews and have just completed a satellite hospital at Ripley.
All create jobs in speciality fields.
For the first time when you drive around our growing industrial estates you will see signs saying “vacancies”.
The final piece in the jobs puzzle now rests with the State government.
They need to honour their promise from years ago that they would relocate a major public service department to the area.
The promise was never delivered because the Labor government bowed to the unions who told them that their public service members didn’t want to travel to Ipswich for work.
If the present State government is tipped out at the next election we should go back and fight the case, after all we have plenty of empty buildings in the CBD. We also have plenty of land on which to build.
