CONVINCING friends in high places to help deliver their vision has long been key to the business plan of Springfield City Group’s dynamic duo, Maha Sinnathamby and Bob Sharpless.
When any high-level politician steps into their master planned city you can rest assured, they will both be there to greet them and lobby for support on the future growth initiatives of their 30-year-old project.
Last week Prime Minister Anthony Albanese came to visit Springfield on the request of Federal Blair MP, Shayne Neumann, and once again they were front and centre urging the PM to get involved in their latest vision.
He did not need much convincing because Albanese is already a dedicated supporter of the Springfield master plan and has been for years.
He has backed them on key projects such as upgrades to the Ipswich Motorway and Centenary Highway, the Springfield Central Railway project and health initiatives such as the new Mater Public Hospital wing.
Now they want him to join with them and the Qld Government to help lure one of the big players from Silicon Valley in the United States to their city of the future.
“It’s an exciting idea and one the Industry and Science Minister has raised personally with me after his recent visit to Springfield,” the PM said. “There are real prospects for Quantum and we need to make sure that Australia is not just a smart country, we need to commercialise the opportunities.
“Springfield is an exemplary symbol of what can be done with vision and with a sense of purpose and drive and the good thing here is its growth is a combination of private sector backed up by government.
“We are just part of the way through what is an exciting local community.
“The advantage that Springfield has is its business community wants to commercialise opportunities and it’s up to the government to support that.”
Shayne Neumann said the Labor government had always been a staunch supporter of Springfield and the PM has been a great champion for improving infrastructure in this corridor.
Springfield’s Bob Sharpless said they had used the opportunity of the PM’s visit to ask him to support a project the Queensland Govt brought to them in September last year.
While he was not divulging any detailed information he did say “it is an opportunity to bring a leading technology from Silicon Valley to Australia.”
“For the Queensland Govt to approach us to try and make this project a reality shows a high level of respect in what we have achieved in Springfield.
“We are still the same people that started this project 30 years ago which is not the case with many projects, we are still playing the long game,” he said.
Maha Sinnathamby said they had always planned to become involved with Silicon Valley and the organisation they were now speaking to was based there.
Shayne Neumann said he was also pushing hard to support the Silicon Valley project.
“There is presently $15billion in national reconstruction funds available and if we can tap into that we can build good high-skilled, high-paying jobs and advance the entire Ipswich community,” he said.
