Councillor Jason Watts | Politician
Councillor Jason Watts
Phone: +61 418 342 872
Reviews
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24.01.2022 Do you know how to access voting for this local election? Please find below the handy video that explains the voting process for the 2020 local elections.
24.01.2022 This week, I enjoyed a western roads trip with the Mayor and other Councillors doing a sight seeing tour of our roads network. This was also a great opportunity to meet some of our property owners and community members. As part of the tour we inspected some of our regional roads and had the opportunity to meet the wonderful students and staff at Lundavra and Kioma State Schools. These little schools are a great asset to our region and it was a great experience to meet the students who truly welcomed us in to their school. Over the coming months, more of these trips are planned which I am looking forward to. I do enjoy seeing what our region has to offer and meeting the people who make our region one of the best in Queensland.
22.01.2022 Over the past few weeks, I have had the privilege of speaking across the Region to several communities. I would like to take this opportunity to provide further... information on the topic of Community Safety. I have been approached by a few people asking what more can be done regarding Community Safety. My answer is plenty! As a police officer my duties won’t change with regards to reducing crime, Council could also play an active role in enhancing Community Safety. I believe this could be achieved through Council collaboratively supporting projects, initiatives, and education resources to address community concerns. This will in turn allow people to have a reduced fear of crime, resulting in them feeling safer in their community and having a greater quality of life. I have strived to ensure that the local communities feel safe and protected by implementing approaches to reduce crime, promoting community safety as well as promoting social cohesion. I have effectively managed partnerships and have worked collaboratively with a range of stakeholders including government and nongovernment agencies, businesses and residents, resulting in the strengthening of community ties and the promotion of community awareness. I believe everyone has the right to feel safe, whether they are at home, work or play. I fully support measures such as CCTV cameras, however we can do more in this area. Community safety could effectively be improved through supporting local crime prevention programs, addressing social problems and improving the physical environment through effective urban design and planning. Our safety within our community is important and I will strive to ensure this is maintained. I have witnessed the negative impacts crime has on victims and have delivered a lot of bad news to good people. I will continue to do what I can within my current role, but I believe if I was elected as a local Councillor the platform would give me a greater opportunity to make positive steps in sustaining our vibrant community.
22.01.2022 Over the last few weeks I have enjoyed the opportunity to speak to many people across our region to say hello and to gain an understanding of what is happening in our community. During this time many people have asked me questions but one of the main questions which I am asked is, if I am successful in gaining a position on Council, how am I going to manage the time to do the role? This is a good question so I thought I would offer my explanation on this as if a couple of pe...ople have asked than more than likely many people may be thinking the same. Yes I work full time with the Queensland Police Service and most people will know that my role is as Branch Manger at the PCYC where I work Monday to Friday. With this role I need to work my set hours however I do not work shift work or night work nor am I required to work weekends. Furthermore my hours are flexible in that I can work a morning shift or afternoon shift providing me the time and flexibility to attend to the many requirements to fulfill the role of councillor. I also have the opportunity to take up flexible working arrangements so I can rework my hours as needed. Being based full time at the PCYC I am very fortunate to work in a position that provides me with flexibility and to be honest if I was still positioned at the police station, I would not consider running as I believe I could not give the position of council the proper time the role deserves. All in all, life is a juggle with family and work commitments but I would not be putting my hand up if I did not believe I could do the role nor have the time needed to ensure I fulfil the role of Councillor. Prior to announcing my intention to run I spoke to many people to gain a good understanding of what the role of councillor involves and with this in mind I made the decision to run. In addition to this some people have asked can I run for council and still be a police officer. The answer is yes and I can stand, run and hold a position of councillor without affecting my employment with the QPS. In saying this though, this does not extend to a position of Senior Councillor (ie Mayor) or a member of the State of Federal Parliament. Hence If I did run for these positions then I would have to resign my position with the QPS to ensure there is no conflict of interest. I would like to finish this post in saying I am not taking the position of Council lightly and am very conscious on what commitment is involved. I trust that those people who do know me would agree, I have always invested my time and energy into what I have committed to and I would carry the same vigour and dedication into this role if given the opportunity.
20.01.2022 On Friday Cr Kelly, Cr O’Shea and I travelled out to Inglewood to attend the official opening of the Greenup Meeting Place. Well done to Kenny and Shelly Rielly for all of your hard work. The place looks great!!
18.01.2022 Over the last 3 nights I had the pleasure of attending the Meet the Candidates nights held at Yelarbon, Goondiwindi and Talwood. This was a good opportunity to outline my plans and goals for the community. The interest from the community was encouraging. I enjoyed the experience and the opportunity to meet many new people. I don’t think anyone fell asleep during my speech and no one threw anything at me, so I took that as a positive. Thank you to everyone who attended the night. Special mention to the Yelarbon Oasis Hotel, Goondiwindi Golf Club and a Talwood Hotel for hosting the events, as well as the Goondiwindi Chamber of Commerce, especially Mr Robert Webb for organising the events.
18.01.2022 A great opportunity to ask questions and get to know your candidates. Hope to see you there!
17.01.2022 As the election draws to a close I want to take the opportunity to not only say good luck to all of the candidates but to say thank you to the many people who have assisted me and provided me with support over the last few weeks. I also wanted to say thank you to all the people in the Goondiwindi Regional Council area for taking the time to meet me. Lastly, thank you to my family for always standing with me.
17.01.2022 I enjoyed the opportunity to attend Texas again to speak to a few of the residents and discuss with them what they love about their community. I discussed with them identified issues in their community and what they would like addressed from their local Council. I also had the opportunity to attend the Texas Community Advisory Committee (C.A.N) and speak to the dedicated representatives from Police, Health, Education, Council and listen to what great work is happening in the ...Texas area. I was then given a guided tour to look at some of the wonderful facilities on offer within the community including the Texas Hospital. For a small community, there is something for everybody including a nice flow returning in the Dumaresq River. I appreciated everyone’s time as it gave me the chance to hear community perspective on local issues. This gave me great insight into understanding what I could do to further assist the Texas community if I am given the privilege of being selected on Council.
16.01.2022 Great picture, but who would have thought such a beautiful body of water or state border can cause so many issues. As I have outlined in my speeches, another key point I want to continue working on if I am successful in Council is to continue the work that has been undertaken in addressing the many Cross-Border issues that exist. Cross-borders issues are wide ranging and these issues do impact on our businesses, economy as well as council resources so it is important we work... on strategies to address these. I acknowledge not all of the Cross-borders are negative but there needs to be a balance. I understand I am not going to solve all of the issues but I do want to continue the work being undertaken by Council to lobby and advocate to bring about change. I do believe the residents living in the cross-border regions should have equitable access to services however presently this does come at a cost to the Goondiwindi Region. Therefore there is a need to not only align service delivery and avoid the need for community members on each side of the border to navigate through different service systems but also have mechanisms in place so our region is not financially burdened by this. To achieve this, I believe Council needs to continue working collaboratively in finding solutions that make our lifestyle better and business easier for our border communities. As outlined in the Statement of Principles and Priorities for Cross-Border Collaboration 2016-2019 ‘the key focus areas for cross-border collaboration are regional economic development, aligning services and sharing information, local transport and issues of national significance.’ Furthermore it states ‘This is important as it aims to develop a strategic way that benefits the whole community with the aim of improving integration, productivity and social and economic development’. I agree with this these principles and I know there has been some progress made in addressing some of these areas, but there is a lot more work that needs to be done to bring about substantial change which will benefit our region. Hopefully through the platform of Council I will get a chance.
15.01.2022 Today I had the opportunity to undertake a learning tour and gain some valuable insight into how Council can implement strategies to better manage our Council Reserves. Listening to Holly from Southern Qld Landscapes and Victor Steffensen from the Indigenous Fire workshops - Firesticks, I appreciated his insight and knowledge on how we as a Council, can use indigenous land management practices to care for our country.
14.01.2022 This week I had the opportunity with the other Councillors be a part of the western roads tour of our Region. During the day we visited council infrastructure, inspected more of our road network and spoke to a few residents at Daymar, Weengallon and Toobeah. I also enjoyed visiting and meeting the wonderful students at Bungunya and Talwood. Great little schools doing great things. ... Thank you Cr Mackenzie for being the driver and tour guide. It was a good day.
14.01.2022 The Goondiwindi region truly is a great region to call home. We are very lucky to enjoy an amazing regional lifestyle to raise our families and live amongst people who take pride in their community. Every person I have spoken to comments on how well our community is presented and what we as a region have to offer. That is why tourism could and should play a valuable role in promoting and supporting our communities. I believe we should invest more time advocating and working ...on enhancing the tourism opportunities across the region. It is important that we raise the profile of our region as we have so much to offer. I also agree that Council needs to have an ongoing commitment to the tourism sector by supporting existing markets and exploring the growth opportunities for the benefit of the region. Council has done a lot of work in this space through the creation of the Goondiwindi Visitor Strategy 2020-2024, outlining the opportunities we need to explore. This is something I wish to continue as the benefits will provide a flow on effect across the region, not only in visitor numbers but in revenue raised. Last year the region welcomed over 216,000 visitors, generating over $68m in revenue. The revenue generated through tourism provides ongoing support for our local businesses and economy. I believe it is important to implement the visitor strategy to enhance and increase tourism across the region. The revenue raised would have a significant positive financial impact for all our communities. As a region, we do such a great job in this space, but I believe Council needs to be there to support, promote and advocate the tourism sector for the whole region.
14.01.2022 Since moving to Goondiwindi, I have been truly amazed at the community spirit that exists and the amount of work people put in to make the Goondiwindi community what it is today. Every person I speak to who visits this town, is always complimentary on the presentation of the town and the people they meet. I have worked in many communities but the sense of pride and passion that shines through goes a long way to making the Goondiwindi Regional Council a great place to live. It... is with this same vain that I have always tried to play my part and be actively involved in all aspects of community. Whether it is through my children sporting groups, Goondiwindi Parkrun, Chamber of Commerce, Care Goondiwindi Board or the several other committees I actively participate in through my work, I have always tried to help where I can. For the last 6 years I have put my hand up to coach junior soccer on Saturday mornings as well as several Goondiwindi Roos Rep soccer teams. Coaching my son Riley from Squirts to under 12’s has been a great experience. Even though I knew nothing about soccer I have enjoyed seeing him grow over the years. Being able to spend this time with him, is time I cherish, and I’ll enjoy it for as long as it lasts. He is growing up fast and is getting a little quick for me now. In addition to this, I have coached both my daughters in netball over the last few years including Goondiwindi Rep netball. This has been a great experience as well. Coaching teenage girls requires a different approach but seeing them come together and play as a team to proudly represent their community is rewarding. Furthermore, seeing my two girls play, develop their skills, attitude and commitment to something they enjoy has been wonderful. The girls are growing taller and taller but at least they still listen to me on the court. I wish this extended to being at home, but I can’t really complain. I believe I’ve been very fortunate to have had these opportunities to spend this time with my kids outside of our busy lives with work and hopefully they’ll look back on it when they are older with fond memories. I know at times we are all busy and this leads to there being a struggle to find coaches or helpers, but I have always been happy to assist. There are so many wonderful people who do a lot of similar work behind the scenes week in and week out so what I do is nothing different. However, I can honestly say pitching in and helping has been as beneficial to me as it has been to the clubs. Also, I get to watch them do something they love and as coach I get to do it from the best seats in the house.
13.01.2022 Thank you to everyone who has offered words of encouragement and support so far... ‘Well said Jason. After living in Darwin for 15 years makes me want to move down south to Goondiwindi!!’ ‘Lovely family. Best of luck for the election’... ‘Jason is very community minded and was a great asset to Tara. I can guarantee he will do all he can for Goondiwindi’
12.01.2022 On Wednesday, all Councillors and I enjoyed the opportunity to be a part of the Eastern Roads Tour with our tour guides Jason and Dion from Council. Throughout the day we travelled quite a few kms of road, met some locals, discussed some issues and had the chance to see more of our great Region, with Cr Mackenzie behind the wheel of our trusty tour bus!!!!
11.01.2022 Please make yourselves aware of the webinar that is available tomorrow night. Thanks to the Goondiwindi Regional Council and Goondiwindi Chamber of Commerce for presenting relevant information for our local community. It is important that we keep informed on how we as a community can minimise the impact of COVID-19.
11.01.2022 Date claimer - This Friday 28th February 2020 the Goondiwindi Golf & Country Club are hosting two great events provided by and funded by RHeath. Please share and if you are available to make it please take advantage of these wonderful opportunities which support our community.
11.01.2022 Thank you to the students and staff of Lundavra School for inviting us today. We enjoyed our visit and seeing the great work presented by the students
08.01.2022 Another great breakfast this morning at the Yelarbon Men’s Breaky. Cr Mackenzie, Cr O’Shea and I enjoyed listening and speaking to a number of proud men in our Region. Great bacon and Egg burgers too!
08.01.2022 Yesterday I attended the Yelarbon Men’s Breaky with Cr O’Shea, Cr Mackenzie and Mayor Springborg. It was a chilly morning but a great opportunity to see the proud men of the Yelarbon and wider community come together and enjoy some breakfast and good company. Chantel Corish (Psychologist) provided some valuable information and advice we can use to improve our mental health. A special thank you to Tony Stepney and Jeff Hillard from the men’s shed for again supplying their cu...linary skills when preparing a great breakfast. This group is an example of a great community initiative being run within our Region and I encourage all men to attend. We all need to look after ourselves and our mates.
05.01.2022 Another one of the key points I have been speaking about over the last few weeks, the matter of water security for the Region. I know water is a very topical issue and will be for some time due to the ongoing drought conditions our region has been experiencing. I applaud the work Council has undertaken with the publishing of the Goondiwindi Regional Council Drought Management Plan which outlines key objectives for securing water for every community in the region. I also suppo...rt the ongoing work with the installation of new bores across the region to ensure water supply to each community. In additional to this, I believe it is important that we also explore supplementary water security and water efficiency measures to compliment the strategies outlined in the plan. We all need to remember the importance of being responsible in our use of water and to relieve the pressure on existing water supplies. Initiatives Council could explore may include avenues such as a water tank rebate schemes which have been implemented successfully in other council areas. This initiative will help community members capture and use rainwater for domestic purposes in and around our homes. Another method that has been used to increase water security is through the introduction of effective monitoring and controls for our town irrigation systems to reduce wasted water. Obviously these would be subject to budget considerations but are possible avenues that could be explored. Furthermore, any water efficiency measures are critical for future-proofing our region and does work in hand with current measures such as water restrictions being an effective tool. I know water restrictions can be hard but I do agree it is a fair way of ensuring everyone retains access to water supplies. Larger scale initiatives requiring State and Federal Government involvement such as dams, ground water allocations and manufactured water options are also possible avenues and I am of the opinion Council needs to continue to lobby and advocate for these. Water is a valuable resource and we need to support strategies aimed at preserving and sustaining our water supplies not only for the urban supply but also for our irrigators and agriculture sector. I agree that being responsible and having secure water supply underpins not only growth in our population but also in the economy and this will benefit the whole region.
04.01.2022 On Saturday night, Jane and I enjoyed attending the 2020 Lions Club of Goondiwindi Installation Night at the Royal Hotel. Congratulations to the new President Pieter Kruger and all of the new board members who took office. The contribution to the local community by the Lions Club is invaluable and we are truly appreciative of the work and the service you provide to our community.
