Livingstone Shire Council

Marcia as well as going through long periods of recovering from mining and tourism downturns,” Ludwig laments. Projects Ludwig was first Mayor of Living- stone from 2000 to 2008, and was voted in again in 2013 – in time for the de-amalgamation – and has re- mained the governing elected leader since. Fittingly, his perspective and in- sight on the district and its many pro- jects are thorough to say the least, and his approach to servicing the wants and needs of his electors is inspiring- ly open and forthcoming. Recalling his time on trying to get the foreshore pro- ject off the ground, Ludwig tell us: “I told people to dream what they want here, and what they want from the project, and then my job would be to go and find the money. “It’s a great philosophy to have I think, to not limit people. There are things you can achieve even without a lot of money. You just need thoughtful design and to get the synergy right. I’m encouraging people to strive for excel- lence.” Ludwig is a firm believer that with well thought out infrastructure, not only is his council creating social amenities, but they are making the town more and more attractive for people to come and live there. He states “This is the key to private sector investment, if you get your transport corridors right, and get things like water, sewage and other key infrastructure in place, what naturally follows is that private sector investment. It comes where we cre- ate opportunities.” So what exactly is some of the infrastructure develop- ment going on at the moment? P anorama D rive Once the Shire had de-amalgamated, and started to get the ground running on its infrastructure projects, Panora- ma Drive was the first major project the Council went for funding for. It’s an entirely new road link to cost an esti- mated $31.5 million, and will connect the Shire’s northern suburbs of Yep- poon with access to nearby resources, while also relieving traffic congestion. The drive also provides an alternative emergency access route in times of major disaster, which following the trail of destruction left by cyclone Marcia, would be hugely beneficial should dis- aster strike again. “In politics, people really focus on the first 100 days that someone is in pow- er. Day 99 is when we got the grant we applied for. It was a great coup for us to get a grant that size, that early in new council,” Ludwig extols. Indeed in April 2014 the state government com- mitted to contributing to 50% of the projected project costs, up to $15 mil- lion, through its Royalty for Regions Funding – an initiative committed to developing Western Australia’s region- al areas.