Former Mulgrave MP Curtis Pitt appointed to Port Norths board
Where is he now? Former Mulgrave MP Curtis Pitt is among a number of new faces on the board of a major Queensland organisation.
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Former Mulgrave MP Curtis Pitt will return to the public eye after he gained appointment to the board of one of the Far North’s most significant organisations.
Mr Pitt was among five new faces appointed to the board of directors at Ports North on February 15, which is still chaired by Russell Beer.
The former Labor Speaker who retired from a 15-year career in politics ahead of the 2024 state election will be accompanied by Susan Casey, David Edwards, former BSE Maritime Solutions director Justin Parer and pharmacist Georgina Twomey.
All five received three-year terms set to expire on May 31, 2028.
Ports North is a Queensland Government-Owned Corporation and responsible to Transport Minister Brent Mickelberg and Rosslyn Bates, the Minister for Finance, Trade, Employment and Training.
The 2023-24 annual report showed the organisation’s nine board of directors shared between them a remuneration of $334,794.
Beyond the day-to-day operations of the region’s ports, the organisation is believed to be working towards solutions on the “over budget” Cairns Marine Precinct Common User Facility.
The project co-funded by state federal governments in 2022 was budgeted for $360m with construction expected to have started in late 2023.
However, in December 2024 after the change of State Government, Transport Minister Mr Mickelberg revealed the works to establish a common user facility would have cost taxpayers $826m instead.
Mr Mickelberg at the tiume said the project had “sat idle” in the Labor cabinet for three years before it was “handed over to Ports North in late September, weeks before the election”.
Labor’s last Transport Minister Bart Mellish, who now held shadow portfolio disputed Mr Mickelberg’s claim and said it was never “dumped” on Ports North, but worked on in collaboration with the state government body.
Mr Mickelberg was asked on numerous occasions if the new LNP state government was preparing to axe the project but insisted he was committed “to infrastructure for Far North Queensland”.
He said his government would work through a “systemic process” to “better understand the needs” of the marine industry.
Mr Mickelberg said that would include lobbying the federal government for additional funding.
The project has been labelled by some community leaders as the most siginificant since the establishment of the Cairns International Airport.
Both Mr Pitt and Ports North were unable to comment until the board was officially unveiled by the state government.
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Originally published as Former Mulgrave MP Curtis Pitt appointed to Port Norths board
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