RDA Tropical North’s 2025-26 budget submission seeks agriculture master plan
A development committee says without a strategic master plan, the Far North was watching 495GL of water and a potential $1bn industry wash out to sea.
Cairns
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A development committee is calling for the creation of a regional agricultural masterplan among a list of federal budget initiatives it argues would boost the region’s economy by $1.8bn.
Regional Development Australia Tropical North has identified agriculture as the major contributor towards that $1.8bn potential growth, estimating the sector alone could produce $1bn in gross product.
But chief executive Sonja Johnson said landholders were struggling to navigate multiple layers of approvals and clearances required from harvesting water to clearing land, and managing complex environmental hurdles in a bid to expand their farming operations.
Ms Johnson said the organisation was calling for state and federal governments to band together and create an agricultural master plan for Far North Queensland, by bringing together decision makers from relevant departments at both levels including water, environment and primary industries to establish a taskforce.
“My vision is it’s a spatial mapping exercise that shows you the whole region and it shows you where the high value ag land is, how much of it is currently being used and what is not, and aligned to it is another map that has the water sources available and how much of those water sources are unallocated,” she said.
She said the masterplan would do the pre-approval work for landholders, advising them what percentage of their property could be cleared, what water was available and what targets such as Indigenous employment or carbon offsets they would need to meet if they wished to expand.
“Well the best way to address that is that we have a masterplan approach that has worked through all the regulations for landholder, and all they need to do is opt in.
“It is difficult for an individual landholder and it’s quite expensive to go through the process to get approvals, particularly if there’s tree clearing required.”
Ms Johnson said the taskforce would be advised to consider the Lakeland Area Irrigation Scheme and the Etheridge Agricultural and Irrigation Precinct proposals as case studies.
“If we were to unlock the water at Lakeland, 50 per cent of it would be taken up in the first five years, and within 20 all of it would be taken.
“The Gilbert River catchment at Etheridge has around 495GL which is unallocated. There’s so much water there no one is taking up so you have to ask why.”
Ms Johnson said while the masterplan would unlikely be included in Tuesday’s federal budget, RDA was seeking commitment from the major parties towards its creation during the upcoming election campaign.
While the federal government has already promised an additional $87.5m towards the Cairns Water Security Project and funding to complete the Kennedy Developmental Rd, Far Northerners will be eagerly awaiting for allocations towards health including the expansion of CQUniversity’s CBD campus ($27.5m) and additional Commonwealth Supported Places for James Cook University’s medicine program in Cairns.
The local marine and defence industry will be holding hopes for funding towards the Common User Facility, while aspiring homeowners will be looking for funds to develop trunk infrastructure in the southern growth corridor.
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Originally published as RDA Tropical North’s 2025-26 budget submission seeks agriculture master plan
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