North Qld convoy rolls into Brisbane with $1.2 billion wish list

How can we save job cuts, business collapses and tourist losses in tropical north Queensland? About 50 local leaders on a convoy headed to Brisbane believe they have the answer.

FIVE new dams are the lifeblood of a $1.2 billion blueprint to shore up the ailing tourist-dependent economy in far north Queensland.

About 50 Cairns business leaders fly into Brisbane today for top-level talks with the State Government.

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Water and food security top the list of priorities with health, defence, tourism and education in a long-term strategic investment plan.

“Water is the new gold,’’ said Advance Cairns chair Nick Trompf, who heads the Convoy to Capital Q delegation.

“And in the tropics we’ve got plenty of it.

“If we can harness all that water, in the next 30 or 40 years we can grow the food the world wants.”

Agricultural exports are already worth $2.8 billion to the regional economy, constrained mainly by irrigation and access to market.

North Queensland farmer Joe Masasso, 79, grows avocado, mango, kiwi fruit, lychee, passion fruit and kipfler potatoes at Tolga on the Atherton Tableland. Picture: Brian Cassey

But the price of allocated water for irrigation, mostly sourced out of Tinaroo Dam, has tripled in the last decade to be the nation’s most expensive at about $4000Ml.

Cairns’ population growth (1.9 per cent) on top of about 153,000 residents and about three million tourists every year also puts pressure on supply.

As part of the Convoy to Capital Q, the Cairns business delegates are slated for 72 different meetings with 40 MPs at State Parliament.

Nullinga Dam project on the Atherton Tablelands ($854 million) and a $7 million business case for the North Johnstone diversion scheme are the two big ticket water supply items along with the Lakeland, Tableland and Gilbert River Irrigation Schemes.

Cairns University Hospital Innovation Precinct ($160 million); Cairns Marine Precinct ($125 million); Cairns Aviation Route Development ($50 million); and Education and Research ($130 million) are other priority areas.

Mr Trompf said a $10 million fund for destination marketing was vital as the region battles the impact of the bushfires and superbug coronavirus on tourism.

“The fortunes of our economy largely track with tourism, and we can see damage done if we aren’t promoting tourism,” he said.

“But it’s not just a tourism town.

“Health is the biggest employer in our region and the biggest bang for buck socially.”