Advance Cairns wants funds for aviation, marine and education ahead of federal election

Advance Cairns has outlined its federal election priorities for the region and is counting on politicians on both sides being aware how critical the seat of Leichhardt is.

Bronwyn Farr

2 min read

November 30, 2021 - 6:00AM

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ADVANCE Cairns has delivered its federal election wish list in a whirlwind two-day online delegation to Canberra, with 25 meetings held over two days including an audience with Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

And Advance Cairns chairman Nick Trompf says both sides of politics are acutely aware Leichhardt is a bellwether seat.

He pointed out Leichhardt’s elected member has sat on the government benches at every election since 1972, with the notable exception of 2010 when current MP Warren Entsch returned from retirement to win the seat.

Advance Cairns chairman Nick Trompf, Regional Development Australia Tropical North director Mike Chiodo and Cairns Chamber of Commerce president Sally Mlikota at the two-day Advance Cairns Forging Our Future forum with politicians including Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Picture: supplied.

Advance Cairns wants $80m to revitalise Cairns International Airport, positioning it to capitalise on fast-emerging maintenance, repair and overhaul for aircraft.

It wants $40m for international tourism recovery, funds to transform Cairns Port and expand HMAS Cairns, and to revive specialist ship and boat building.

It is seeking $200m for Cairns University Hospital as well as tertiary places in medicine at JCU.

The list includes $50m for a new campus for the fast-growing CQUniversity.

Advance Cairns is seeking more than $250m toward water infrastructure.

Mr Trompf acknowledges it’s a big list.

“If you look across the whole portfolio, it’s a couple of billion, you never expect to get the whole lot, but if we can land one or two of the big fish, as we have in the past, that would be a success,” he said.

“Reviving tourism and aviation is front and centre, and beyond that diversification of the economy is really critical, and pillars of that include the marine sector, this is a huge jobs growth area.”

A focus on HMAS Cairns and the marine sector is key for Advance Cairns ahead of the federal election. Picture: Brendan Radke

Mr Trompf said the adverse impacts of Covid in the Far North were starkly illustrated by a slump in the Cairns labour force, which has shrunk by 4400.

“It is quite alarming,” Mr Trompf said.

“There’s a high degree of awareness in the government and opposition around the scale of challenges here.

“We have been more severely impacted than arguably anywhere else in the country by Covid, and there’s also an awareness that the pie is very big in Leichhardt – we will see a swag of politicians visiting us next year, it will be polly-mania in early 2022.”