Cairns Post Bush Summit: Far North investment attraction agency explained
A collaborative approach to establish a Far North investment attraction agency will need some gelling between the region’s leaders as key players express their differences.
A collaborative approach to establish a Far North investment attraction agency will need some gelling between the region’s leaders as key players express their differences.
While the civic and industry heads at Cairns Post’s Bush Summit on Tuesday broadly agreed special efforts needed to be made to actively draw investors to the region, how it would be achieved still needed ironing out.
The roundtable debated whether the investment agency could be a natural extension of Advance Cairns, but following the event, each attendee was asked how they think the initiative should work.
The chief executives of Cairns Airport, TTNQ and Regional Development Australia Tropical North agreed that Advance Cairns was best suited to host an investment attraction agency.
“It should not be a new body. It should be part of an existing organisation, just like Brisbane Economic Development Agency and Townsville Enterprise; Advance Cairns has looked at this in the past,” airport boss and Advance Cairns board member Richard Barker said.
Outgoing RDA Tropical North chief executive Sonja Johnson said placing the investment arm within Advance Cairns made sense given its “insights into business in the Far North and in-house investment expertise”.
Member for Cairns, Michael Healy, also cautioned against a new stand-alone body, but said he envisioned the agency being an extension of TTNQ.
“I believe it should be an extension of our region’s current sales and marketing body,” he said.
“Something like, Tourism Tropical North Queensland/Investment Tropical North Queensland.
“By not including this proposed entity within council, it protects council from conflicts and unfair criticism while presenting a non-political view.”
Urban Development Institute of Australia Cairns branch president Nathan Lee Long agreed the agency would need to remain non-political, but it would be “in the best interests” of the council and state government to be funding it, with alternative allocations possibly explored through the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF).
“The board should be taken from the private sector and relevant industries, such as tourism, property, manufacturing, agriculture, events, arts and culture, and media and marketing,” he said.
Advance Cairns chief executive Jacinta Reddan said the development of an investment attraction strategy was identified by the organisation in its Roadmap to 2035 plan.
“Cairns Regional Council commissioned an excellent piece of work about 18 months ago to investigate and scope what might be the best strategy,” Ms Reddan said.
“These investment attraction functions usually sit outside local government to avoid being constrained by potential future conflicts and to be nimble and responsive.
“There is a general recognition that the region needs an investment attraction strategy but this will require dedicated public and private sector funding.”
Cairns Mayor Amy Eden acknowledged the discussion of an investment attraction strategy and said it “potentially warrants further investigation and discussion”.
“Council already provides some support to help attract investment – things like the Cairns Smart Green Economy project and our development and investment incentive support policy,” she said.
Cairns Chamber of Commerce chief executive Patricia O’Neill said such an agency would require finance and business industry heavyweights with an in-depth knowledge of attracting investors and not just a broad “advocacy mindset”.
“We believe it should probably sit within NAIF,” she said.
“It needs to be a person who has a skill set of understanding investment, finance and development. They can’t just be an advocacy person.
“The reason we’re suggesting NAIF is because it’s federally funded, and to become a region attractive to investors, we need to look at reduced taxes for new companies and that’s a federal issue.”
Leichhardt MP Matt Smith said “all levels of government” could be contributing towards operating a local investment attraction agency.
Originally published as Cairns Post Bush Summit: Far North investment attraction agency explained
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