Cairns business: Advance Cairns calls on federal government to deliver on promises

Labor promised $500m for the Far North ahead of the federal election. These are the big projects that the region is counting on.

ADVANCE Cairns is calling on the federal Labor government to honour its pre-election promises for the Far North.

Advance Cairns executive chairman Nick Trompf said the newly-announced defence review could result in an increased focus on Northern Australian ports including Cairns.

The government has announced a strategic review of Australia’s military for the first time in a decade, with recommendations to be made by March 23.

It will be a comprehensive study of the Australian Defence Force’s structure, preparedness and investments.

Advance Cairns executive chairman Nick Trompf and Tourism Tropical North Queensland CEO Mark Olsen have outlined what they expect to see, and what they ideally want, for Far North Queensland from the federal budget in their 2022-2023 submission. Picture: Brendan Radke

The terms of reference state the review is needed because “military modernisation, technological disruption and the risk of state-on-state conflict are complicating Australia’s strategic circumstances”.

Labor promised $150m to help transform Cairns port through a new multi-user marine maintenance facility, with the state government kicking in the same amount.

“They’ve announced the biggest strategic review of defence in 35 years is going to be done in world record speed – this tells you how significant security and geopolitical peace is – Darwin and Cairns and Townsville will take on really increased strategic significance,” Mr Trompf said.

“It’s very clear that foreign affairs and defence is in the top handful of issues the new government is focused on right from day one, so I expect we will see substantially more investment in defence and related industries than they probably anticipated.”

Then Opposition leader Anthony Albanese pictured in Cairns with partner Jodie Haydon (left) and Labor candidate Elida Faith, ahead of the federal election in May. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Mr Trompf said more than half a billion dollars in pre-election promises must be entrenched in new treasurer Jim Chalmers’ first federal budget in October.

“Unless those promises appear in the budget with dollar figures and time frames, and they’re nothing more than promises, they’re not tangible,” Mr Trompf said.

He said it was vital for the government to honour March budget commitments including $15m for Tourism Tropical North Queensland to rebuild international markets, and Commonwealth supported places to enable students to complete full medical degrees through JCU Cairns from 2023.

Pre-election promises included $50m for a new CQUniversity campus in Cairns CBD, $210m for safety upgrades on Kuranda range road, and $107.5m for Cairns water security.

He said with Coalition MP Warren Entsch retiring at the next election, it would be critical for Labor to win the prized Leichhardt seat.

“And if we still have a list of promises by that stage, as opposed to reality, that’s not going to help their chances of winning,” Mr Trompf said.

Mr Trompf said Advance Cairns would meet with Mr Chalmers in Canberra next month.

Originally published as Cairns business: Advance Cairns calls on federal government to deliver on promises