Federal election 2022: Kennedy vs Leichhardt: Major party commitments dwindle in Katter country
A tale of two electorates is playing out in Far North Queensland with the baby and bathwater thrown at one seat and the other barely getting a nappy rash.
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MAY 20: Crumbs for Cairns: Major party pledges dwindle in Katter country
A TALE of two electorates is playing out in Far North Queensland with the baby and bathwater thrown at one seat while the other barely warrants a nappy rash.
Labor has declared another pledge for Leichhardt in the dying throes of the campaign with a plan to hire 100 new Centrelink call centre staff in Cairns.
It was a characteristically Labor commitment – a fervent nod to the public sector, and specifically to a call centre that employed candidate Elida Faith for years before she laced up for the political marathon.
There was no fixed dollar-figure ledger entry, this time, but Labor’s list of oaths has topped $600m in Leichhardt.
The Coalition has a much more cautious list of $220m in quantifiable, Leichhardt-specific projects on the table.
Crawl over to Kennedy and it is a very different story.
The major parties are offering crumbs once their two biggest commitments – both of which have enormous crossover with Leichhardt – are taken out of the picture.
The $107.5m Cairns Water Security Project has a bipartisan guarantee, and Labor has $210m in play to upgrade the Kuranda Range Rd.
For its part, the LNP has $11m for a study to find an alternative route to the Kuranda Range Rd.
Striking them off as Leichhardt commitments is perhaps unfair, but no less interesting for the sake of this argument.
It leaves Kennedy with about $2.5m in major seat-specific promises from Labor and $12m from the LNP.
Kennedy MP Bob Katter is babe in arms when it comes to romping home in elections, but Labor is not writing it off as a certainty yet – even if the $1.01-odds bookies are.
Labor Senator Nita Green leapt to candidate Jason Brandon’s defence when asked whether Kennedy was being pushed aside as a Kat-in-the-Hat certainty.
“I think sometimes we forget that part of Kennedy is in Cairns,” she said.
“A lot of our announcements and a lot of the jobs that will be delivered from the Cairns marine precinct ($150m Labor plan) will also go to people who live in the those southern suburbs of Cairns … ”
The LNP’s Bryce Macdonald has campaigned hard in Kennedy but, like Mr Brandon, has largely had to rely on national announcements for ammunition.
Mr Katter is unencumbered by the meddling of party machinery – he is the engine block, the pistons and the crankshaft, and what he says goes.
However, he has managed to keep his Kennedy-specific hit list sharp.
His chief infrastructure calls are for an admittedly big-money $1.5bn Bridle Track tunnel linking Cairns to the Tablelands, and a plan to convert sugar mills into cogeneration power plans, estimated to cost about $11m.
The seasoned politician knows his strength lies in holding the balance of power outright – or, failing that, whether he can maintain a schoolyard alliance with whatever minor-party neophytes enter from stage left.
MAY 19: LNP’s big splash promise for FNQ park
THE Liberal and Nationals government has promised $1.34 million for a new water park for the Far North.
The money would help build additional cabins and a waterpark at the Lake Tinaroo Holiday Park on the Atherton Tablelands.
Lake Tinaroo Holiday Park owner Lachlan Farquharson said he was excited that the “boat themed” and “fully inclusive” water park would bring a new option to the region.
“Each feature of the park will be for different kids,” Mr Farquharson
“It will be a water park for all abilities and needs.
“As soon as we know who wins the election on Saturday night, we’ll get all the plans in place and start going because we have everything ready to go.”
Mr Farquharson said he expected the project to take nine months to complete as the business have the systems in place ready to go.
“It just needs a tick of approval,” he said.
The park will be boat themed, referencing the lake, and include a splash park, waterfalls and a river pool.
LNP Senator Susan McDonald said the project will attract visitors, particularly schools and larger families.
“The proximity to an international airport and export markets in Far North Queensland are extremely attractive to a wide range of businesses, farmers and tourism entrepreneurs,” she said.
“More visitors is a win-win for the region – it creates more jobs and keeps money local.”
With the project worth more than $2.4 million, it’s expected to employ 26 contractors during the park’s construction and 6 full time employees once completed.
MAY 17: PM drops $25m bombshell for Cairns University Hospital
SCOTT Morrison has delivered a missing piece of the Cairns University Hospital puzzle as new details reveal the project could be even bigger than anticipated.
The Prime Minister flew into Cairns on Friday, first stop a senior citizens’ afternoon tea to spruik the Coalition’s incentive plan to encourage older Australians to downsize their homes.
His big announcement was yet to come.
Mr Morrison unveiled a $25m rural health plan for Queensland, including 20 new Commonwealth-supported medical university placements dedicated to Cairns.
The designation was on top of 80 placements already assigned to a competitive bidding process across the country.
“The leadership’s been shown here on the ground and we want to support that leadership with those 20 additional Commonwealth-supported places to make this a great success,” Mr Morrison said.
“Warren and I want more people to be making that decision to become a doctor, to become a health professional right here in Cairns.”
The long-awaited commitment came as Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch revealed a major private-sector operator was circling with hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of capital to invest in the project.
He was coy about the mystery player’s identity but said it was working with James Cook University (JCU) to deliver something sensational.
“They’ve already lined up more than 24 specialists that are going to come into this,” he said.
“We’re talking leverage of more than half-a-billion dollars. Private enterprise is very, very advanced.
“They’re going to put the lion’s share of the money in.”
Labor is yet to commit to government-supported placements for Cairns – a decision that would guarantee the project could go ahead.
The state government refuses to publish its preliminary business case for the Cairns Health Innovation Centre (CHIC) component of the project despite its completion in October last year, citing commercial-in-confidence reasons.
“The Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service (CHHHS) has since received approval from the department to progress with a detailed business case,” a CHHHS spokesman said.
The Cairns Post has championed the project through its Operation 2025 campaign that launched two years ago.
JCU Cairns campus director David Craig celebrated the win and hoped Labor would at least match it.
“We can’t enrol domestic students without those Commonwealth-support placements,” he said.
“For JCU, our graduates are six times more likely to stay in the regions than any other university in the country. There’s a pretty compelling argument about why we should get these places.”
MAY 17: Entsch’s staff and supporters back their boss at pre-poll stoush
AS Far North voters head into polling booths, candidates aim to sway any undecided voters.
On Saturday morning outside the DFO shopping centre in Westcourt, LNP Warren Entsch MP had a verbal confrontation with Katter’s Australian Party candidate Rod Jensen over alleged comments Mr Jensen made earlier to LNP staffer Zac Webster.
It is understood Mr Jensen tried to calm the situation by asking Mr Entsch and a female supporter to “stop,” as he backed away from them.
Mr Entsch said: “I went over to him and quietly said ‘be very, very careful where you source your information’, and he backed up and effectively denied it all.”
Mr Entsch also accused the Greens and Get Up! of collaborating to disrupt his campaign.
“They are trying to get me to swear on camera,” he said.
Mr Jensen denied there was any disagreement between himself and Mr Entsch.
“We had a quiet word,” he said.
MAY 16: Proposal for new regional university
THE LNP has announced a plan to establish a new regional university centre in Cooktown.
Federal Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch welcomed the announcement and said the centre showed the commitment to improve higher education participation in regional and remote Australia.
“Our local rural and regional students deserve the very best when it comes to their education, and its initiatives like this one that will ensure that students can study close to home without having to leave their communities,” Mr Entsch said.
Federal regional education minister Bridget McKenzie said once the centre was running, locals won’t need to leave home to relocate and study.
“They will be able to enrol in a university course and complete a degree or another tertiary qualification and their skills could stay in the region and help the community,” Ms McKenzie said.
“Regional University Centres supported more than 2400 students across Australia in 2021 to undertake further education, many of them who would never have considered this if it wasn’t for these facilities.”
The centre would be expected to open in October 2022.
MAY 12: Cash splash hopes as Barnaby bandwagon rolls into town
THE smell of cash and cattle is in the air as Barnaby Joyce hits Cairns for a mystery election announcement.
The Deputy Prime Minister’s visit on Thursday comes at a crucial time with just over a week left in the campaign and Labor pulling ahead in latest polling.
There is slim chance he will come empty-handed.
Speculation is rife about what pledges he will make – but one project is most likely.
Labor announced $50m for CQUniversity to build a new campus in the Cairns CBD way back in November as one of its first sweeteners for Leichhardt.
The Coalition is yet to make any such funding guarantee, despite Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch being one of the project’s key drivers since its inception.
In the cutthroat jurisdictional lines that separate the Coalition, regional education falls under the remit of the Nationals.
As party leader, Mr Joyce is ideally placed to finally make the announcement without stepping on any toes within the two-party alliance.
Advance Cairns chairman Nick Trompf was quietly hopeful a bipartisan agreement would be locked in by the end of the week.
“CQU is something that Warren was one of the key supporters of right at the outset,” he said.
“He’s been confident all along we would get support.
“I genuinely don’t know what the Deputy Prime Minister will announce, but I think it would be tremendous if Warren was able to deliver on his ambition for CQU.
“That makes it bipartisan and a certainty for the city.”
Mr Joyce will have something to say about the Coalition’s $11m promise to complete a fast-tracked new Kuranda Range alternative road study within 12-18 months of re-election.
He is the current infrastructure minister, and it would be within his remit to put more meat on the bones.
So far, the only commitment is for a study to determine the engineering, cost and feasibility of building a new route up the range.
There is no guarantee the government will fund construction of the billion dollar-plus project within the next four-year term, although Mr Entsch has hinted at the possibility.
Advance Cairns has also been campaigning for the National Highway to be extended from its current end at Smithfield to Mareeba, making the Kuranda Range Rd a bona fide federal concern.
Mr Joyce may also get a chance to catch up with his future father-in-law, Peter Campion, who is standing as a candidate under the United Australia Party banner in the seat of Kennedy.
Mr Joyce proposed to Vikki Campion in January and plans to marry after the election. The pair has two young sons.
LNP to tip $6m into acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease
MORE than $6m will be committed to address a debilitating condition predominantly affecting Far North indigenous communities.
Federal Leichardt MP Warren Entsch has applauded a move to roll a newly formed national aboriginal health body into communities such as Dommadgee, Yarrabah and Cairns to help
tackle acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease.
Disturbingly, Indigenous children aged between five to 15 were “55 time more likely” to die from the latter disease, according to Mr Entsch.
The conditions cause swelling of the heart, blood vessels and joints and often require lifelong treatment.
“No child should be dying from this terrible disease,” Mr Entsch said.
Federal Health and Aged Care Minister, Greg Hunt, said a National Aboriginal community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) would be working with the Far North communities with prevention, screening, early diagnosis and treatment.
The rate of RHD in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across the state is the second highest in the country, behind only the Northern Territory.
“It will save lives, protect lives and deliver better health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people now and in the future,” Mr Hunt said.
The $6m commitment will ensure NACCHO can give dedicated support to Doomadgee, Yarrabah and the Cairns region, which have the highest rates of RHD and ARF in North Queensland.
“I welcome this much needed additional funding that will expand the support provided by our community-controlled health services to continue to provide evidence-based care and support in across Doomadgee, Yarrabah and Cairns,” Mr Entsch said.
MAY 10: ‘Report after report’: Ministers issue with LNP’s Kuranda Range fix
A LEAGUE of Far Northern councils who will either thrive or wither at the fate of the Kuranda Range Road has thrown its support behind the LNP’s strategy.
However, the Coalition’s $11m announcement for a business case revealed exclusively to the Cairns Post is contingent on the State Government stumping up equal funds for the report which prompted a predictable response on Monday from the Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey.
FNQROC chairman Michel Kerr, at the official announcement in Cairns on Monday, said he was thankful the data was finally being taken into account and that an alternative route was being considered.
“It’s been our position for many years now to look for an alternative route,” Mr Kerr said.
“We have done report after report, all the data is there, so this will be a great investigation to see which alternate route is the most suitable and the most effective for this region.”
But Mr Bailey said it was too little too late for Leichhardt LNP MP Warren Entsch to be taking action.
“Warren Entsch has had 23 years in federal parliament to fix the Kuranda Range Road and has achieved zero,” Mr Bailey said.
“This last-minute election bribe proves empty Entsch’s failure and shows how he and Scott Morrison have no idea how to upgrade the Kuranda Range Road after a decade in power,” he said.
The LNP’s commitment comes after federal Labor’s announcement in April, which unveiled $210m for the Kuranda Range Rd, involving measures that focused on increased safety measures to the existing route.
Mr Entsch said this new proposal was exclusively about finding an alternative route and not upgrading the existing road.
“It’s not about doing another study on the Kuranda Range, we’ve got a bucket-full of those, what we’ve got to do is look at viable alternatives,” he said.
MAY 9: ‘Look at alternatives’: LNP’s solution to Kuranda range issue
THE COALITION has pledged $11m of funding into finding a suitable alternative to the problem-plagued Kuranda Range Road claiming that upgrades to the existing route is not a solution.
The LNP said it will invest $11m into a business case and evaluation of a suitable alternative route in the region, citing Kuranda Range’s critical long-term safety and capacity issues.
This commitment comes after the campaign announcement from Federal Labor in April which unveiled $210m for the Kuranda Range Rd which focused on increased safety measures to the existing route.
Federal Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch said that this new proposal was exclusively about finding an alternative route, unlike Labor’s plan to simply upgrade the existing road.
“This is not about the Kuranda range, this is about an alternative route and that’s absolutely critical, and this is what the community’s been screaming out for a long time, and at last we have the opportunity of fixing it.
“It’s not about doing another study on the Kuranda range, we’ve got a bucket full of those, we’ve got all the information we need there, what we got to do is look a viable alternatives,” he said.
Senator for Queensland, Susan McDonald emphasised the importance of adequately connecting the region would have on the local economy, and said it’s now the state government’s turn to help our region by matching the LNP’s $11m pledge.
“It’s the coalition that’s been getting things done in the north, we’ve been abandoned in the north by the state labor government and by federal labor government who doesn’t even seem to know where we are,” said Ms McDonald.
“This 11 million dollars from the federal government from Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce as the minister for infrastructure is an important piece of funding, and it needs to be matched by the state government.
“This is an incredibly important thing to do because of the half a billion worth of produce that’s grown up on the tablelands thanks to the Tinaroo dam,” she said.
Chair of the Far North Queensland Regional Organisation of Councils (FNQROC), Michael Kerr said that FNQROC, who had been a strong advocate for this project, were thankful that the data was finally been taken into account and that an alternative route was been considered.
“It’s been our position for many years now to look for an alternative route,” he said.
“We have done report after report, all the data is there, so this will be a great investigation to see which is the alternate route which is the most suitable and the most effective for this region.
“An announcement like this we are very grateful for, and at least it’s a step in the right direction, hopefully the Queensland state government will also put their portion in and make sure this report does happen.”
But Transport and Main Roads, Minister Mark Bailey says it’s too little too late for MP Entsch to be taking action now.
“Warren Entsch has had twenty-three years in Federal Parliament to fix the Kuranda Range Road and has achieved zero” said Mr Bailey.
“This last minute election bribe proves Empty Entsch’s failure and shows how he and Scott Morrison have no idea how to upgrade the Kuranda Range Road after a decade in power”.
When asked why wait until so close to the election to make this announcement, MP Entsch said it came down the Deputy Prime Minister’s schedule.
“I’ve been working closely with Barnaby and initially we were trying to work a way that we could have Barnaby, the Deputy Prime Minister up here to make the announcement.”
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce is expected to be visiting Mareeba this week to discuss a couple of the road alternatives, according to MP Entsh.
The Cairns Post has been campaigning for a solution to fix the broken link that has suffered incessant road closures, crashes and delays as a report found the road was closed 44 times a year.
Mr Entsch said he heard the outcry from the community which demanded a solution to the issue and marked the business case as a “first step.”
“This can can’t be kicked down the road any longer,” he said.
“Let’s get the business case done, identify the options and long-term solutions, get them costed and get on with the job of delivering.”
As a previous promise, the LNP has already committed $28m for Intelligent Transport Systems to be stationed on Kuranda Range to detect and manage incidents on the road.
However, Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce said it was critical to fix a road that plays a crucial role for the region.
“The Kuranda Range Road is a vital strategic corridor,” he said.
“This road underpins the commercial viability of primary industries, producers and exporters in the region in providing access to markets through the Cairns air and seaports, and road links to southern markets.”
LNP candidate for Kennedy Bryce MacDonald said he was pleased to be a part of finding a solution.
“The Palaszczuk Labor Government has failed dismally to demonstrate any leadership when it comes to the Kuranda Range Road, so the Federal Coalition Government now has to step in to progress a solution for Far North Queenslanders,” he said.
“We need this merit-based evaluation and business case process to happen now.”
MAY 3: What new mobile data link means for Far North communities
CAPE York community leaders have welcomed $3.5 million of locked-in funding for improved 4 and 5G services, saying it will boost emergency service responses and business opportunities in the regions.
Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch made the funding announcement in Cooktown on Tuesday, alongside Cook Shire Mayor Peter Scott, who described the new and upgraded base stations in Cooktown, Lockhart River and Seisia as “great news”.
“From Cooktown’s perspective it’s fabulous,” Cr Scott said.
“People come up here to Cooktown for lifestyle purposes. Our urban expansion will be out that way down the track and we’re very much moving towards home health, home education, home entertainment, people being in place and also when we’ve got the cyclones and things like that people need to know they can be at home and still be connected to family friends and the authorities as well.”
Cr Scott said the improved coverage would also assist emergency services when fighting big grass fires in the Endeavour Valley, where they would otherwise have to rely on their radio systems.
Speaking as a member of the Torres and Cape Indigenous Council Alliance, Cr Scott said Mayors Wayne Butcher and Patricia Yusia would be “thrilled to bits” by the announcement of funding for improved coverage.
“Every time there’s a cyclone or a storm it seems to belt poor old Lockhart River so their communication, it’s absolutely essential they’ve got that good connectivity,” Cr Scott said.
The funding will cover the $1.6m upgrade of the Telstra macro cell base station in the Lockhart River, a new $1.1m macro cell base station for Seisia, and $772,400 for a new Telstra macro cell mobile site in Cooktown.
The new macro cell mobile site in Cooktown was welcomed in particular by Daintree Air Services owner and chief pilot Greg Letondeur, who currently employs seven Cooktown locals at Cooktown Airport.
The airport currently has very patchy to non-existent mobile phone coverage.
“You could be on the phone up here and when the wind blows you could lose it,” he said.
Mr Letondeur said improved mobile phone coverage would make a huge difference for the business.
“So we’ll be able to download data which we can’t do now, and the data contains fairly large files of you know, aircraft maintenance manuals for different planes,” Mr Letondeur said.
“So if someone comes in with a plane we don’t have data for – we can just download it.
It’ll be a huge difference. A big time saver.”
MAY 2: $3.5m in funding for 5G service upgrades for Cape communities
5G SERVICE coverage is locked in for residents in Cooktown, Lockhart River, and Seisia thanks to grants from the Federal Government’s Regional Connectivity Program.
Due to announce the combined $3.5 million in telecommunications infrastructure upgrades in Cooktown this morning, Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch said locals would be better connected as a result of the projects.
Mr Entsch said he had worked closely with Telstra, and residents would soon be connected to 5G voice, mobile and data services.
“This is a welcome investment in our region and particularly for the three respective Cape York communities,” Mr Entsch said.
“We all know and have heard about the telecommunications dramas in Lockhart River and this upgrade should make them a thing of the past.”
The Lockhart River project will spend $1.68m upgrading the Telstra macro cell base station and transmission infrastructure, and will involve two microwave “hops” from the fibre at Batavia Downs to the Lockhart River, providing improved handheld coverage to an approximate 186 sq km area.
Seisia will receive $1.1m to deliver a new Telstra macro cell base station to provide new coverage in the Seisia, New Mapoon and surrounding region, which Mr Entsch said would improve voice mobile coverage, wireless broadband, and internet of Things network capability for local residents.
Another $772,400 will deliver improved handheld coverage to an area of approximately 245 sq km around Cooktown and provide new 4G coverage to the west of the town, including the including main thoroughfares of Railway Ave and Endeavour Valley Road and the Cooktown airport.
APRIL 28: Scott Morrison defends government’s record on cost of living
A PLEDGE of $24m for the Cairns Marine Precinct by the federal government received a resounding thumbs up from shipyard bosses who say building and expanding capability must be managed in stages.
Speaking at Norship on Thursday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison labelled the $150m Labor has offered the marine precinct as a “mirage”.
“Ours is a real marina project, there’s no mirage about what we’re doing, we’re doing things that actually work and we have been building capacity over five years,” Mr Morrison said.
Federal MP for Leichhardt Warren Entsch said the precinct upgrade would ultimately cost about $700m and would rival Singapore.
Norship chief executive Olav Groot said a staged approach was key.
“The first step is optimising what you’ve got, that next step is expanding those capabilities, and this is best done working in collaboration with industry – we’ve been consulted on it, he said.
He said government support was vital if the industry was going to do more navy and border force work as well as servicing commercial vessels.
Mike Steen, head of in service support for Austal, said the federal government was acknowledging the strategic importance of the precinct to the Pacific region.
“Having infrastructure developed sets us up to secure a long term future and strong jobs in the region,” Mr Steen said.
Tropical Reef Shipyard general manager Rob Downing said there were broad regional benefits to having a strong marine precinct.
Each shipyard will receive a further $8m for specific work.
Mr Morrison said the government had invested more than $300 million in the marine industry in Cairns, including $155m for HMAS Cairns.
Labor candidate for Leichhardt Elida Faith was questioned at a separate event about the specifics of Labor’s $150m marine precinct pledge.
“I have spent a lot of time consulting and talking with our marine precinct and our marine sector and we’re really proud of that announcement of $155m – Warren has spent the last two days talking down that commitment, and there’s a reason for that because they’ve made a commitment which is much, much smaller than ours,” she said.
“Our commitment is based on a very detailed report done by Price Waterhouse Coopers and we know exactly what the marine precinct is wanting.”
Mr Morrison fielded intense questioning about inflation – which rose by 5.1 per cent for the March quarter, and the rising cost of living.
He said inflation in New Zealand and Canada was 7 per cent, and above that in Europe and 8.5 per cent in the US.
“The pressures are real, that the choice is real for people at this election,” Mr Morrison said.
“There is no magic pen that enables you to write a letter to somebody which all of a sudden sees wages go up – this is a myth that the Labour Party is putting around.
“The only way wages rise is when you get more and more Australians into work, which is what we’re achieving.”
He defended the government’s economic record, saying getting through Covid and current global unrest was 30 times worse than Labor getting through the GFC.
He said the fuel excise tax cut was temporary because the price of oil was at extraordinarily high levels and was expected to come down over six months.
Asked about reports One Nation leader Pauline Hanson said her party would and push its supporters to preference Labor over several of Scott Morrison’s most vulnerable candidates, Mr Morrison said “it’s just politics”.
“What matters is the choice Australians have to make … the real choice at the end of the day is about who Australians want to form a government,” Mr Morrison said.
“What I know is that votes for independents will just contribute to daily chaos in the parliament.”
He said although the government held a small majority, it had nevertheless enabled it to navigate better through the pandemic.
“Being able to run a majority government in the midst of one of the greatest challenges that we’ve ever faced as a country without having to go each and every day to negotiate with minor parties and independents – that is a recipe for chaos that Australians really can’t afford,” he said.
5AM, APRIL 28: Scott Morrison announces marine precinct funding
A BATTLEGROUND has broken out on the Cairns wharves as Labor and the LNP go head-to-head on infrastructure pledges.
Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch wheeled in the big guns with Prime Minister Scott Morrison in Cairns to unveil a $24m commitment to the marine precinct on Thursday.
The announcement follows Labor’s $150m pledge to build a ship-lift facility on the waterfront – a plan Mr Entsch belittled during a candidate debate.
He claimed the facility’s true cost would be $500m-$700m, and Labor’s plan was never going to work.
“The port authority is yet to put down the masterplan. They own the land,” he said.
“The site that has been identified as a possible site is a swamp. It’s going to cost a hell of a lot more than $150m.”
The Coalition’s plan matches its $8m-apiece funding last election for upgrades to the city’s three slipways.
Tropical Reef Shipyard, Norship and Austal will again receive $8m for new naval-certified handstand, all-weather vessel servicing capabilities, new docks and longer wharves.
Cash will be spent upgrading workshops, offices, parking and other amenities.
“This will create hundreds of jobs during construction, and hundreds more highly-skilled jobs once it is fully operational, creating enormous and continued economic benefits for the region,” the prime minister said.
Tropical Reef Shipyard’s work will allow it to lift 6000-tonne vessels for maintenance – even more than Labor’s proposed common-user facility with 5000-tonne syncrolift.
But it is a matter of scale.
The navy needs maintenance centres that can lift multiple vessels and return them to the water at short notice.
Mr Entsch acknowledged Labor’s $150m plan dwarfed the LNP’s but said it was premature, and meant shovel-ready projects would miss out.
“First the state government needs to release the masterplan, then it will be 12-18 months just to get the design together,” he said.
“Then we can fund it 100 per cent instead of drip-feeding it and getting compromises.”
The comments push the likelihood of LNP cash for a common-user facility back by several years.
Mr Morrison has also pledged $3.3m to aviation maintenance firm Skytek to build a huge hangar as a first investment in what will be the Cairns aviation precinct.
“Our next (unfunded) piece in there will be a large painting hangar – effectively a common-user facility for the Cairns aviation precinct,” Mr Entsch said. “The idea came from what we’re doing in the marine precinct.”
APRIL 19: CANDIDATES RIP ENTSCH OVER HOUSING
FINGER-POINTING is rife as candidates clash over a $105m fund left to fester while overcrowding plagues remote Indigenous communities.
Coalition Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch has defended the federal government’s inability to spend the money despite flagging it in 2019.
He has blamed the state government for “playing politics” and refusing to hand over data for two years, and said councils have struggled to sort out exactly what they needed.
Whatever the reason, nothing was spent for three years – and no new LNP election commitments will be forthcoming.
A game of chicken broke out in 2019 with Mr Entsch and then-indigenous affairs minister Nigel Scullion threatening to bypass the Queensland government and directly fund remote councils.
“We had to make that threat before we eventually got the state government to start focusing on it,” Mr Entsch said.
“Then it took time for TCICA (Torres Cape Indigenous Council Alliance) to work through allocating how much money goes to each council.
“That has been completed and they’re going through the process now of building.”
Remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander housing was the focus of a candidate web forum on Tuesday, attended by three of Leichhardt’s left-leaning candidates.
Elida Faith said Labor would spend $10bn to build 30,000 social and affordable properties in five years.
She slammed Mr Entsch for “using Indigenous housing issues as a political football” and failing to deliver new homes.
“It’s absolutely disgusting when we have people living in the conditions that we have,” Ms Faith said.
Socialist Alliance candidate Pat O’Shane said $270bn flagged for defence spending over the next decade should be redirected into housing.
“We know what’s needed and we’ve known it for decades,” she said.
Phillip Musumeci from the Greens spruiked a plan to build a million homes over 20 years, using funds from significant taxation reform that targeted mining profits.
At $300,000 per home, the plan would cost $300bn over two decades – or $15bn a year.
NOTE: This story originally attributed a $500,000-per-home cost estimate to the Greens’ social housing plan. The true cost per home as estimated by the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation is $300,000.
APRIL 13: WARREN ENTSCH CALLS LABOR CANDIDATE ‘PARTY LAPDOG’
THE Far North received a first day carrot of almost $19m from the federal government as candidates and incumbent MP Warren Entsch hit the hustings with a flurry of media calls.
Mr Entsch has declared the race to the election on May 21 is a two horse race.
“At the end of the day it is up to the voting public (but) it’ll either be me or Labor, there won’t be a third person coming into this,” he said.
“I spent the first day working with the community, I notice the Labor candidate (Elida Faith) spent a fair whack of time sitting outside my office protesting with her friends from the union.
“I would suggest her time would be far better spent out there talking to members of the community,” Mr Entsch said.
“Our region needs a fighter – it certainly doesn’t need a party lapdog.”
Mr Entsch, accompanied by Agriculture and Northern Australia Minister David Littleproud, announced about $19m funding grants from the first round of the Northern Australia Development Fund.
This included $8.2m for Norship, $5.5m for Energy Serv Australia, $2m for Ornatas, $1.07m for Cairns South Gymnastics, $1m for Girringun Aboriginal Corporation, $309,167 for Health Workforce Queensland, $247,470 for j3Seven, and $68,750 for All Fish For Dogs.
The fund is for small to medium enterprises in Northern Australia, including Indigenous businesses, to create jobs and strengthen business capability and resilience through diversifying or scaling up their business and increasing turnover and profitability.
Grants are for up to 50 per cent of eligible project expenditure for businesses with up to 199 employees.
“I will certainly do the best I can, I haven’t stopped since the last election,” Mr Entsch said.
“I’m not going to go out there and make promises I can’t keep.”
Mr Entsch, held two media conferences 90 minutes apart, while maverick MP for Kennedy Bob Katter evidently sought to gatecrash one of them, held at South Cairns Gymnastics Centre at Bentley Park.
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Bemused families and staff watched the whirlwind round of politicians and cameras in and out of the centre, with Mr Entsch holding his media call at 12.15pm before Mr Katter and his crew arrived at 1pm.
On Tuesday, Mr Entsch announced $1.7m towards redeveloping Griffiths Park at Manunda.
He said the government would invest $1.7m with Cairns Cricket Association contributing $100,000 and Queensland Cricket contributing $100,000.
“The upgrades will bring Griffiths Park up to Tier 2 standard which will allow Cairns Cricket Association to then attract state, national and international cricket events our city,” Mr Entsch said.
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Originally published as Federal election 2022: Kennedy vs Leichhardt: Major party commitments dwindle in Katter country
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