THE LNP’S $150M election commitment towards Townsville’s super-stadium highlights the need for council to confirm a site for Cairns’ own new stadium, says Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch.
“I congratulate Townsville for the work they’ve done, they’ve really got their act together,” Mr Entsch said today. “They have a comprehensive proposal and a CBD site locked in.
“The fact that they have secured this funding commitment shows that the process does work, you can get this sort of money through election cycles, and we can get the same outcome here in Cairns.
“The clear message here is that council has to make a decision in relation to a site and then we can go through the same process that Townsville has successfully undertaken.
“In the meantime, there are other pieces of infrastructure that we can focus on ? construction of the hockey stadium could start tomorrow, all that is required is a $23m funding commitment. We could also put money into further upgrades at Barlow Park to build its capacity as a world-class athletics facility.”
Mr Entsch said our city already has a commitment for the establishment of a new industry in tropical sports conditioning.
“We are well on our way to achieving that goal with work underway on the aquatic centre at Tobruk Pool and the first stage of the redevelopment of the netball facility in North Cairns. It is critical that we maintain this momentum.”
Mr Entsch congratulated local state members for gaining funding commitments to upgrade or establish key sporting infrastructure in the Far North.
“Gavin King has secured a pledge of $1.2m towards improving facilities at Cairns Hockey and Michael Trout’s vision for a cycle path from Cairns to Port Douglas will be a popular piece of infrastructure that can precede the velodrome,” he said.
“These projects will contribute towards our long term plan and I have absolute confidence that with three levels of government working in partnership we’ll see considerable investment in our region.”