Federal Member for Leichhardt Warren Entsch has applauded the LNP State Candidates for achieving a raft of Far Northern commitments that have now become LNP policy after the recent State Council hosted in Brisbane.
“It is great to see so many Far Northern specific initiatives were carried at the State Council meeting. This shows a lot of behind the scenes effort has been put in by our LNP candidates for the seats of Cairns, Mulgrave, Barron River and Cook,” said Warren Entsch.
The resolutions passed at the LNP State Convention that directly benefit the North included:
- Facilitate the widening/dredging of the Trinity Inlet Cairns , with particular emphasis on the approaches to the Cruise Ship Dock and the Naval Base at HMAS Cairns; inclusive of the swing basin, to allow for the access of larger cruise liners and future Navy vessels to be able to enter and dock at the Cairns Port;
- Facilitate the provision of appropriate support to the local tourism industry through Tourism Tropical North Queensland (TTNQ) and Tourism Queensland (TQ), to coordinate incentives and assistance for the development of Cairns as an established “Home Port” for the cruise ship industry.
- Commit to providing the necessary support to allow the development, through TTNQ and TQ, of an international Sports Tourism Market based in Cairns in support for an inter?government structure in the development of associated sports facilities and linkages to high performance systems such as the Australian Institute of Sports.
- Actively promote, through TTNQ and TQ, additional inbound international and domestic tourism by slashing red tape, by negotiating additional inbound air services and by undertaking a targeted and relevant advertising campaign in the Asia Pacific basin.
- Actively promote, through TTNQ and TQ, Cairns is a safe, secure and dependable base for “fly in?fly out” operations for work force operations throughout Northern Australia and the Pacific Basin.
- Lobby existing State and Federal Governments to review wildlife management strategies to minimise future Hendra virus outbreaks.
- Request a State Government inquiry to determine the impact on the deterioration of our road network due to the reduction of freight being carried by rail.
Mr Entsch says these State commitments from the LNP on top of the recent commitment by Federal Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey to support the dredging and widening of Trinity Inlet and the construction of public infrastructure in Port Douglas when he visited the region a few weeks ago, will go a long way to achieving long?term economic diversity for the region.
“It is solid commitments like this that will get us back on our feet. Should a Campbell Newman Government be elected at the next State Election and a Tony Abbott Coalition Government be elected at the next Federal Election, this region is well placed to get the big ticket items funded that it needs to rebuild to a position of prosperity once again,
“This just shows that the LNP really does ‘get it’. We recognise at both a State and Federal level the real plight of this region and the need for immediate action and special consideration to be given to re?establish the economy sooner rather than later.
The Liberal National Party’s commitment is about ‘real action’ not a continuation of what seems like endless scoping and feasibility studies. It is great to see that when a solid case has been put to the LNP for commitments by either myself or the state candidates, the LNP is listening and delivering, which is more than I can say for the current Government,” said Mr Entsch.
