The federal government will invest $190 million towards the Peninsula Development Road – Stage Two Project – to ensure sealing works along the ‘bucket list’ road continue. The Peninsula Development Road has been listed as part of the federal government’s $3.5 billion Roads of Strategic Importance initiative. This announcement is part of a wider $730…
A federal government trial offering Cairns and Far North Queensland businesses a wage subsidy to take on new apprentices is underway with new apprentices signing up at 42 local businesses. The $60 million Australian Apprenticeships Wage Subsidy commenced on 1 January 2019 offering employers subsidies worth 75 per cent of the apprentice’s award wage in…
The federal government will invest a further $9 million to protect Queensland’s World Heritage Wet Tropics to reducing the threat of yellow crazy ants. Additional funding will be allocated in next week’s federal budget to further address the serious threat from this highly invasive pest. Federal Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch said he had fought hard…
The federal government will provide $9 million to Mission Australia to fund a new Cairns-based drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre. This initiative continues the federal government’s unprecedented $720 million investment in drug and alcohol treatment services. Federal Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch said government funding will support a 12-week holistic rehabilitation program and the development of…
The federal government has boosted funding for grants from the Safer Communities Fund following recent events in New Zealand. This latest funding announcement brings the total amount available under the Safer Communities Fund to $119.9 million between 2016-17 and 2020-21. To date around 340 grants have been made, including for many projects across Cairns and…
Four Cape York communities will receive much-needed safety upgrades after the federal government announced $175,500 in funding for four airstrips across the region. Federal Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch said the funding would deliver upgrade works at the Laura, Lakeland, Pascoe Rive Station and Cooktown airstrips. He said the upgrades will be funded under Round 6…
The federal government has delivered another increase to payment rates for pension and allowance recipients in Far North Queensland. Federal Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch said payments including Age Pension, Disability Support Pension and Carer Payment will increase by $9.90 a fortnight to $926.20 for singles and by $14.80 a fortnight to $1,396.20 for couples combined.…
People living in Far North Queensland and travelling through Cape York can now look forward to improved mobile phone coverage thanks to the federal government’s $220 million Mobile Black Spot Program. Federal Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch today announced Far North Queensland will receive six new small cell mobile base stations* under the fourth round of…
Residential aged care in the Torres Strait has taken a major step forward with the official opening today of a new, purpose-built building at Blue Care Star of the Sea Elders Village on Thursday Island. Up to 38 senior Indigenous people will receive specialist, culturally appropriate care in the new, air-conditioned building. There is also…
Families and visitors to Cairns can now board a multi-dimensional underwater journey, following today’s launch of the Sea Explorer 5D attraction at the Cairns Aquarium and Reef Research Centre. This $1.1 million investment is one of several project components of a $4.7 million project jointly funded by the federal government under the Regional Jobs and…
