A new Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub will be established in Cairns to transform the way that North and Far North Queensland producers and communities prepare for and respond to drought. The Morrison Government will invest $8 million over four years through the Future Drought Fund to establish the Cairns Hub. It will partner…
Mr ENTSCH: Kuranda is a small community of around 4500 people located about 30 kilometres directly west of Cairns via the Kuranda Range. The Kuranda economy is heavily reliant on domestic and international tourism and the self-drive market that feeds into that tourism. It has been absolutely decimated by the ongoing effects of the pandemic.…
Mr ENTSCH: I rise in support of the Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility Amendment (Extension and Other Measures) Bill 2021. The $5 billion Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility has certainly been a game changer for northern Australia. It was great to see this coming out of our Pivot north report, as a recommendation for a funding stream—a…
Two Far North Queensland businesses will build seven new watercrafts as part of the Morrison Government’s commitment to strengthening the Australian Army’s amphibious capability. The vessels, which will be built in Cairns, will assist Army amphibious operations and support systems. Tropical Reef Shipyards and BME NQ will manufacture the 7.5 metre vessels, and provide spares…
The Morrison Government will help smaller tourism operators promote their business and reach new customers to take advantage of the government-backed 800,000 discounted holiday flights. The Morrison Government will provide $12 million to provide new photography and video material to up 1800 tourism operators from 57 regions around Australia. The program will be launched in…
Early works on the congestion-busting $359 million Captain Cook Highway upgrade project will commence this year. The $359 million Captain Cook Highway project is jointly funded with the Australian Government committing $287.2 million and the Queensland Government committing $71.8 million. The Australian Government recently added the Captain Cook Highway from Cairns CBD to Smithfield to…
Mr ENTSCH: Last week I had the pleasure of attending a gala event to mark the 20th anniversary since the establishment of advocacy group Advance Cairns. Advance Cairns has grown to be one of the most fierce and effective advocacy groups in Queensland. In fact, the Advance Cairns footprint covers 26 local government areas across…
Cairns and Far North Queensland hotels, caravan parks, restaurants, bars, retail stores and tourism operators will benefit from a domestic tourism boom under the Morrison Government’s $1.2 billion tourism and aviation recovery package. The comprehensive package includes a mix of half-price airline tickets, cheap loans for businesses and direct support to keep planes in the…
The Morrison Government has awarded TAFE Queensland a $36 million contract to provide mariner training and support to the Navy crews of the Guardian-class Patrol Boats. The funding is being delivered as part of the Morrison Government’s $2 billion Pacific Maritime Security Program to strengthen maritime capability in the Pacific. Acting Minister for Defence Marise…
Students, academics, researchers and the wider Cairns and Far North Queensland community are already benefiting from the multi-million dollar James Cook University Ideas Lab which was officially opened today. Federal Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch said the Australian Government had invested $10 million towards the overall $30.8m cost of the project. He said he was proud…