CONVOY PLEDGE
OPPOSITION Leader Bill Shorten has told the Cairns TNQ Convoy to Canberra his $50 million pledge to extend the National Highway to the Cairns Airport was only a “down payment”.
A 49-strong troop of Far North industry leaders — two others cancelled due to illness — entered the belly of the beast yesterday armed with full diaries and well-honed pitches.
They straight away knocked off two of their biggest encounters, Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Mr Shorten, and received some good news almost immediately.
Mr Shorten kicked off with a revelation about his initial pledge to extend the National Highway, which fell more than $80 million short of what was required.
He said Labor was ready to reach deeper into its pocket.
“Whilst the Cairns Post gave me some free advice about that not being enough money, I give back the advice: No other party’s committed a dollar,” he said. “We’re prepared to do more, too.”
Mr Morrison assured the crowd he was well-versed on the National Highway extension bid but needed the State Government to come to the table.
“I know that I’m having meetings with a small group tomorrow, and we can get into those issues a bit more,” he said.
The convoy split into 12 industry groups following the meetings with Mr Morrison and Mr Shorten, each trundling off through the Parliament House maze to prosecute their cases with successive frontbenchers.
Advance Cairns chief executive Nick Trompf notched the first day as a roaring success, not least because only one division was called forcing MPs to unceremoniously up and leave their meetings.
“The two leaders showed they were engaged and really aware of some key issues in our region,” he said.