Push to secure cash for projects
A MASS business delegation to Parliament House is about to hammer home the message that Cairns needs and deserves an infrastructure injection – including funds for one project to supercharge the city’s aviation sector.
About 50 members of the Cairns TNQ Convoy to Capital Q will fly to Brisbane this morning for two days of backto-back bartering with MPs spanning the political palette.
They have a $1.2 billion hit list of priorities ranging from water security projects to major hospital upgrades and a $10 million plan to create a new aviation excellence precinct at Cairns Airport.
CQUniversity associate vice-chancellor for Cairns and the Far North Jodie DuignanGeorge said the institution needed new facilities before it could add two new courses to its growing aviation curriculum.
“When you actually look at the stats for Cairns, I think the attainment of a bachelor degree or above is 54 per cent lower than the national average,” she said.
“So there’s plenty of room for further aspiration and educational attainment in this town. One of the problems we do have is that when students go down south, quite often they don’t come back.
“So we end up with quite a bit of a skills deficit in town and we’re certainly seeing that in a number of key areas.”
The university plans to offer new airworthiness and airport management courses but needs a hangar and research hub to allow the intricate training to go ahead.
“We have the opportunity here to grow pilots home grown in the region,” Ms Duignan-George said.
“But there are plenty more opportunities. It really increases our capacity in Cairns and it really increases the capacity for the airport to grow – particularly its general aviation and the servicing of aviation in the region.”
Advance Cairns executive chairman and convoy leader Nick Trompf said the two-day mission could not have come at a more fitting time.
“The convoy’s been in planning for months,” he said.
“But in light of what’s happened off the back of bushfire publicity and coronavirus, the timing couldn’t be better.
“There is no way known, particularly in our orange garb, that they’re going to miss us.
“What this is really about is making sure they fully understand what is it that’s going to drive growth in this region … ”
Delegates have more than 70 separate meetings organised with 40 MPs, including Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington and Katter’s Australian Party leader Robbie Katter.
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