Grand budget but has range fix been bypassed?

IN dollar terms Tuesday night’s budget was a good one for Cairns. Election pledges were solidified in black and white terms and while that should be expected, it’s not always something that’s delivered. Well done. Among those items were cash for water security, the marine precinct, education and training, jobs, tourism and the environment. There is about $500m of investment in Cairns without even drilling down on the savings through childcare and other broader policies that will flow through to people’s bottom lines.

Like all budgets there are winners and losers. The Far North is prospering because Leichhardt was a key federal seat in the election. Labor knew it needed to match and, in some cases, top the LNP’s policies to wrest the seat from incumbent Warren Entsch. While they couldn’t topple the political warhorse, they did take the Lodge and with that a beautiful relationship blossomed seemingly overnight between the federal government and the long-term state

Labor government. Where there had been nothing but bog on big projects like the marine precinct, we now have matching funding and a port masterplan, while the council’s urgent plea for water security backing flushed through quickly once Labor held power in both levels of government.

It’s a good scenario for Cairns but there will be attention on delivery going forward. On the Kuranda Range road the state and federal government seem in harmony too on upgrading rather than investigating an alternative with $210m pledged also appearing in Tuesday’s budget. There would be few willing to knock back $210m but there are deepseated issues with the range with one question that needs answering — will $210m be enough to fix this important link? Jennifer Spilsbury, Editor