Extra $39m for Cairns Marine Precinct

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk did not come to town empty-handed.

Ms Palaszczuk announced at a business lunch at the Pullman International the government would provide $39m extra funding for Cairns Marine Precinct.

“I’m pleased to confirm today that our government will support the preparation of a Cairns regional workforce plan for the aviation, marine and construction sectors, I’m announcing $39m to accelerate jobs at the Cairns Marine Precinct,” she said.

A spokeswoman for the Premier confirmed it was extra funding on top of $150m, which the federal government has matched.

The government is providing $27m over two years for direct access from the Norship and Austral shipyards to the common user facility planned for the precinct at Portsmith. It will fund a 1.2km road upgrade with increased load capacity and a 30m bridge allowing the two shipyards, and potentially others, to lift vessels out of their facilities and access the common user facility using existing travel lifts. Vessels of up to 57m could access the common user facility via the designated route.

Another $12m has been earmarked for local shipyards to upgrade facilities within the Cairns Marine Precinct.

Advance Cairns chief executive Jacinta Reddan asked Ms Palaszczuk if the government would commit to another three years for the Attracting Aviation Investment Fund if re-elected in 2024 and she replied “yes”. The $200m fund is a partnership between the state government and Brisbane, Gold and Sunshine coasts, and Cairns international airports, to attract flights from new countries.

“It’s almost impossible to find a place to live … what’s the government doing to address the housing crisis,” Ms Reddan said. Ms Palaszczuk said the Qbuild program, which would include a factory in Cairns for manufactured homes, would help. They would be used to house government staff.

“So our frontline workforce will move into thousands of those in rural and remote areas, and free up homes for residents,” she said. “The government is starting to work with councils to release more land, but then we’ve got the skills shortage of construction workers and daily we are reading about builders going under, these are issues at a national level,” she said.

The lunch was hosted by Advance Cairns, Cairns Chamber of Commerce and Tropical Tourism North Queensland.