Promises lack real substance

REVELATIONS that some Far North leaders may have jumped the gun announcing an ambitious concept for an international “Tropical Trade Centre” in Cairns will ring alarm bells across the business community.

Treasurer Curtis Pitt publicly threw his support behind the concept while launching his government’s Trade and Investment Strategy in Cairns last month.

“I envisage this as a flagship centre bringing together consular services, market analysts, international education sector, global legal services and foreign trade agents in one CBD location,” he said at the time, adding the hub could be up and running within six months.

But the Cairns Post can today reveal that the announcement was considerably undercooked. It’s far from a new idea. It was first floated more than two years ago by figures involved in lobby group Advance Cairns.

As the Cairns Post reveals today, however, the ambitious concept is more popular with some than others.

The Advance Cairns board moreor-less formally canned the idea as long as two years ago.

And it’s clear the rushed announcement by Mr Pitt last month came as a surprise to city leaders such as Mayor Bob Manning and Advance Cairns CEO Kevin Byrne. It’s understood that not even the owner of the favoured building – Cairns Corporate Tower – backed the plan.

With major concerns over security risks and ongoing funding for such an ambitious idea, serious questions should be asked about the advice being fed to Mr Pitt – our state’s treasurer and a local MP – to have led him to champion such an idea.

This region is sick and tired of grand ideas and big promises that offer little real substance.