Putting pressure on major parties

CAIRNS advocacy groups have written an open letter to both major state parties to step up their coronavirus help for the region, as the tourism industry loses $7m a day and unemployment is forecast to reach “unprecedented” levels.

In the letter, spearheaded by Advance Cairns, Tropical Tourism North Queensland and the Chamber of Commerce, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington have been called “to immediately turn your minds to the Far North and the desperate economic situation up here” to inject at least $1.23bn into six priority projects.

“This region is the hardest hit in Queensland by COVID-19 … a $2.2bn body blow to our biggest industry by year end,” the letter reads.

Advance Cairns’ executive chairman Nick Trompf said the groups were grateful for MP visits from both parties recently, but “a lot of noise has been made … but when it comes to the colour of their money, we’ve seen very little”.

“When you look at the list of hundreds of millions of dollars being sought, the actual dollars are pretty pitiful,” he said.

While Labor has committed $17.5m in total, the LNP has not made any pledge.

“The election campaign is about to ramp up, which is why we’re highlighting how little has been put forward for the Far North,” Mr Trompf said.

The six economic recovery priorities are the university hospital, aviation and tourism, Cairns marine precinct, ring road, CQU expansion and food and water security.

The letter highlighted that Cairns had Queensland’s highest number of people on JobKeeper at 21,000, or one in five workers in the LGA.

Port Douglas has also been heavily impacted and by December, unemployment would be as high as 13.2 per cent, a Conus Business Consultancy analysis forecasts.

Mr Trompf said the convoy’s campaign would be “relentless” as the election rolls around on October 31.

TTNQ chief Mark Olsen said he welcomed the Queensland Government’s funding announcements during its Cabinet visit earlier this week, but operators “will need every bit of assistance the state can offer”.