Powering up our future
FOURTEEN months ago the Townsville Bulletin launched Fair Go For The North, a sustained campaign to right decades of funding inequity for our city and our region.
We published dozens of stories highlighting example after damning example of policy neglect. These were not trifling matters. As a result of policy failures across education, health, public safety, infrastructure and planning, life and opportunities in the North were exposed as being compromised.
We were dying younger. More of us were overweight. Too many of our children were less educated than their southern counterparts. Smoking rates were higher. And, of course, job prospects were bleaker. These revelations, which were mirrored by our sister papers in the News Regional Media stable across the country, struck a chord with our community and, significantly, with decision makers.
Ultimately, they changed the course of last year’s federal election. It has been acknowledged by both major parties at the highest level that our campaign forced a deeper look at regional Australia’s challenges than any poll for decades.
Another positive outcome was that Townsville, or at least its federal seat of Herbert, received more funding from the election than any other single electorate, including a green light for the CBD stadium, $ 150 million for the Townsville Eastern Access Rail Corridor, $ 75 million to develop a Cooperative Research Centre and a commitment to become Australia’s first City Deal location.
The temptation of politicians in the wake of this spending is to suggest we’ve had our share. Indeed some southern- based MPs have suggested that Townsville is developing a reputation for “always putting its hand out’’.
This only underscores how deeply prejudiced the south remains to the very serious challenges that remain in our region. There are no such suggestions when similar claims are made by city- based advocacy and media groups. One year of above average generosity is not going to square the ledger on decades of negligence. That is why we are today launching Fair Go For the North for a second year, a 2.0 version if you like.
Put simply, we will never resile from highlighting aspects of policy and funding delivery that treat us as second- class citizens.
The inequities are as glaring as ever, as we will highlight in the coming days and weeks.
Today, we highlight some of the hip- pocket injustices suffered here, including inflated fuel prices and outrageous home insurance premiums.
It’s not fair on hard working North Queenslanders. It’s time for a fair go for all. THE pitched battle against the Adani mine proposal, largely led by capital city elites whose only taste of regional Australia is when they fly over it on their way to Europe, typifies the challenges facing North Queensland as it strives to shore up its economic and employment future.
North Queensland, with its abundant natural resources, should be an economic, employment and energy powerhouse.
Yet too often that potential is blocked by noisy minority interests in Brisbane and further south in Sydney and Melbourne.
The result: regional unemployment in North Queensland is about 10 per cent, the second highest out of all regions in Queensland.
North Queensland needs a boost. And the reality is, all the region is asking for is the opportunity to stand on its own feet and provide jobs and economic prosperity for its own citizens.
The Adani project will provide direct jobs in coal mining, but the story of opportunity goes well beyond those involved in extracting the resource from the ground.
In fact, it’s supporting industries and businesses that will see just as much benefit.
There are two clear gaps in the North Queensland offering in the eyes of potential investors in the region – lack of long- term certainty in the supply and affordability of both water and energy.
In terms of the energy equation, the location of the most northern baseload power station at Rockhampton means North Queensland pays for the transmission of electricity that is highly inefficient and substantially more expensive than that charged to those living Queensland.
Building a low- emission clean coal power station in North Queensland would provide access to cheap and reliable power that could transform the region into an attractive manufacturing and industrial base.
Southern states such as South Australia and Victoria, which have turned their backs on cheap and reliable coal- fired power to meet unrealistic, economy- wrecking in southeast green targets, are finding industry and manufacturers leaving.
Their loss could be Queensland’s gain.
A clean coal power station for North Queensland, powered by the region’s own coal, would deliver long- term reliable and affordable power for homes and businesses while also reducing emissions to enable a transition to a clean energy future.
Just as exporting Queensland coal would be a life- changer for the thousands of Indian villages which still don’t have ready access to electricity, so too would a baseload clean coal power station unlock the North’s economic potential and make it an attractive region for investment.
The region’s politicians must make a stand and unite behind this proposal for a clean coal power station to ensure the best interests of the people of North Queensland are put before the self- interest of the noisy minority. Nathan Vass, a former energy and resources sector executive, established the Australian Power Project to advocate for sustainable energy policy to protect regional jobs and economies. North