Minister for north has a big job ahead

THE newly sworn in Northern Australia, Resources and Water Minister needs to make a visit to Townsville — the unofficial capital of the vast swath of the country north of the Tropic of Capricorn, a top priority.

Bundaberg-based Hinkler MP Keith Pitt picked up three of the largest portfolios in Federal Parliament — Resources and Water, and the geographically-vast Northern Australia — in a mini-reshuffle of cabinet yesterday.

For Townsville alone, a city still beholden the boom and bust cycles of the mining sector and working through strengthening its water resources, Mr Pitt will have his work cut out for him.

His predecessor, Senator Matt Canavan, was highly regarded by resource industry brass and made regular appearances in the region.

Those are big shoes to fill and Townsville and North Queensland will accept nothing more than an equal or better level of dedication.

Senator Canavan often courted controversy for his unabashed love for coal and mining and regular smack-downs of activists, but behind his vocal rants he was also across his briefs, which ranged from the critical Northern Australia Agenda, to the bungled Northern

Australia Infrastructure Facility, to projects like Kidston Pumped Hydro.

That Mr Pitt is based in Bundaberg, a sugar town three times closer in distance to Brisbane than it is to Townsville, can almost be excused if the Prime Minister and his deputy are confident that he is the best man for the job.

Indeed, the first minister for Northern Australia was current Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, an inner-city Victorian MP.

Townsville-based Senator Susan Mcdonald says Mr Pitt is “one of the most passionate advocates for regional areas” there is in Federal Parliament, and we look forward to seeing that for ourselves.