Hopes trip is cause to re-Joyce
THE smell of cash and cattle is in the air as Barnaby Joyce hits Cairns for a mystery election announcement.
The Deputy Prime Minister’s visit comes at a crucial time, with just over a week left in the campaign and Labor pulling ahead in latest polling.
There is slim chance he will come empty-handed.
Speculation is rife about what pledges he will make – but one project is most likely.
Labor announced $50m for CQUniversity to build a new campus in the Cairns CBD way back in November as one of its first sweeteners for Leichhardt.
The Coalition is yet to make any such funding guarantee, despite Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch being one of the project’s key drivers since its inception.
In the cut-throat jurisdictional lines that separate the Coalition, regional education falls under the remit of the Nationals.
As party leader, Mr Joyce is ideally placed to finally make the announcement without stepping on any toes within the two-party alliance.
Advance Cairns chairman Nick Trompf was quietly hopeful a bipartisan agreement would be locked in by the end of the week.
“CQU is something that Warren was one of the key supporters of right at the outset,” he said.
“He’s been confident all along we would get support. I genuinely don’t know what the Deputy Prime Minister will announce, but I think it would be tremendous if Warren was able to deliver on his ambition for CQU.
“That makes it bipartisan and a certainty for the city.”
Mr Joyce will have something to say about the Coalition’s $11m promise to complete a fast-tracked new Kuranda Range alternative road study within 12-18 months of re-election.
He is the current infrastructure minister, and it would be within his remit to put more meat on the bones.
So far, the only commitment is for a study to determine the engineering, cost and feasibility of building a new route up the range.
There is no guarantee the government will fund construction of the billion-dollarplus project within the next four-year term, although Mr Entsch has hinted at the possibility.
Advance Cairns has also been campaigning for the National Highway to be extended from its current end at Smithfield to Mareeba, making the Kuranda Range Rd a bona fide federal concern.
Mr Joyce may also get a chance to catch up with his future father-in-law, Peter Campion, who is standing as a candidate under the United Australia Party banner in the seat of Kennedy.
Mr Joyce proposed to Vikki Campion in January and plans to marry after the election. The pair have two young sons.