$1.5B PORT PLAN SNUB

Our marine hub goes begging as Darwin rakes it in

A BID by Advance Cairns to secure $200m in federal government funding for Cairns Marine Precinct was ignored in this week’s federal budget – but Darwin has landed $1.5bn for new dual-use port infrastructure.

Defence Minister Peter Dutton said the government had earmarked funds for the port, in what appears to be an attempt to resolve an impasse over the existing Darwin port being leased to a Chinese company.

The budget has a $1.5bn allocation for “new port infrastructure, such as a wharf, an offloading facility and dredging of the shipping channel” in Darwin.

Advance Cairns has mounted a convincing case for up to $400m – split between the state and federal governments – to be spent on Cairns Port, which is rated a critical national infrastructure asset and the state government released its business case in January.

The port includes HMAS Cairns, Australia’s northernmost naval base on the eastern seaboard, and plays a key strategic role in Australia’s northern naval capability.

Advance Cairns chairman Nick Trompf said the massive Darwin investment highlighted the importance of Northern Australia in protecting the nation in a volatile global climate.

“We’d be expecting that the government takes Cairns as seriously as it obviously does Darwin in the protection of Australia,” he said.

“Cairns has missed out but we will be continuing to advocate to the government to step up with $200m.”