City deal projects deliver big benefits
THE Townsville City Deal was created to build and develop the growing city for the future – and it’s not going anywhere.
With a new stadium and a major port upgrade under its belt already, the Townsville City Deal has been successful in bringing game-changing projects to the region.
More projects like it are in the pipeline, with a detailed business case planned for a $100m concert hall in the city.
Concerns have been raised in the past because other than the $195m originally allocated for the Haughton Pipeline stage two, no additional funding has yet been promised through the city deal.
Federal Cities Minister Paul Fletcher has laid to rest any concern that there could be no future in the deals, saying it brought “big benefits” to the city and would into the future.
The state and federal governments have been going back and forth over the GST component for months – with some projects further delayed as negotiations continue.
Mr Fletcher said Queensland Country Bank Stadium and the Port of Townsville channel widening upgrade would never have gone ahead if it wasn’t for the city deal.
“You would not have the commonwealth commitment if it wasn’t for the city deal,” Mr Fletcher said.
“At the end of the day, I’m pretty confident that the Queensland government is going to find it difficult to maintain a position where they’re refusing to support the provision of commonwealth funds, in many cases jointly with Queensland funds to deliver outcomes.
“Despite some of the shortterm politics … the city deal has delivered big benefits to Townsville.
“If we think about the impact on Townsville as a city, of the stadium, of what the concert hall is going to mean, this is all about making the city a more lively, vibrant, exciting place.
“It’s great for residents, it’s great for the economy.”
Mr Fletcher said the city deals were about three levels of government coming together to discuss strategic long-term plans for the city, and then making commit- commit ments.
The minister said it should be celebrated that he, State Development Minister Steven Miles, and Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill were coming together to talk about priorities for Townsville.
There are currently five projects on the table to spend the money left over from the Haughton Pipeline Stage 2 project, which was initially supposed to be funded through the city deal.
However, when the state government stepped in to fund the project on its own, the $195m was allocated to other major projects.
The Royal Flying Doctor Service, Reef HQ, Lansdown Eco-industrial Precinct, a feasibility study for green hydrogen and the $2m business case for the concert hall already have funding allocated to them under the leftover funding.
Mr Fletcher said the federal government had identified projects to spend the money on in order to deliver long-term benefits for the region. “It’s about building on Townsville’s strengths, generating economic activity, generating jobs and creating a facility that will serve the community for decades,” he said.
THE CHALLENGES
Herbert MP Phillip Thompson said the Townsville City Deal had experienced challenges since its inception.
However, Mr Thompson said there was not the same level of political jousting for the stadium and the port widening project.
“I think the city deal has the great potential to be something that is absolutely catalytic for the region and for the nation,” Mr Thompson said.
“The issue that we find ourselves in is more about politics than it is actually about delivering for the people.”
Mr Thompson said there was “hypocrisy” involved, with the state government taking money for other projects without concern about the GST allocation.
There are some projects on the cards as part of the Townsville City Deal that are not affected by the GST allocation issue.
Reef HQ, a federal government institution, is able to be given money directly.
The federal government is also able to pay for the business cases directly.
However, under the Constitution, the federal government must pass money through state governments to proponents and local councils for projects.
Therefore, it is only the $12m for the Lansdown EcoIndustrial Precinct and $15m for Reef HQ that will affect the GST allocations in future.
This means without the state government’s sign-off on the funding allocation, the money will not exchange hands.
But no one is backing down at this stage.
Last month, Mr Miles said that if the federal government committed $12m towards the Lansdown Eco-industrial Precinct, the commonwealth would take back $9.6m.
“Their only real commitment is the equivalent of $2.4m,” he said.
“To get projects like this over the line and through the city deal, they need to guarantee that this funding will be quarantined from the state’s GST allocation.”
Mr Fletcher said the federal government’s position was very clear: “We’ve committed the money for the projects we want to fund based on all the detailed work Phil has done.
“We’ve engaged very closely with the Queensland government and Townsville City Council … we’ve worked through these projects, that is how we’ve arrived at our priorities.
“Bear in mind, this is commonwealth money … yes, we want to consult but ultimately the commonwealth politicians, Phil and I, are accountable to how the money gets spent.
“What we are saying to the Queensland government is … you need to comply by the same rules as applies to all other projects.” projects.