Labor plans to strangle Far North Qld’s economy for another 30 years
KENNEDY MP, Bob Katter, said the State Government’s Cairns to Northern Tablelands Access Strategy Report shows it wants to strangle the economy of Far North Queensland until at least 2050 with no plans to build a new heavy-vehicle highway from the Tablelands to Cairns.[1]
“There are 56,000 people living on the Tablelands and 5 percent of Australia’s fruit and vegetable production is land-locked and cannot access the Cairns Port or a proposed deep-water port at Yarrabah,” Mr Katter said.
“We are in a situation where the State Government doesn’t know if the Kuranda Bridge is or isn’t safe. And even when the bridge is open, that route closes 44 times a year for an average of seven hours per closure (according to their own report).
“Despite this, they tell us that a new road from Cairns to the Tablelands isn’t viable, but they are spending $6b on the Cross River Rail to save Brisbane commuters five minutes, and are also spending billions on the Olympic Games in Brisbane, a sporting contest that will last two weeks!”
Mr Katter is challenging the Queensland Transport Minister to a public debate in Cairns to argue the merits of a new road.
“If he dogs it, then the public will know that he’s a lying yellow gutted mongrel,” he said.
“He makes outlandish claims about the Bridle Track involving 12 kilometres of tunnels and knocking down 100,000 trees,[2] yet his own report (on page 61) says no detailed assessment of the Bridle Track has been undertaken.
“We cannot move forward in Far Nort Queensland without access to a port. The Chillagoe Minerals Province could be as big as the Northwest Minerals Province which produces $8b a year for the Queensland economy.
“Queensland has three of Australia’s four biggest rivers (The Mitchell, Gilbert and Flinders) but we cannot unlock their potential with irrigation schemes unless we have access to a port.
“People said the Sydney Harbour Bridge would never happen, they said the same about the Snowy Mountains Scheme, the beef roads scheme (which doubled cattle production), the railway line into Blackwater (the coalfields), and they told Laurence Hartnett that Holden would never work too.
“There are those that will continue to live in a cave and there will be those that leave the cave and realise that there is a big world of opportunity out there.”
—ENDS—
[1]
Cairns to Northern Tablelands Access Strategy | Department of Transport and Main Roads (tmr.qld.gov.au)
[2] Study finds there’s ‘no need’ for a Kuranda Range route alternative | Tropic Now - Cairns News
