Welcome to Northern News, one of the many engagement forums where Enterprise North will discuss the issues that matter to each of us. Kevin Byrne, Enterprise North Inc.
The months roll around too quickly it seems. Herewith a roundup of some issues making news. For more regular updates you will find us on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin.
Welcome to the March 2019 edition of HARD TALK, a roundup of development news and events relevant to the members of ENTERPRISE NORTH and the wider community who are invested in, and contributing to being part of the independent growth and development narrative across the North.
The year started off unsurprisingly enough with a good degree of optimism represented by the completion of Riley, the first of the Crystalbrook Collection of hotels to grace the Cairns skyline. This project is the first of three such hotels for the Crystalbrook Group. The other two continue to take shape and their completion is planned for later this year. This is great news for the City and of course for the tourism industry. The whole region wishes Ghassan Aboud and the Crystalbrook Group well in their grand plans for the future however remain concerned at the megaphone messaging between various parties as the developments roll out. Regional investment and development always work best in an environment of collaboration between the parties. And talking of investment and collaboration between parties, the issue of offshore island leases and the generally sorry state of many of them when the State Government is trumpeting our tourism industry begs the question of what is happening at Double Island. This offshore island lease “for tourism purposes” issued by the State Government is held by Mr Benny Wu who has had it for many years and despite various statements of intent, including a rather notorious advertising gimmick at Times Square in New York two years ago, nothing much has happened there at all. In fact nothing that accords to his lease conditions. You can find some of the conditions here http://bit.ly/2Eky3gp Now Mr Wu is a serious property aggregator in the city and region and there are very many instances of his public “intentions” splashed all over the media including his rather notorious intention of part funding the student lodge at James Cook University some five years ago that embarrassingly went nowhere and also his intention to redevelop the current Acacia Court Hotel site on the Cairns Esplanade. He has recently acquired other properties on Cairns. Cairns has always welcomed foreign investment and respects the role it has played in the development of the City and region, however, we also expect those who do so to play by the rules and those authorities, be they State or Local Government and even the media, to hold parties to account.
Here at Enterprise North, we were first out of the blocks with our Infrastructure and Policy Manifesto that describes those issues that we believe will materially make a difference to our ability to grow our population, grow out employment opportunities and grow our regional prosperity. This is just a snapshot and you can find the document at http://bit.ly/2VnNbAD Roads and connectivity is always a huge issue and increasingly the Kuranda Range Road (KRR) is assuming more and more importance as a road of immediate strategic importance. It is a great pity that remains such disagreement between all levels of government as to the priorities for scarce road funding resources. Put simply, it is our view that after the completion of the planning and funding arrangements to complete the Peninsular Development Road (PDR) the attention should then turn immediately to an upgrade of the KRR to accommodate population growth west of Cairns and the glaringly obvious requirements of freight connectivity to/from Cairns airport. In our researching of this project, we are aware of detailed drawings held by State DMR showing proposed improvements along the current alignment with some indicative costings. We are of the view that if these plans are simply reviewed/updated and re-costed to an accessible access standard to cater for growth then this project is ready for an immediate start. Federal environmental approvals have been in place since 2007 and any environmental offsets for future work can easily be accommodated. All that is required is for the political will and funding commitments between the State and Federal Governments for the project to proceed. This is a project that is supported by the Regional Organisation of Councils as well as the Cairns Regional Council. You can read an article here http://bit.ly/2BYlNlo on the current issues of the KRR and also see some wonderful vision of the proposed $104M upgrade of the Bruce Highway connection to the Cairns right here http://bit.ly/2EAwGMf
Many of you will be aware of our continuing advocacy in growing the capacity of the Cairns Port and we finally welcome the recent announcement of the successful tender for the shipping channel development project. This has been a long time in the making. Having said that we are disappointed at the inability of Ports North to develop a comprehensive roadmap and plan for the development and marketing of Cairns Port as a Marine Maintenance Hub. We have called separately for the Federal Government to commit to a joint planning study with the State Government to develop the Cairns Port as a defence sustainment base along with other maritime uses as part of a mixed-use commodities port servicing Asia and Melanesia. You can see the argument for this approach here http://bit.ly/2NvU6oC along with the link to the previously launched Cairns Logistic Hub Project here http://bit.ly/2GPOmpl that we did in partnership with Sea Swift. We cannot help but emphasise the importance to address this most important of issues. At Enterprise North we recognise the excellence of the existing services provided by the three major lessees and we note their competitive and complementary service offerings, but what is needed is a comprehensive infrastructure investment plan by Ports North to develop the port capacity in partnership with Commonwealth funding to grow the defence footprint. This requires a visionary process and action plan to incorporate funding options available through the NAIF as well as targeted Commonwealth funding to PUBLIC assets within the port precinct.
The Cairns Regional Council recently completed their community consultation inspired Shared Vision 2050 Project. The focus of our involvement and support has been around those matters that will drive the population and economic growth of the city whilst maintaining our regional focus. We view Cairns providing a service city role to the wider region as well as being the logical international gateway to Northern Australia. As a member of the CRC Advisory Committee, our contribution will be around this understanding and we will advocate strongly for those issues where we have a complementary position. You will find the recently released CRC 2019 Election Priorities at http://bit.ly/2XlKMrY Much has been made of the concept a City Deal for Cairns under the Federal Government Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development and you will find that in the link to the CRC priorities, but we have made the point that this process needs to be driven by the CRC and requires a good degree of collaboration and commitment from other parties, and hence our advocacy for a futuristic planning framework driven by the CRC incorporating the input of the State and Federal Government agencies along with the airport, seaport and the universities. From this process should emerge an advocacy plan for an agreed funding package for a cites Deal. You will see that incorporated in our Infrastructure and Policy manifesto again found here http://bit.ly/2VnNbAD
I had the great pleasure of being interviewed by Danae Jones recently where I had an opportunity to expand a little on who and what we are and how we go about doing it. Importantly I talk a little of the history and about the need for direct, determined and respected advocacy free of political bias and conflicts of interest. You will find that interview here https://youtu.be/rJySFVaL_2k
We are well and truly into that continuous cycle of electioneering as we head to the next Federal election. Just to recap, the Federal Government commitments thus far include a commitment of $15M (matched by $25 from the State Govt) for a buyback of the Mossman Mill to a farmer cooperative and the development of a whole new industry for the cane farmers of Mossman. You can see a link to the issue here http://bit.ly/2C6ulHh There is a long way to go with this story it would seem. More recently there has been a confusing announcement of $60M to the JCU Tropical Enterprise Centre masked as an announcement around health and increasing capacity at the Cairns Base Hospital which is sorely needed. Federal Labor came by the next day and matched the commitment, and some, by promising $15M additional funding to ease the constraints at emergence admissions. Any expenditure on health is welcome as is increased research capacity at the Cairns Hospital so we look forward as to how this matter will unfold in the months ahead. You can see a link to the Cairns Post reporting here http://bit.ly/2NyS07o What was a health announcement was swamped by JCU, so in essence it appears at this stage that the hospital will provide matching funding for the land acquisition component as part of the Cairns Hospital and JCU will manage the rollout of the health research component of their Tropical Enterprise Centre project as part of the Cairns Hospital? Whilst we are talking about universities the funding models of universities are undergoing some disruption. This is important for Cairns as we have long been held hostage to the belief that we are to become a national tertiary education powerhouse with access to a growing influx of foreign students. Many of our institutions have a business model skewed to full fee paying foreign students who we are increasingly becoming more difficult to lure to regional centres. Cairns it appears is finding it difficult to attract its growing share of international students. Is it time for a comprehensive look at where we are headed in this space and what needs to be done to elevate the issue. We have campuses here from JCU, CQU and more recently Charles Darwin universities.
And finally, we need to address the issue of workforce competitiveness and the associated immigration and visa issues. This is of vital importance if we are to grow, survive and thrive. This article here highlights a shemozzle http://bit.ly/2T6iBio We highlighted the issue in our Media Release here http://bit.ly/2GNuHGx after we called for government to treat seriously the issue of a population growth strategy for Northern Australia https://buff.ly/2VSHDzo The Cairns Chamber of Commerce has undertaken to represent the issue on behalf of regional businesses and recently made application for the Cairns region to be a Designated Area Migration Agreement allowing fast-tracking of some visa provisions. The request to the Commonwealth Department of Home Affairs along with accompanying business case has been presented by the CCoC. We will await the response from the Government. Here is what is happening over the border in the NT. We are looking for a similar outcome here http://bit.ly/2Ug3ijO
Kevin Byrne
Enterprise North Inc.
Social Media Messaging
The challenge for any startup organisation like ours is getting the message out to the target audience efficiently and effectively. Our messages are around what we do and why we are doing and that is growing our economies and population. There are a few videos discussing items of interest on the web but here is a sample of what is out there. Please engage with Enterprise North and share your ideas on our social links at Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin or by leaving a comment below.