Northern Australian is set for a more unified voice with Capricorn Enterprise and Townsville Enterprise joining advocacy bodies from Cairns, Broome and the Northern Territory in the the Northern Australia Alliance.
The Alliance was launched by former Prime Minister Tony Abbott in June and is an agreement between the enterprise bodies to work together to help shape communities across northern Australia.
“The Northern Australian Alliance is completely industry-led to complement the roll out of the Northern Australia plan,” said Capricorn Enterprise chief executive Mary Carroll.
With fellow members Advance Cairns, Broome Futures and the Northern Territory Chamber of Commerce, the Alliance would provide one strong voice to government on critical catalytic projects that would benefit all in the northern region, she added.
“By working together for common outcomes we can provide one strong voice to government to achieve the best infrastructure and industry development which will ultimately benefit the nation’s economy,” Ms Carroll said.
The North Australia white paper committed $1.2 billion for development measures in the region on top of $5 billion in concessional loans announced in the budget. The spending includes $200 million on new dams and water infrastructure in the area between Rockhampton and the tropical north.
For central Queensland, the main project is developing the Fitzroy Agricultural Precinct as part of Growing Central Queensland, and this includes developing dams such as Rookwood Weir and Eden Bann to boost agriculture.
For Cairns, the main push is to expand its airport and Townsville is vying for a new stadium.
“This alliance gives us a bigger voice and we will support each other on those big projects,” Ms Carroll said.
“Collaboration and partnership always works, while unity is death.”
Townsville Enterprise Economic Development general manager Tracey Lines said the Alliance would give an opportunity to advocate for infrastructure funding and policy reform that would benefit communities right across northern Australia.
Advance Cairns Chair, Trent Twomey said the existing alliance already represented genuine strength across the far north of the country.
“The expansion of the partnership to include two key additional advocacy organisations on the east coast will strengthen the unity of our vision as being genuinely all embracing for the entire Northern Australia region.”
Northern Australia is broadly defined as the parts of Australia north of the Tropic of Capricorn, spanning WA, NT and Qld. The area covers approximately three million square kilometres with a growing population of around one million people.
