PREMIER Annastacia Palaszczuk has drawn fire for saying the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility’s head office should be based in Brisbane.
Ms Palaszczuk said on Saturday the Commonwealth Government should fast-track legislation for its $5 billion NAIF and establish its head office in Brisbane.
However, Opposition northern development spokesman Andrew Cripps said Ms Palaszczuk should look further north if Labor was serious about the development of Northern Australia.
“Townsville and Cairns are both perfectly capable of hosting the NAIF head office,” Mr Cripps said.
“It’s outrageous the Palaszczuk Labor Government is being so Brisbane-centric.
“Cairns and Townsville have airports and seaports that connect North Queensland to Asian markets which the Federal Government’s Northern Australia initiative is focused on.”
The NAIF is designed to support the development of important economic infrastructure as a catalyst for increased social and economic development in northern Queensland.
Ms Palaszczuk said Brisbane was a key financial centre and it’s much closer to the action and potential of northern Australia.
“It would be disappointing if NAIF was Sydney-centric,” she said.
Ms Palaszczuk said without legislation, the $5 billion in financing for projects in northern Australia could not be accessed.
“The funds were announced in the Federal Budget in May last year, but without legislation the NAIF is frozen,” she said.
“The next positive step would be to have a Brisbane headquarters for NAIF and a presence in regional Queensland.”
Mr Cripps said the Palaszczuk Government should be focused on putting together a comprehensive plan to encourage investment in North Queensland, to take full advantage of the NAIF.
“Unfortunately Labor seems frozen at the wheel, holding agriculture, resources and tourism sector development in North Queensland back by overturning the reforms of the former LNP Government,” Mr Cripps said.
“The reality is Queensland’s plans for the NAIF have been worked up by local councils and regional economic development groups. The Palaszczuk Government has no plans of its own.
“12 months of economic mismanagement under Labor has resulted in thousands of jobs being lost North Central Queensland. The NAIF could help turn this around.
"Labor’s Minister for North Queensland, Coralee O’Rourke, has been missing in action for a year, only travelling to Canberra earlier this month to start lobbying the Federal Government.”
Mr Cripps said North Queensland needed a State Government that would open up economic development opportunities and create new jobs, not kowtow to union bosses and the extreme greens.
Ms Palaszczuk said the Queensland Government had a $10.1 billion capital works program for 2015-16 and it would support 27,000 full-time equivalent jobs.
“We are working closely with the private sector to promote economic and employment growth,” she said.
“Over the last 12 months, more than 70,000 jobs have been created in Queensland.
“As Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull recently said – ‘business confidence is highest in Queensland’.”
