Qantas-like innovation urged to make the most of growing interest in western Queensland

Mr Smith, no stranger to Longreach from his many years as a senior civil servant, including as Queensland’s Director-General of Education and Employment and Training, and Director-General of the Department of Infrastructure, urged an intimate gathering at Longreach recently to look to their tourism links for possible expansion directions.

Invited by the Remote Area Planning and Development Board, Mr Smith told his dinner audience he saw many parallels between Longreach’s airport and the region’s wider produce, and what has taken place at Toowoomba, thanks to the Wagner family.

Teasing out the opportunities possible following the Brexit vote, Mr Smith said that agricultural product would play an increasingly important role in relations between the UK and Australia.

“We have a distinct advantage in that we’re much more organic,” he said.

“There is real pressure in the UK and Europe to lower the use of antibiotics in farming practices, and in areas, wool is coming back into fashion.

“More and more product is going to go by air these days.

“Entrepreneurs built the airport at Toowoomba, but even more important was the development of the land to service that.

“Here at Longreach land is available and there’s a good airport available already.

“People can make links and do value-adding.”

Mr Smith said the level of investment seen in the Brisbane West Wellcamp airport wasn’t needed in western Queensland because airport facilities already existed, and population expansion pressures were less.

“My history tells me that if (Hudson) Fysh and others hadn’t started Qantas, we wouldn’t have the RFDS, or a huge number of other things.

“We can’t talk ourselves down because of lack of population.

“Innovation happened out here precisely because of that lack.”

RAPAD’s Russell Lowry said there was a good synergy between Europe and western Queensland.

With the Brexit vote having taken place not long before, regional movers and shakers were keen to hear how that might impact on the west.

They were relieved to hear Mr Smith say that although it was a first in the history of the UK and so no-one could really know what the impacts might be, he believed there would be more positive opportunities than negative ones for the state.

While traditional links via pastoral investment were canvassed, Mr Smith was highly encouraging of expanding cultural tourism, saying the network of museums and events was a major opportunity for the region.

As well as beef and wool pursuits being a basis for interest and high value development, Mr Smith said it would be important to capitalise on the 2018 Commonwealth Games, and the 2020 anniversary of when James Cook left Greenwich on the voyage that took him to the east coast of Australia.

“Other exchanges could come about as a result of these events,” he said.

“Your network of museums is of international standing, and you have some capacity in the agricultural college.

“People now fly from London to the United States to have ranching opportunities.

“Those high-cost holidays are what you could develop.”

His comments were music to the ears of Member for Gregory, Lachlan Millar, who said coastal tourism operators were fighting for a similar market, but western Queensland offered something unique.

“We’ve got to tap into something like Cairns, which is bringing people in from China,” he said. “If there’s any way you can connect us with the Commonwealth Games, please do.”