Cooktown Chamber of Commerce and Tourism president Russell Bowman says the organisation believes the prioritisation of infrastructure upgrades across Cape York must be front and centre on the agendas of candidates vying for Cook at the 26 October state election, a sentiment echoed by the Western Cape Chamber of Commerce and Lakeland Progress Association. Photo: Cape York Weekly.
The chambers of commerce in Weipa and Cooktown, and the Lakeland Progress Association (LPA) have all flagged prioritising remote infrastructure development as the issue they believe candidates campaigning to win Cook on 26 October should be paying the most attention to.
As the state election campaign officially got under way on 1 October, Cape York Weekly asked the Western Cape Chamber of Commerce (WCCC), Cooktown Chamber of Commerce and Tourism (CCCT) and LPA what one question they wanted all five candidates to answer, as well as what issues they believed were impeding continued economic growth in their communities and the greater Cape York region.
WCCC president Jai Christie said he wanted to see candidates providing greater detail on how they intended to drive economic diversity on western Cape York and identified a lack of commitment to finalising the Peninsula Developmental Road (PDR) upgrade as the biggest hurdle facing businesses in Weipa and the surrounding area.
“Can you outline your plan for economic growth and industry diversification in the western Cape?” he said in response to the question of what the WCCC would most like to ask candidates.
“Our most significant issues are the lack of commitment to the PDR and the lack of support for new industry in the western Cape.
“It is very important to support investment into the whole of the Cape, especially in the western Cape – we are in a prime position to build the Cape into a hub of new industry that can support defence, logistics and the rest of the state, where other areas are at capacity.”
LPA president Joy Marriott wanted candidates to outline their connection to Cook and said the group was concerned Lakeland could not grow any further without appropriate housing and service infrastructure.
“We need suitable housing for people to move to the area, and specifically for Lakeland, a lack of health services and basic infrastructure for growth are issues,” she said.
“Without people, we won’t have improved services and growth, so we need basic services and infrastructure to entice people to the region – it goes hand in hand.”
In addition, Ms Marriott said she believed road and bridge infrastructure, a review of the Cape York Water Plan, land tenure and fixing the blue card issues for emergency services volunteers needed to be on the radars of candidates.
In Cooktown, CCCT president Russell Bowman said infrastructure investment was of “paramount importance” to Cape York’s short- and long-term economic prosperity.
“Unless and until we have good infrastructure, particularly roads, it is very difficult grow our businesses and communities,” he said.
“Accelerating the sealing of the PDR is key – does the candidate recognise this, and what will their party commit to by way of investment in accelerating Cape York infrastructure that will enable growth and development?”
