It’s easy to feel like a circus novelty when so many southerners – including our political overlords – see Cape York and its infrastructure as nothing more than something that need be considered on a bucket list trip, says editor Lyndon Keane. Photo: Wikipedia.
Have you ever felt like the main attraction in one of those 20th century circus freak shows, or an indoor plant suddenly forgotten after the initial novelty of caring for it wore off?
If you live on Cape York – or are part of its essential infrastructure and service network – it can be easy to live in a state of unwanted perpetuity, especially when it comes to convincing those down south we have genuine needs, and exist beyond the social media posts of the annual marauding hordes of tourists.
The missive Western Cape Chamber of Commerce (WCCC) president Jai Christie penned to Premier David Crisafulli late last week should be a grenade under the apathetic posteriors of our elected leaders in Brisbane and Canberra, because it articulates perfectly what everyone who lives on Cape York or in the Torres Strait has been screaming for so long. The message is clear: we have zero chance of remote economic and social sustainability if we can’t get a helping hand to get the things we need to work and play here actually up here without breaking the bank.
Wistfully, it’s not just the politicians who don’t take our transport infrastructure needs seriously.
At a barbecue in Cairns on Sunday, I got talking to a bloke who’s planning a Cape trip this dry season. So I don’t publicly shame him for his blinkered urban arrogance and stupidity, let’s call him Mark. We got onto the subject of road conditions up this way, and I jokingly pointed out they would be fantastic if we could ever get the money needed to complete the Peninsula Developmental Road (PDR) seal and associated bridge infrastructure. Poor old Mark reacted like I’d just let my dog leave a steaming surprise in his front yard.
Mark: Whaddya mean when the road is done? That’ll ruin it for everyone who goes up the Cape to experience the dirt roads.
Me: Those roads do cause a bit of grief for those who actually have to use them all year, particularly if you’re a business operator up there trying to get supplies so you can keep your doors open.
Mark: That’s crap. The drive to Weipa and Bamaga is a right of passage for anyone who wants to do it. If it’s bitumen, what’s the attraction? Leave ‘em as they are, I say.
Me: I bet you have a ridiculously big caravan, don’t you?
Can you imagine a business owner in south-east Queensland – or an A-grade muppet like Mark – responding to a $31,000 quote to freight a new bit of kit essential to continuing their operation? Their response would be apoplectic, but the reality is it would never happen. It’s only those of us in the northernmost part of the state who are treated like backwards circus freaks and told to like it or lump it when it comes to near-extortionate freight demands.
The WCCC president is the latest in a growing number of dissidents to speak publicly about the State Government’s 100 per cent ownership of the company with the sea freight monopoly, but the chorused outrage is only going to get louder as more and more Cape York and Torres Strait residents begin to draw a line in the sand and call out the bullshit.
I’m still waiting for an intelligent response from the Federal Government about how far off we were on getting a commitment for the $240 million needed to move on stage three of the Cape York Region Package. Despite that, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government Catherine King announced on 20 March the government was releasing $38m to allow early works on a $500m Central Queensland beef roads project. The timing wouldn’t have anything to do with the fact Labor is desperate to get its hands on the three Liberal National Party-held electorates that make up the area, would it?
For change to happen, Cape York needs to be seen as more than a novelty, bucket list destination or ATM for mining royalties. For thousands of people, it’s home.
If there’s one true freak show on Cape York, it’s the unsealed sections of the PDR after a wet season. Photo: Facebook (Coen Mechanical).
