Premier David Crisafulli and his new cabinet need to make drastic and immediate changes to what is considered “essential” under the State Government’s remote freight subsidy if the LNP is going to offer any quantifiable relief to the cost of living pressures currently crippling Cape York and Torres Strait residents, says editor Lyndon Keane. Photo: Cape York Weekly.
The announcement none of the 19 ministers who make up Premier David Crisafulli’s new Liberal National Party (LNP) cabinet hail from any farther north than the cane fields of the Burdekin is disappointing but hardly surprising, given the party lobbed barely more than commitment scraps outside the south-east corner of the state during the recent election campaign.
Feigned shock and festering frustration notwithstanding, I still believe Cape York and the Torres Strait have the opportunity to progress between now and voters returning to the polls in 2028 – as long as the government is prepared to admit it doesn’t quite understand this part of the world and the people who work and play up here, and is willing to listen to advice about what local priorities it can address to kick some early goals as it maintains a focus on that patch of dirt stretching from the Sunshine Coast to the Queensland-New South Walers border.
With Labor’s Cynthia Lui and the LNP’s David Kempton engaged in a vote-by-vote tussle to claim Cook, it makes sense to offer this advice directly to the Premier and his executive council in the hope one of their umpteen advisers will print it out and file it away in the folder of easy wins. Mr Kempton will almost certainly end up claiming the seat on preferences based on trends over the past 10 days, but even then, it remains to be seen how much influence he will wield with the newly-minted Premier and cabinet.
From talking to councils, advocacy groups, primary producers, business leaders and more than a few dozen disillusioned, schooner-waving voters across Cape York, here are what I suspect should be the top three priorities for the State Government if it is to convince us we aren’t just that embarrassing relative who always seems to miss out on featuring in family photos.
Priority 1: Fix the freight farce
The current 20 per cent discount offered under the Remote Communities Freight Assistance Scheme isn’t making a difference to the wallets of Cape York and Torres Strait residents, despite what the former Labor government asserted. The main problem is that the items causing the most cost of living grief – fuel, clothing and household goods – are not deemed “essential” items and eligible for the rebate. Hopefully, new Minister for Transport and Main Roads Brent Mickelberg listens to this and acts swiftly, because there’s no point saving a few dollars on your fruit and vegetables at the checkout when you’re paying up to $3 per litre to drive your groceries home. It also doesn’t help when the subsidy hasn’t been taken up by every supermarket, nor when the government effectively owns 100 per cent of the operator with the monopoly on sea freight – I’m looking at you, Queensland Government Insurance Fund. If only we had the infrastructure to make road freight a viable option for a few extra months during the wet season.
Priority 2: Seal our salvation
I’ll keep this one simple. Until the Cape York Region Package is seen as something of political criticality to Brisbane and Canberra, Cape York will remain bogged in a state of economic and social stagnation. Allocate the money to finish sealing the Peninsula Developmental Road and upgrading the bridge infrastructure that causes us so many wet season headaches. Doing so will literally pave the way to remote prosperity, as well as have positive flow-on impacts for things like health, education and tourism.
Priority 3: More empowerment, less excuses
Our communities are full of individuals and organisations with fantastic ideas to make the region more liveable through projects that will potentially inject hundreds of millions of dollars into the local economy each year, as well as provide diversity in the industries operating on Cape York and a boost to our population. The problem is these projects often fail to gain traction because most politicians aren’t interested in investing big dollars in a part of the world with a single state and federal seat. Ignore the politics and get these projects moving, and let us do the rest – start with the Weipa freight hub concept and the Lakeland Irrigation Area Scheme.
