The unlimited possibilities of the Weipa region’s future will be fully explored at the 2025 Western Cape Futures Symposium next month, but editor Lyndon Keane says need-them-now essentials – like improved road infrastructure and freight options – cannot be overlooked for blue sky thinking. Photo: Cape York Weekly.
I’m really looking forward to seeing what left field opportunities for economic diversity and growth are unlocked when delegates converge on Weipa for the 2025 Western Cape Futures Symposium next month.
Organisers of the biennial event have done an incredible job putting together a program of experts to take to the stage and share their knowledge and experiences over the two days, but it’s also tremendous to see the number of locals – whether business operators or residents simply committed to the long-term sustainability of their community – also putting their hand up to participate.
When you’ve got sessions called things like To Infinity and Beyond on the agenda, it’s evident there’s going to be, to steal a phrase from Rob Sitch and the Utopia team, some fairly significant blue sky thinking put forward as our community and business leaders ponder the future of western Cape York and what economic diversity in the region might look like in the decades to come.
Rocket launches, radars, defence upgrades and myriad other unique commercial undertakings are incredibly exciting for the Weipa region and have the capacity to become another arrow in our economic quiver, but it’s vital we keep our feet on the ground and fight for need-them-now essentials as we peer skyward – literally, in the case of becoming a leading southern hemisphere space hub – for opportunities to add to mining and tourism as local offerings.
When I say need-them-now essentials, I’m talking, of course, of things like more affordable freight options, and an answer to the housing affordability issue causing no amount of grief for employers attempting to attract and retain staff outside the resources sector.
We can’t diversify and grow if we don’t get the basics right, so the symposium must look at the essentials and find solutions for things like getting government to commit the funding needed to deliver appropriate road and bridge infrastructure between the western Cape and the rest of Queensland, streamline ludicrous land tenure and development processes, and work out who’s actually going to foot the bill for water and sewerage assets to accommodate population growth when the long-awaited normalisation of Weipa finally occurs.
That’s not to say we can’t adopt an outside-the-box mentality when it comes to addressing some of the basics. Freight – especially during the wet season – is a perennial hurdle, so why can’t we take a blue sky view and create the economy of scale the State Government keeps telling us is a major obstacle to non-crippling sea freight bills? Let’s set Weipa up as a storage and distribution hub and base some of the smaller Sea Swift vessels on the western Cape to service down to Kowanyama and across to the Torres Strait islands. While we’re doing that, the Queensland Investment Corporation can open its wallet and procure a much bigger barge to travel from Cairns to Weipa. Bigger barge, more freight, less delays and – in theory, at least – less cost for those up in this part of the world who rely on the service. Tony Woodford and his Nation Building Authority would be all over the plan like a chunky kid on the last party pie at a professional development morning tea.
There is no doubt the unlimited possibilities of the Weipa region’s future will be fully explored by delegates on 7-8 May, but we have to keep ourselves grounded as we reach for the sky in plotting a course to a vibrant, diverse future. After all, this is real life for those who call western Cape York home, not witty political satire written to amuse a television audience.
