A coalition plan to turbocharge the economy of northern Australia has been met with cautious approval from those in the country’s Top End.
But some community leaders tired of rhetoric from federal politicians say they want firm commitments, not vague plans.
Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott was in Townsville talking up plans to turn the northern region into a hub for tourism, food production and energy exports.
He promised a white paper exploring opportunities for the area would be delivered within 12 months of his party being elected to government.
It would consider ways to double the nation’s agricultural output, boost domestic and international tourism, encourage people to move north and build an energy export industry worth $150 billion.
Mayors in far north Queensland, the Northern Territory and parts of Western Australia unanimously welcomed the announcement, but some found it hard to get excited.
“We hear the talk all the time, and what we want to see is a bit more of the walk,” Rosa Lee Long, mayor of the Tablelands, near Cairns, told AAP.
“I still welcome this but I’d have been far more happy had there been a lot more meat on the bone,” her counterpart in Mt Isa, Tony McGrady, said.
The president of the Roebourne Shire in WA’s Pilbara region said the plan would go a long way to helping the Pilbara city grow to 50,000.
“We’re always excited about anyone wanting to invest in the northwest and any assistance from the federal government would be more than welcome. We’ll certainly roll out the red carpet,” Fiona White-Hartig said.
Upgrading airports and roads, protecting tourist meccas and marketing potential sites, introducing tax incentives to attract more residents, and increasing housing availability were among the wish list items for mayors in northern Australia regions.
“It’s all very well to say `move north’ but we need to make sure people have something to move to,” Darwin’s Lord Mayor Katrina Fong Lim said.
Mr Abbott said the coalition’s white paper would allow the region to capitalise on the opportunities presented by growth in Asia.
“If Australia is to play its part in the Asian century, that part of our country which is already the most integrated with Asia needs to be developed,” he told reporters in Townsville.
He expects the white paper will encourage families to move north and include moving sections of the CSIRO and Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service agencies to key urban zones.
Longstanding zonal tax rebates might be reviewed, but Mr Abbott ruled out a separate tax arrangement for the country’s north.
Cynics see Friday’s announcement as an attempt to stem the flow of regional votes from the coalition to the conservative Katter’s Australia Party (KAP).
“While they’re trailing behind the KAP in a number of key seats, they have stolen our line and assumed north Queenslanders are dumb – bad mistake,” federal Independent MP Bob Katter said in a statement.
Treasurer Wayne Swan said the Labor government had invested an “enormous amount of money” in facilities, roads and energy projects in the north.
“We’ve got some thought bubbles from Mr Abbott – a series of proposals, which are not funded. There’s no detail,” he told reporters in Brisbane.
