Despite the challenges of the unprecedented flooding event experienced 12 months ago, a strong year of collaborative advocacy delivered some great wins for North Queensland, leading us into a new decade on the front-foot. 

Between a new stadium, new dam, new water pipeline, new mines, new underwater sculptures, new events, and new agricultural opportunities, who could anticipate 2019 would wrap-up with such positivity after the devastation our community suffered at the start.

From the $400M+ worth of commitments secured, 2019 was ultimately a win for business certainty. Now, our community is looking forward to seeing the real jobs, real local investment and real local supplier contracts continue to flow from those announcements and commitments which have laid a strong platform for 2020.

What better way to kick it off then with the official opening of the brand-new Queensland Country Bank Stadium this month, with its construction providing a real treat for our community to witness coming to life over the past 12 months. This has been a tangible, real investment that has materialised before our eyes and will be a lasting symbol of what can be achieved when a community rallies together.
It’s a piece of infrastructure that has been designed by the best, built by the best, will be home to the best, and will entertain the best!

In 2019 we were thrilled that a local North Queensland consortium, led by Townsville Enterprise, had been selected to deliver the Hells Gates Dam Business Case and establishment of the Big Rocks Weir. This was a significant decision by the Morrison Government, and we applaud the Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack for putting local firms and local jobs first in that decision. 

Whilst this major dam project has been on the table for some time, it has reached significant milestones over the last couple of years.
It’s great to see the momentum continuing to build on this game-changing project with early preparations progressing well to deliver
the next stage.

Townsville City Council’s progression of Stage 1 of the Haughton water pipeline has also been a positive project that has been tracking well, with completion anticipated for March. This project has not only provided local jobs and contracts at a time we needed it most but importantly is securing that precious water source for our community.

Regional Queensland had a red-letter day in 2019, when after almost a decade since the opportunity was first presented to our community, the Adani Carmichael Mine finally got the greenlight to get on with the job. This signalled the end of the project’s approval process and the beginning of a new era for regional Queensland. As a community, we have been through the trenches supporting the Adani project because we know what the broader opportunities mean for our region. That decision, and efforts to get the rest of the Galilee projects on track, will help restore Queensland’s investment certainty. The Carmichael Mine is one of many important projects that is required to build a strong future for jobs in Queensland, and importantly North Queensland, at
a time so desperately needed. 

Securing the 2021 ITU Multisport World Championships was a major win for our tourism and events industry, and one that will position our region strongly on a global events stage for the future. Hosting an event of this size and with such a strong global following is a major coup for our region which will provide a significant economic injection for local businesses across the two-week event. 

The Museum of Underwater Art has recently landed in our region’s waters with the first two pieces installed at The Strand and John Brewer Reef. This Southern-Hemisphere first is no longer just talk and announcements; it is real and ready to be enjoyed by locals and visitors from all corners of the globe.

“As a united business community we will continue to remain consistent in our advocacy to position the North for a strong future.“

The completion of the North Queensland Agricultural Market and Supply Chain Study was an important step in putting together the framework for the future of North Queensland’s agricultural industry. The study identified five priority products that present North Queensland with the greatest opportunity, which are beef, avocado, macadamia, soybean and on-shore aquaculture. Along with the CRCNA, we are now mapping out the direct investment opportunities into our region’s agricultural sector both nationally and internationally.

It’s important to acknowledge the common denominator behind all these wins is the role our region’s business community has played in getting behind these projects, driving them and inevitably achieving a positive outcome for North Queensland.

These next 12 months are critical; it’s vital to convert more of our policy work into reality because whilst we can see the green-shoots, our region is not out of the economic woods yet. We begin 2020 positively following the recent announcement into the Reef HQ upgrade and continued momentum building on transformative projects such as Driveit NQ, the Cowboys Community, Training and High Performance Centre, the Tourism Marine Precinct, and those important to our neighbouring regions such as the Paluma to Wallaman Trail in Hinchinbrook. 

With upcoming Local and State Elections, in March and October respectively, there is significant opportunity to secure further commitments. With that, it means we are working closely with our members and industry leaders to again develop an advocacy program that will mean business is once again front and centre. 

Our 2019 Federal Election campaign secured commitments towards 14 of the 18 priorities included in our broader election platform from major and minor parties – we will be full steam ahead all the way up to the October 31 State Election to ensure Townsville and North Queensland’s voice is heard loud and clear.

Additionally, it’s important that the private sector continue taking some ownership of our destiny, like we’ve seen with SeaLink and Honeycombes Property Group leading the charge on the Tourism Marine Precinct. We cannot just solely rely on Government to do that for us and nor do we want to. Securing the pipeline of content for the new stadium is another prime example of this and the importance of the private sector working with Government to ensure the true potential of this investment is realised for our region.

As a united business community we will continue to remain consistent in our advocacy to position the North for a strong future. Water, energy, resources, connecting the North West, tourism development and promotion, CBD activation and strong policies around decentralisation and taxation will all assist in making the North an attractive place to invest, visit and live. We’ve started the year in pole position, let’s make the most of that lead and cross the line at the end of 2020 with a personal best for the region.