CLONCURRY Mayor Andrew Daniels hopes the Prime Minister can visit North West Queensland as part of reassurances the region will benefit from funding to develop the cattle industry.
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The Infrastructure Australia report released by Tony Abbott in Cairns on Friday advised on the importance of fixing roads in the three northern states to bolster the cattle industry.
Mr Abbott also travelled to Longreach at the weekend to announce a drought assistance package worth $333million.
The Cloncurry mayor said a dam in the Cloncurry River was vital in developing more industry in the North West Minerals Province but was yet to learn of Mr Abbott’s intentions regarding water supply.
“I’ve been waiting for him to mention water,” Cr Daniels said. He hoped to see road improvements reach his shire considering its contribution to the cattle industry – but it was not necessarily guaranteed.
“You’d think so, but it depends who’s been lobbying,’’ he said.
“If he [Mr Abbott] is talking about helping the cattle industry, we’re the car factory.’’
He said the number of cattle that had gone through the Cloncurry cattle yard this year had skyrocketed to a quarter of a million.
“That’s normally what we do in a year,” Cr Daniels said.
“I think what it shows is that [with] the live export trade now there’s competition out there.”
Live export used to be a last resort for graziers.
“Now there’s competition and good money around they’re really dragging them [the grazier] out from the woodwork.”
The report acknowledges the economic benefits needed to link northern and eastern gas markets through a pipeline.
Mount Isa Mayor Tony McGrady – who travelled to Tennant Creek on Sunday to lobby for the $1billion Northern Territory pipeline to flow through Mount Isa – said that the federal government had built “expectation” among northern leaders.
“The expectation that the prime minister has built up among people who have leadership roles in northern Australia is something the government will have to deliver on,” Cr McGrady warned.
Cr McGrady said it was well documented that water supply was a significant issue for the North West and was recognised in the North West Strategic Development Plan launched in Mount Isa by former Queensland premier Campbell Newman last year.
Mount Isa to Townsville Economic Zone president David Glasson said on Sunday more details behind Mr Abbott’s announcement were needed.
The development group will meet at Cloncurry on May 18 where the announcement will be discussed further with members.
