Cairns Regional Council has warmly welcomed Federal Labor’s pledge to match the recent commitment of $107.5 million made by the Liberal ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Party towards the Cairns Water Security – Stage 1 Project.
“We’ve always said that when it comes to something as critical as our water security, it must be above politics,” Acting Mayor Cr Terry James said.
“To their credit, Federal Labor and local candidate Elida Faith have now matched the LNP commitment of $107.5 million towards the Cairns Water Security – Stage1 project.
“The fact that Labor Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese and Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers were both in town this morning and made the commitment shows Federal Labor has taken our briefings and advocacy seriously and support the needs of our community.
“Getting bipartisan commitment federally now means that regardless of the outcome of the federal election, the federal funding commitment is in place, and, of course, we’ll be holding whoever wins office to account to make sure those promises are delivered on promptly.”
While the bipartisan support was welcomed by Cr James, he expressed disappointment that the $107.5 million commitment required from the State was still outstanding.
“Good progress has been made but the job’s not done yet,” Cr James said. “The Queensland Government commitment of $107.5 million is now necessary to ensure ratepayers don’t carry the cost of State underinvestment in regional water capacity.
“While they should have led on this, the State Government now needs to stop procrastinating and follow the lead of their federal colleagues and make the required financial commitment as a matter of urgency, because time is running out and we can’t afford to be playing games when it comes to water security..
“While the Queensland Government has committed significant water funding to Townsville, Central Queensland and Wide Bay we haven’t seen our fair share of State funding for water security in Cairns – yet.
“With Federal funding secured and our three local Labor State MPs indicating their support for the project, it is now time for them to secure the commitment in hard dollars from the State.”
