ABC
During the weekend, he met the chamber of commerce, the Mayor and the State Government.
He says he wants to see more north Queensland businesses expanding into his region.
However, the issue of access is top of his agenda.
Mr O'Neill says he is going to ask his state airline to start a direct route between Port Moresby and Townsville.
"Overnight in the air and back so we can make it easier for the business community to travel up to Papua New Guinea and conduct their businesses," he said.
Townsville is geographically closer to Port Moresby than it is to Brisbane but Mr O'Neill says business opportunities are being hindered because of a lack of access.
"We're looking at direct flights between Port Moresby and Townsville and we are going to encourage that with our own airline and hopefully the other regional airlines in Australia can take advantage of our open sky policy that we have," he said.
Mr O'Neill says the Government may have to initially subsidise the route but he believes it is economically viable.
He also asked north Queensland business leaders to consider expanding their operations into the Pacific, to help develop PNG.
The Government made the promise to help build the hospital at Daru during the PNG Prime Minister's visit to Townsville.
Gavin King from the Government's PNG taskforce says the PNG Government will pay Queenslanders to design and build the facility.
"It's basically a greenfield site," he said.
"They want everything from design, engineering, of course construction, right through to good administration and management of that hospital
"So for the private sector in Queensland and north Queensland, there are huge opportunities going forward."
He says it will be a great opportunity for Queensland businesses to expand their operations.
"The PNG Government has a lot of resources and a lot of funding available but they don't quite have the capacity and the expertise to deliver on those projects and that's the whole reason that they've come to the Queensland Government," he said.
The Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea says he plans
to re-establish direct flights between Townsville and Port Moresby by
the end of the year.
It was Peter O'Neill's first visit to Townsville.During the weekend, he met the chamber of commerce, the Mayor and the State Government.
He says he wants to see more north Queensland businesses expanding into his region.
However, the issue of access is top of his agenda.
Mr O'Neill says he is going to ask his state airline to start a direct route between Port Moresby and Townsville.
"Overnight in the air and back so we can make it easier for the business community to travel up to Papua New Guinea and conduct their businesses," he said.
Townsville is geographically closer to Port Moresby than it is to Brisbane but Mr O'Neill says business opportunities are being hindered because of a lack of access.
"We're looking at direct flights between Port Moresby and Townsville and we are going to encourage that with our own airline and hopefully the other regional airlines in Australia can take advantage of our open sky policy that we have," he said.
Mr O'Neill says the Government may have to initially subsidise the route but he believes it is economically viable.
He also asked north Queensland business leaders to consider expanding their operations into the Pacific, to help develop PNG.
PNG Hospital
Meanwhile, the Queensland Government has committed to providing the expertise to build a hospital in PNG.The Government made the promise to help build the hospital at Daru during the PNG Prime Minister's visit to Townsville.
Gavin King from the Government's PNG taskforce says the PNG Government will pay Queenslanders to design and build the facility.
"It's basically a greenfield site," he said.
"They want everything from design, engineering, of course construction, right through to good administration and management of that hospital
"So for the private sector in Queensland and north Queensland, there are huge opportunities going forward."
He says it will be a great opportunity for Queensland businesses to expand their operations.
"The PNG Government has a lot of resources and a lot of funding available but they don't quite have the capacity and the expertise to deliver on those projects and that's the whole reason that they've come to the Queensland Government," he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment