This was the Liberal MP for Leichardt and Chair of Joint Standing Committee on Northern Australia Warren George Entsch on 7 March 2018 at warrenentsch.com.au.....
Federal Leichhardt MP
Warren Entsch is calling for big ideas from the community that could help shape
the future of the region.
Mr Entsch said the $272
million Regional Growth Fund would support major projects in regional, rural
and remote areas that delivered long-term economic benefits.
“This is an exciting
program that is set to deliver major projects over $20 million that take
advantage of the region’s natural economic strengths,” Mr Entsch said.
“The Regional Growth
Fund will support additional investment for sustainable economic growth,
including from the private sector, other levels of government, and
not-for-profit organisations.
“Initial applications
close on 27 April 2018 and I encourage everyone eligible in our community to
look at the program guidelines and get started on an application.”
Mr Entsch said the
Federal Government would invest a minimum of $10 million toward each successful
infrastructure project, representing a maximum of 50 per cent of project costs.
This was The Cairns Post on the subject of a particular pork
barrel and Mr. Entsch…..
22 March
2018
It was a long and tough
election campaign for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. He finally buckled late
in the 2016 race and matched Labor’s pledge to fund the final $100 million to
build Townsville’s stadium.
It was a welcome boost
to Coalition MPs but Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch needed a lift
too.
Mr Turnbull threw him a
bone in the form of a $20 million regional jobs and investment package.
It wasn’t a $100 million
pledge but it struck at the heart of something the region desperately needed:
jobs.
The announcement
received a lot of media and Mr Entsch was delivered another term in Canberra.
But 100 days after the
Coalition was sworn in there was little action and even less in the way of
detail on how businesses could access the funding. Time dragged on until
Advance Cairns chairman and campaign director for Mr Entsch, Trent Twomey was
named chairman of the Local Planning Committee for the fund in January 2017.
Among the committee’s
brief was to set the eligibility criteria. The application process was finally
rolled out, closing in July 2017. Throughout the process the Cairns Post has
watched, waited and asked questions to ensure the fund was not just a hollow
election promise. After 20 months Mr Entsch announced in February a list of recipients;
among them was a $2.4m grant for QRX Group 1 to establish a first for FNQ — a
pharmaceutical manufacturing and distribution centre. The project, never heard
of until the announcement, has raised many eyebrows. There are questions that
need answering about the true number of jobs it will generate, a key criterion
of the funding, and if there is a real conflict of interest with Mr Twomey’s
wife a one-third owner of QRX Group 1.
22 March
2018
Leichardt MP Warren Entsch could
face a quizzing over how the wife of his campaign director Trent Twomey won a
$2.4 million federal grant to expand her family pharmaceutical empire.
The Australian Federal
Police is looking into a formal complaint of alleged fraud and misconduct in
the handling of the multi-million dollar handout.
Far North civic and
business leaders told the Cairns Post many taxpayers held concerns about LNP
pork-barrelling and whether it “passes the sniff test”.
Mr Entsch, whose son
works for the pharmacy company behind the deal, said it was a “brilliant
project” and he was outraged by suggestions “about fraud and corruption” over
the $220m Regional Jobs and Investment Package (RJIP).
“It ticked all the
boxes,’’ he said.
Mr Entsch appointed his
election campaign manager Trent Twomey, a local pharmacist and Advance Cairns
chairman, to head an RJIP committee panel to identify key priorities for $20m
in federal grants to stimulate jobs growth and investment.
The shelf company QRX
Group 1 – where Mr Twomey’s wife Georgina and business partner Leo Maltam are
listed in company records as directors – won $2,415,400 in funds to build a $5m
pharmacy distribution facility……
The Australian Federal
Police has been referred a formal complaint but are yet to launch an official
“active” fraud investigation. An AFP spokesman suggested the matter might be
referred to the Department of Regional Development’s internal probity and audit
unit.
Business leaders and
pharmacy owners said the vision to build Northern Australia’s first
pharmaceutical manufacturing and distribution centre was unheard of until the
grant was announced two weeks ago.…….
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