Leichhardt — what Growing Australia delivers

Member for Leichhardt: Matt Smith (Liberal National Party) · Queensland

The Cairns Growth Precinct sits inside Leichhardt — $2.7B of platform investment, 3,300 direct jobs, with the government building the solar, the industrial estate, the CSIRO research lab and the TAFE training campus, while private operators take the leases and create the manufacturing jobs. Cairns produces Pacific cable landing + meet-me room + IXP, sovereign cable repair vessel, patrol vessel sustainment, Pacific humanitarian logistics hub, Pacific Digital Academy.

Beyond the precinct network, Leichhardt also benefits from the national programs the plan funds. The 2026–27 Budget provides $3.2 billion for a government-controlled reserve of one billion litres of diesel, jet fuel and petrol, alongside Australia's existing commercial stocks. Growing Australia proposes successive reserve tranches and sovereign production behind them. Growth Precinct power would support industrial production and grid resilience, with final project prices determined through detailed design and procurement.

Growing Australia is a long-term, public-domain investment platform with a central concept-stage estimate of $201.4 billion. The complete register contains 53 investments across six national priorities and is designed to be delivered gradually. Leichhardt's share is not a guaranteed allocation: it is the set of proposed precinct, state and national investments relevant to the electorate, each of which would require its own delivery and budget decisions.

Growth Precincts near Leichhardt

• Cairns Growth Precinct — $2.7B · 3,300 jobs · inside Leichhardt. Pacific cable landing + meet-me room + IXP, sovereign cable repair vessel, patrol vessel sustainment, Pacific humanitarian logistics hub, Pacific Digital Academy

National programs that reach Leichhardt

• 90-day strategic fuel reserve — building beyond the announced 50-day baseline through staged government-controlled tranches.
• Lower energy bills — Growth Precinct solar at 2.5–3¢/kWh wholesale, flowing through to household bills.
• Regional broadband upgrades — closing the city–regions internet gap.
• Sovereign cyber shield — one number to call, ASD-led response, training at every TAFE.
• Strategic grain reserves — 500,000-tonne minimum, ending the bad-season-equals-crisis pattern.
• National medicines stockpile — $1B for antibiotics, insulin and surgical supplies. Australia currently imports 90%+.

Take action

• Write to Matt Smith — pre-written email, postcode-matched, 30 seconds.
• See the full $201.4B costing model — every line item, every assumption, every source.
• Read the methodology — bottom-up benchmarks, employment estimates, key assumptions.
• Growing Australia — home

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