Today, I had the pleasure of meeting with Whitsunday Sailing Club representatives to deliver on an election commitment of $2.5 million to build a maritime training centre in Airlie Beach.

Stage One of this project provides funding of $120,000 to get things moving on a project which will provide huge benefits for the region through the construction of a purpose-built Whitsunday Maritime Training Centre.

This funding will enable the Whitsunday Sailing Club to finalise the pre-construction work for the facility they want to build here. Then it will be all systems go with an estimated 100 jobs in the construction process.

This will mean more skippers, engineers and crew can be training right here to operate vessels used on island resorts, by tour operators and other Whitsunday businesses.

In 2019 the training centre had 274 enrolments. With this dedicated facility they could add another 100 in the first year alone.

Airlie Beach is the ideal location to build a training centre as it will provide opportunities for young people to train in the region.

I congratulate Whitsunday Sailing Club on their vision for the region.