The often used phrase "You're here for the lifestyle" seems to have become the throwaway line to many of the financial challenges we face living in this part of the world.

But let's face it, a nice view won't pay the exorbitant bills which seem come with monotonous regularity.

Many of us, including myself, have become Douglas residents after moving here from interstate. The lure of year-round warmth seems to be the primary motivation for the change.

However the transient population, which was once the domain of the working holiday maker and backpacker, is now made up of families who simply couldn't make a financial go of things and are forced to head back south or to the mines.

Council rates are high, car registration is hundreds of dollars a year more than southern states, for those who own units body corporate fees can be crippling, and general costs of living stretch already diminished pay packets.

On the plus side, the people are welcoming to newcomers having been newcomers themselves. There seems to be an unspoken acknowledgement that 90 per cent of us are in the same boat, and there remains optimism for the future.

So where do we go from here? How do we make this area a sustainable place to live?

I believe more pressure needs to be put on all levels of government to help create a diversification of industries, to move away from a reliance on the tourism and hospitality sectors.

One of the keys to this is fighting for super-fast internet to be implemented well before the 2015 (at the earliest) scheduled delivery date.

Without this we will not just remain stagnant, but areas where NBN is installed will move ahead, effectively seeing us go backwards. Businesses won't even glance at our region until our internet speed is at the very least competitive.

Council needs to provide more incentives to entice industries to our area - why not waive rates for the first five years? Why not build childcare centres for these new employees and residents (actually new centres for existing residents wouldn't go astray either).

We need to build industries that don't rely on cheap labour to survive, and the proposed Economic Development Group must be an effective means to source government funding at all levels. If those who eventually sit on that committee don't perform, then they need to make way for others.

While a stroll along Four Mile Beach in the morning, or a fish off the Sugar Wharf at night is food for the soul, there comes a time when people reach breaking point when not being able to put food on the table.

There is no reason we can't have our cake and eat it - the money and a life. Cairns has the potential, as one of very few nothern Australian cities, to tap into Asian development. Port Douglas and the Douglas region as a whole should also be banging on their doors.

Home page image by Kelly Hough