Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

In politics as in sport you have to know thy enemy. I have read the coalition's 2030 vision for developing Northern Australia. As a Queenslander I was interested in what they had to say. The area north of the Tropic of Capricorn is much misunderstood by people who come from the southern states. Tourism, mining and agriculture are absolutely critical not just to my state of Queensland but to Western Australia and the Northern Territory: mining in the Pilbara in north-west Western Australia; agriculture across the region; tourism, the beauty of Uluru and the wonder of the Great Barrier Reef, and even the majesty of the Kimberley. They cannot be ignored. They are simply amazing places to visit.

The coalition says they want a Northern Australia strategic partnership—I think that is a sensible idea—engaging the premiers of Western Australia and Queensland and the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory. They talk about audits of red tape and green tape. They recognise—and I think many people do not recognise this—the importance of the Bruce Highway. The Bruce Highway comes up the coast of Queensland. I know that last week the Minister for Agriculture thought it was in New South Wales or Victoria, but it actually goes up the spine of Queensland. According to the North Queensland Roads Alliance, it contributes about $11.5 billion to the Queensland economy—that is a lot of money—and over 60,000 jobs. So this is particularly important.

But the jury is still out. I welcome the joint parliamentary committee. I hope it does good work and I hope it comes up with strong recommendations so we can have a bipartisan approach across this space. But I fear that—with cuts to rail, cuts to CSIRO, cuts to regional universities like James Cook, cuts to schools and health services and $534.4 million in cuts to Indigenous affairs in my shadow portfolio—we will not see the good outcomes we would expect and we hope for in relation to that parliamentary committee. It is not just about rhetoric. It has to be matched by momentum and political muscle and there has to be money behind it.

Whilst a lot of people do not recognise the contribution Indigenous people are making, I applaud the member for Leichhardt—that might be the first time I have ever said that in this place—because he did mention the contribution of Indigenous people to Northern Australia. Indigenous Land Corporation has done some good work. Since 1995 they have acquired property in Northern Australia. There is $30 million in land management enterprise development, particularly in remote and regional areas in the north. They have acquired more than four million hectares of property. They are contributing a lot; nearly 100,000 head of cattle across Western Australia, Northern Territory and Queensland. There are many people, as the member for Leichhardt correctly stated, who are working these stations. We have about 2.5 million hectares of Indigenous held land in production across the country. Many people would not understand the wonderful contribution—the knowledge, the history and the participation—of Indigenous people across the north of this country and what they have done.

But I fear the cuts we are seeing—for instance, the cuts to Indigenous health and the cuts to Indigenous programs. On Friday in Senate estimates, the minister could not outline what those particular cuts would mean. Indeed, in the area of the member for Leichhardt—and I praised him before—there are $3.5 million in cuts in the Torres Strait Regional Authority. We do not know how that will impact on that particular authority. They claim it will not impact on the ground but I find it hard to believe that—with the alleged efficiency dividend of 4.5 per cent, much higher than the rest of the areas of cuts across the country—that will not have an impact on front-line services. I do not really believe these efficiency dividend claims by the Minister for Indigenous Affairs. I think this will have a big impact on Northern Australia, because in parts of Northern Australia the Indigenous population is very high.

We have nearly a 100 per cent Indigenous population way up in the north of Queensland. But even in the southern parts of Queensland, in my area and in Central Queensland, there are massive numbers of Indigenous people, who we should honour and cherish. We should applaud the contribution they have made to Northern Australia. They run cattle stations in the live cattle export area. It is an important industry, and I have always been a strong supporter of the live export trade. I think it is important for North Queensland and it is important for the Northern Territory and Western Australia. I have been a strong advocate for that industry, which employs about 12,000 people and contributes $1 billion to the Australian economy. That has to be recognised, particularly in Northern Australia.

So I welcome the motion. I hope the committee does good work and I hope the member for Leichhardt actually backs it up with money into the portfolio areas I have referred to.

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