Ewen Jones (Herbert, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

When Treasurer Joe Hockey announced on budget night that there would be a $5 billion concessional loan program to bring projects from ideas to reality for Northern Australia, it was all I could do not to run from my seat and hug him—throw my arms around him in thanks. Let me bring this into context for you. We have been hearing stories about the government developing the north for so long, it has almost become fable. The brigadier of Townsville's 3rd Brigade, Roger Noble, recently sent me a photograph and speech from a collection at Lavarack Barracks. It was a photograph of the Prime Minister, Harold Holt, announcing the commissioning of Lavarack Barracks. It is a landmark day in Townsville's history. Prime Minister Holt's speech was beautifully typed and extolled his government's wish to finally get on with developing the north, our next frontier. That was nearly 50 years ago.

He was followed as Prime Minister by Jack McEwen, John Gordon, William McMahon, Gough Whitlam, Malcolm Fraser, Bob Hawke, Paul Keating, John Howard, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd again. They all did their best around the different parts of the north of the country, but none had a coordinated plan. To be charitable, the Asian economies were not the engine room of the world's economy during their time, but they all made noises about developing the north. Nearly 50 years on and after 50 years of chatter no wonder there are some who just do not believe that we will ever be taken seriously. I understand their mindset, but now we have reasons and I have available capital to state that things are different now.

Treasurer Joe Hockey came to Townsville last week. He gave a brilliant presentation on the budget and the motivations behind the different measures. He put up a slide, and it was the best slide I have seen in a long time. He said that there are now three time zones around the world. There is the European time zone, there is America's time zone and there is the Asian time zone. We are right here in the Asian time zone. They sit just above us, with their emerging economies and their people needing goods and services, and we are right there in that zone. Treasurer Hockey went on to state the fact that, while mining is a massive earner for exports, it only represents about 10 per cent of our economy. The largest portion of our economy is the services sector, contributing around 70 per cent of our overall economy. Yet this massive part of Australia represents only 17 per cent of our exports.

This the exact thing, making our services sector more export orientated, which will be required by our neighbours as their economies expand and their quality of life grows. Treasurer Hockey said that it is trade in these services which will see us continue to grow and become an even more outward-looking country. Northern Australia, and Townsville, from my perspective, will be right there. How big could this get? Andrew Robb spoke in Townville just before the 2013 election. He stated then that the tropical world, the world between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Tropic of Cancer, had about 600 million people who would be considered consumer or middle class. By 2035, that number of middle class people is expected to expand to 3.6 billion people. We do not have to have it all. What we have to do is provide goods, services and quality product to that niche market. The $5 billion concessional loan program will be the catalyst for our awakening in the nation's consciousness and delivery of the long talked about potential.

It is important to note that this facility will not take the place of the existing infrastructure and future infrastructure needs provided by government. This is on top of everything else. Our $6.5 billion commitment to the Bruce Highway, for example, still goes ahead over those 10 years. But we have to get going and identify the projects that will develop the North. This is why I was so pleased with the way the facility was announced. The Prime Minister and the Treasurer have purposefully been non-prescriptive in this facility's application process. We want to see what is out there. The days of Canberra telling the North what to do and what is good for us are past. This facility will allow us to put forward the things we believe in and the things we will deliver for all of Australia, and to structure the finance to make it happen.

This is not just good for Townsville and North Queensland or even Northern Australia. This is good for Australia—all of Australia. We must work with our councils, chambers of commerce and our economic drivers to ensure that we get the right mix. I feel for councillors in this process, and my mayor, Jenny Hill, has asked for more detail about how the fund will work. She is doing all the heavy lifting for my region's councils. It is a valid question and request, because it goes to the mindset that we must confront. Local governments have been subjected to more and massive cost-shifting by state governments of all political persuasions over the last 10 to 15 years. Madam Deputy Speaker Prentice, you will know all about that. This often happens without consultation and certainly without compensation. The end result is that the primary objective of local government is simply not to go broke. They cannot focus on 10 to 15 years into the future, or even to the end of their terms. They are focused so tightly on the here and the now that they need assistance in getting their heads around what is possible and achievable. We as a government must be prepared to go to our councils and assist them with the resources to reach out and raise their eyes to the horizon.

Minister Robb challenged my councillors, in this building, to look up and dream big. If we get the big projects the little ones will happen as a matter of course. That may be so, but when you have been belted by state government and the like, you tend to focus on the little things and not the visionary things. We need to understand this and work with them. They have the answers and the people in their communities who can do this. We need to support them.

My government released the intergenerational report and identified the small business sector as the primary driver of our employment and economic prosperity into the future. My wife said to our children over dinner recently that the jobs of the future have not even been thought of yet. Just think about that. It is not that they do not exist yet, it is just that the concept of what the jobs will be has not even been thought of.

We are on the cusp of delivering for our country into the future, and we have to grab it with both hands. It will be small business that will need the flexibility and innovation to progress. It will be small business that thinks about the hole in the market or the supply chain and goes for it—that has a go. What we have to do as a parliament and as federal, state and local governments is get out of the way and let small business have their head.

But what would be better is customers who value them. I will continue to advocate for changes to the tender system and process to allow government tenders and the money they bring to our communities to wash through our economy more than once. We must do all we can to show support for the local businesses that make up our regional communities. We must protect the taxpayer, but we must get a better mix in the approval process.

This is also where my government's decision to have a fair dinkum tax discussion and a good hard look at our Federation makes a great deal of sense to me. If you speak to small-business people, the notion of payroll tax and stamp duty is constantly raised. It is not really the fault of the state governments that they levy these taxes, but if we are to have a competitive taxation regime into the 21st century we must look at how taxes are raised, both state and federal, and at the errors of duplication across the Federation. These two white papers should be open and fearless in their discussion.

Everyone on this side of the House knows that government does not create wealth or jobs. What government does is set the scene for commercial engagement. We can make it onerous and restrictive or we can step back and support these people as they develop and grow. To that end, I have a couple of suggestions that my government can do to assist. If we are to develop the north we need to get water and energy sorted out from the beginning. Nothing happens without them.

With energy in my region, my mayor sees the opportunity for Townsville should the gas pipeline from Tennant Creek reach Mount Isa. I am constantly hearing from small and medium enterprises that we must engage again in secondary processing. The cost of iron ore has come down, the cost of coal has come down, and we must provide low cost energy and produce the goods here. Ideas like bringing the pipeline all the way to Townsville are worthy of consideration and support. To that end, I have asked Minister Macfarlane to come to Townsville to discuss our energy needs. When the Darling mine commences, they will investigate the possibility of using the overburden to produce coal-fired electricity for their mine. Can we increase the capacity of that power station and add to that the poles and wires and bring coal-fired base-load energy all the way to Townsville? It is surely worthy of consideration.

If you speak to people like Graham Pollock from SMEC Engineering, he says that we will get the best energy result, meaning the lowest possible competitive prices, by producing a mosaic of power options and suppliers. Can this $5 billion be used to bring hydro to Tully in the Burdekin, together with ethanol from Ingham and wind and solar from Richmond, to finally provide a consistent base-load energy to facilitate our emerging energy needs? Can the science we will run alongside these become an economic driver for our country as well? Can the MBD algae project be used via a direct action mechanism to lower emissions and produce quality fibre, food and fuel? We need to find out.

Science must be at the core of our northern development. Organisations such as the Australian Institute of Marine Science and CSIRO must be used not only to give our baseline economic and environmental exposures, but they can also be used as honest brokers to survey before, during and after monitoring of the effects of any development. I have always said that, no matter what we do, it impacts on our environment. It is how we manage these impacts which is the important part. We must back our scientists.

Townsville's James Cook University and the Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine will drive research and discovery north into the tropics. By 2050, 70 per cent of the world's children will live in the tropical world and we will have the only Western university in the world with this brilliant facility aimed fairly and squarely at this tropical world in their time zone. This means that we will be tackling epidemic diseases such as drug resistant TB, malaria and dengue. We must also work hard on the lifestyle problems being faced in the tropical world. Diabetes type 2 has become a major killer of the people in the tropical world. My city and university are perfectly placed to deliver into this space.

Defence will always play a major role in my city and region. Lavarack Barracks has already featured in my speech so far. The thought that has gone into developing our redeployable capability over many governments is to be commended. Similarly, the work that has gone into readying 2RAR is second to none. The way our amphibious regiment will interact with the Navy's magnificent LSD ship is amazing. But we will need to ensure that the RAAF is a vital part of our interoperability. By deploying a squadron on the new C-27J aircraft, the RAAF will be able to fully participate in the training which will be so vital for our future defence. Getting the P-8s to Townsville so that our border security can be properly supported will be another string to the RAAF's capability redevelopment in Townsville.

I truly believe that the future of Army aviation lies in Townsville. The skies above the Darling Downs are becoming cluttered and a new home for the Army's helicopter fleet and training should move to Townsville. We have an airport and an airfield which can expand to housing. We have a city of Townsville which will welcome them. We have a private sector which will work with and support them and grow our businesses internationally. By backing Townsville, everyone wins.

I am hugely energised by our budget. The Treasurer, Joe Hockey, has delivered what Andrew Roberts put to the world. We are perfectly placed to capitalise on the work done by this government. I have done nearly 15 minutes on this speech and I could go for another hour and a half on what this budget has done for my community. We are perfectly placed to capitalise on the work done by this government. We must always remember that countries are made up of people and that social infrastructure is every bit as important as a port or a pipeline. But as the Treasurer and the Minister for Trade and Investment have said, if we lift our eyes and look to the bigger picture we will achieve a very bright future for ourselves and our children. It is our time to have a go. I thank the House.

Debate adjourned.

F ederation Chamber adjourned at 19 : 00

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