Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for External Territories) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to address my remarks in this debate around issues relating to northern Australia. In the first instance, I want to talk about farming and horticulture in particular.

You would know that there is often a lot of discussion in this place and elsewhere about the importance of the Ord River, and it has been an important investment in developing northern Australia and there is a lot more to happen there; there is no question about that. But this week we have had in the parliament members of the NT Farmers Association, including their CEO, Shenal Basnayake, and their president, Simon Smith. They represent an interesting group of people in the Northern Territory; horticulturalists who produce from a very well-established vibrant and productive part of my electorate of Lingiari—that is, the Top End part of it.

The greater Darwin horticultural area has a total value of $180 million to $280 million per year, which is quite substantially more than is produced from the Ord—

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