George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

After that partisan contribution, I am not sure why but I will extend the courtesy to the other side of letting them know that I am only going to be speaking for five minutes. I think the member for Blair is here to speak next. I am doing that courtesy to ensure that he's ready for that.

In many ways northern Australia can be looked upon as our nation's frontier land, the vast and beautiful Top End which makes up 40 per cent of our country's land mass and yet it is home to just five per cent of the population. In terms of representation in this House, of 151 members of parliament just eight can raise their voices in this place to celebrate the worth of the north and champion its causes. In the other place there are just five senators who are actually based in northern Australia. I am very proud to say three of those five are Nationals: Senator Canavan, Senator McDonald and Senator McMahon. That's a total of 14 MPs and senators out of a total of 229 representatives and senators in this place who can actually stick their hand up for close to a third of our nation's potential. Yes, we are few in number but we have loud voices. It was only when the Liberal-National coalition came to government in 2013 that serious work began on further investigating the potential of the north and to find ways to invest in that potential.

The Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility was a recommendation of the white paper for developing northern Australia. It set out a plan to unlock the vast economic potential of the region, as we have barely scratched the surface in untapping the wealth in terms of mineral resources, in terms of food production, in terms of water storage and in terms of tourism development. The Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility provides financing by means of low-interest loans. Since its commencement in July 2016 the NAIF, despite all that's been said in this place, has actually made a big impact—$2.8 billion in investment commitments, forecast to support 8,000 jobs and generate around $6.6 billion in economic impact for northern Australia.

While much has been achieved, despite the naysayers, there is more to do. I acknowledge that. I have advocated for a long, long time, probably since the inception of the NAIF, for the changes that are being announced today to be made. I and many project proponents have felt frustrated by lending requirements from the NAIF being dragged through state government and territory government processes and the time it took to get through those processes and the restriction of only funding construction. The changes contained in this amendment essentially mean that the NAIF will fund more job-creating projects in the north because the NAIF will be able to provide more and not just in finance. On finance there is a cap of $50 million per project and no more than a 50 per cent share. So the NAIF, or essentially taxpayers, won't have a controlling interest. That is fantastic news. I can think of a number of big job-creating projects that could benefit from this: the Urannah Dam project, the Bowen Marine Centre of Excellence project, the Whitsunday Skyway tourism experience project and the Collinsville coal-fired power station project.

This amendment will expand eligibility. The NAIF was previously restricted to funding construction works only. This expansion will allow the NAIF to finance projects involving equipment purchases for leasing, training and the expansion of existing business operations. The definition of 'public benefit' is also going to be expanded to take into account factors, such as jobs—jobs being the most important thing in the north—regional income, opportunity for local suppliers, opportunity for Indigenous businesses and opportunity for communities.

The NAIF will have an increased risk appetite, which is very important given the situation we are now in as we recover from the effects of the pandemic. We should be providing the NAIF with more flexibility to support, yes, riskier projects but bolder projects, with the potential to deliver significant economic benefit in the north. The amendment includes removing the prohibition against the Commonwealth assuming the majority of risk in any project.

Another change I am pleased to see is faster lending. The NAIF will have the option to now lend directly to project proponents rather than having those loans made through states that have added, sadly, to the length of time it's taken for money to get out the door. That'll simplify the lending process and reduce the red tape burden for the project proponents. I'm also pleased to see changes to allow the NAIF to collaborate with other lending institutions to support smaller projects between $1 million and $10 million. I am already in discussions on a significant farming operation in the Burdekin about accessing some of this lower, smaller finance to enable a unique glasshouse system of horticulture to be set up. We are going to explore that further.

I've heard the criticisms from the previous speaker, the member for Ballarat, as someone from New South Wales who probably doesn't know too much about the north—actually she's from Victoria; even worse than what I thought, coming from Victoria! There's not too much actually about the north that she knows, but I just wonder, given the criticisms that have been put in this place, whether it's understood clearly by the Labor Party that the NAIF can't just go around spraying money at projects that they like. It has to come via applications. Just like banks, such as the NAB, Westpac, ANZ or CBA. They can't just turn up to someone's business and say, 'Here's $5 million; we want to invest in this particular project.' That's not how banking works. Someone comes up with an idea. Someone does the work. Someone does the business case. Someone then comes to the bank, in this case the NAIF, and applies for the low-interest loan. These changes will assist in getting that money out the door, because it will make it easier for applications to come forward.

There are quite a number of applications that have gone out. The NAIF has made close to $3 billion investments into projects. A number of those are either in or adjacent to my electorate. In Townsville, we've got the Townsville Airport with $50 million towards an $80 million project, creating 257 jobs. I acknowledge the member for Herbert here, who is a long supporter of that and also a strong supporter of the JCU Technology Innovation Complex, with $96 million to support a project creating 270 jobs. The mining industry is still going strong. There is a pipeline of projects that will require a larger workforce. With this JCU project, we could attract more young students into the region to secure the necessary qualifications to fill the gaps in the resources sector and other sectors that are vitally needed. The JCU have also applied for $46 million for university student accommodation, creating 569 jobs.

The Mater Private Hospital in Townsville has secured $19 million to create a car park as part of the hospital redevelopment, helping locals ensure that they've got greater access to the hospital, with more car parking provision. That creates 14 jobs. We've got the great North Queensland Cowboys—may they long live forever and win a lot more than they have been. The Cowboys are going to roll out a high performance centre. There's a sports medical and allied health service with $20 million investment from the NAIF. It has a total project value of $35 million, creating 213 construction jobs and 58 ongoing operational jobs. This is real stuff.

Just west of Mackay, in Claremont, we've got Signature Beef, in the member for Capricornia's electorate. She's a strong supporter of this project, as am I. They received $24 million in finance to create a beef processing facility out west of Mackay. That's going to create 270 jobs. This is real money out the door, with real jobs being created.

All in all, I'm just talking about North Queensland projects. NAIF investments are creating over 3½ thousand jobs from over $1.3 billion investment, and that is just in Queensland. I know there's far more potential from a number of proponents who have ideas on the table to grow the north. I welcome steps being taken to amend the NAIF so that we can see more players getting the go ahead and more jobs created in the north. Thank you.

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