Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This afternoon I'd just like to place on the record some of the important sectors in my electorate of Darwin and Palmerston in the Top End of Australia, the northern capital of our country; some of the industries; some of the recent discussions that have been had; and, indeed, some of the visits to the north by both government and shadow ministers. I will also make some observations. Before doing that, I want to invite all members of the House to our Facing North event. This is an event to promote Darwin and the Top End—in fact, to promote the Northern Territory—down here in Canberra. It will be held next Wednesday, 13 September. We're going to have a range of Territorians at the event, from Matthew Wright, the Outback Wrangler, to captains of industry in the Top End of Australia, to talk about our important role in the life of our country, the capacity of our industries and the potential for growth into the future.

Like our Western Australian colleagues—and we've heard some of their contributions in the other chamber—we punch above our weight when it comes to the national economy. We are a small population with a large land mass and we look to the Commonwealth not to forget about us, not to disregard us; invest in us and we will produce for the country as we have been.

But there's more potential there. I just want to talk about the devastation that is caused by a loss of population in our northern capital. When we lose Australian Public Service jobs—and we've lost 450 of those since Tony Abbott, the member for Warringah, was the Prime Minister—that really damages our community's economy. We've just found that Charles Darwin University, which is very important to our economy, is going to be slashed by $15 million over the next four years. That means jobs will be lost as well. So we say to ministers when they come up, and we say to the Prime Minister, who, I understand, will be visiting Darwin this weekend: GST is very important for our ability to provide services to Territorians across that vast space, so we do not want to see any changes to the GST distribution or to the horizontal fiscal equalisation, which is so important in making sure that we get a fair go, because, when we get a fair go, we will develop for the good of our country.