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

Kakadu National Park is one of the world's great and unique gifts; indeed, it is an incredible creation. Kakadu helps underpin the visitor economy and tourism sector across northern Australia. Whilst the brand-name of Kakadu is well known—it appeals to international visitors especially; they are the highest spenders and they are more likely than Australians to book cultural experiences—the number of visitors has been declining steadily since the 1980s. We had an estimated high of 150,000 visitors per year, which has dropped dramatically in recent years to about 30,000 visitors per annum now.

There are a number of reasons for this but it cannot be denied that consecutive years of underfunding and poor decision-making by the federal government around Kakadu has severely impacted the tourism sector. According to Tourism Top End general manager Glen Hingley the situation is becoming worse. Decisions are being made by the federal body responsible without genuine consideration for the effect it has on tourism. Recently Mr Hingley wrote to the Prime Minister, the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment and the Minister for the Environment outlining the concerns of the tourism industry in the Northern Territory. He made a number of points and raised a number of suggestions on how the federal government can better manage Kakadu. After all, it being a national park, it is the responsibility of the federal government.

But instead of working constructively with the Territory tourism sector to address their concerns the responsible minister, Minister Ley, decided to respond with contempt and accused Top End Tourism of grandstanding. She said their concerns were focused more on politics than outcomes. That's an absolute disgrace. Instead of engaging with the sector and addressing their concerns as a competent minister would do, the minister had the audacity to claim that the federal coalition government is getting on with the job. What rubbish! We are eight weeks away from the start of the Northern Territory tourism season and the tourism sector of the Northern Territory has no certainty that major tourism sites within Kakadu will open. When they ask the federal minister responsible for Kakadu a reasonable question, they deserve to be treated with respect; they deserve fairness. To accuse Tourism Top End of grandstanding, when they are simply standing up for their members, is a slap in the face to each of the 520 members that they represent.

And it's not just the industry that the minister has disrespected; Territorians themselves deserve to know if they will be able to access Gunlom or Jim Jim Falls. They have the right to know whether their children will be able to deserve Kakadu for years to come. They deserve to know whether this government is properly managing a vital national asset that sits in our wonderful Top End backyard.

During the federal election both parties committed funding towards improving Kakadu. We on this side committed $220 million over five years, while those opposite promised slightly less, $216 million, over 10 years. Labor consulted with industry, traditional owners, the Northern Territory government and other stakeholders when we arrived at our commitment. It is hard to gauge whether those opposite consulted. If they had consulted, they would have been told that funds for Kakadu are needed now—not in 10 years time, not budgeted out on the never-never. According to the government's figures released during estimates, by the end of this financial year, the second year of their commitment, the government will have spent only $10 million of the $216 million they promised. That is less than five per cent of what was promised all up. Admittedly this is more than the one per cent that is being utilised for projects in the Territory under the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility—five per cent is better than one per cent—but it is not good enough at all.

You can't use your bushfires or the coronavirus as a shield for your government's incompetence. Kakadu has been crying out for investment for the last six years—six years that those opposite have been responsible—so I appeal to the Prime Minister and to the minister responsible, Minister Ley, to properly invest in Kakadu after six years of neglect. It might even be the Prime Minister's greatest marketing move ever, to actually do something that he said he would do, and it will go a long way towards us forgiving him for the Lara Bingle tourism campaign.

To the Prime Minister and Minister Ley, I would say that it's high time they take the aspirations of the Territory tourism industry seriously. To Minister Ley I would say that instead of snarky responses in the media, try engaging with them constructively. And when they ask you to help make their sector more secure, as they have been for six years, then it's probably a pretty good idea to listen to them and to work with them in a professional manner, rather than using a bit of megaphone diplomacy through the NT News. After all, national parks are a federal responsibility. Those opposite in the federal government could pretend that Kakadu National Park is a pool near the Sydney Harbour Bridge or a rowing club or a yacht club if they want to pork barrel it a bit, but some real funding for a national asset, for a world famous icon in Australia—that is, the Kakadu National Park—would be good.

In the time I've got left, I'd like to talk about an issue that the government has been ignored for too long. The government has been told numerous times that the Northern Territory has the highest proportion of Aboriginal Australians per capita, in fact they make up more than 30 per cent of the Northern Territory's population. The Australian Electoral Commission's records show that nearly one-third of Aboriginal Australians are not enrolled to vote, so talk about industrial disenfranchisement of Aboriginal Australians in this country. Nearly one-third of Aboriginal Territorians are not enrolled to vote.

You would think that a competent government would do something about that. The Australian Electoral Commission is responsible for maintaining the Northern Territory electoral roll; however, and you may have heard me speak about this in the past, the current federal government downsized the Australian Electoral Commission's office in Darwin from 15 employees to three. Now, I don't know; to me that doesn't seem like a good way to address under-enrolment in the Northern Territory.

One of the results from a temporary decline in the Territory's population and this under-enrolment is that the Northern Territory may lose a seat at the next federal election because we may fall below the 1.5 quota. Let's be clear: the only reason why the Northern Territory would lose a seat is because it does not have a constitutional guarantee of at least five members in the House of Representatives, as the states do. Because we are a territory, people in the Northern Territory will be potentially deprived of a member and a voice in the nation's parliament, and I think all reasonable-thinking people in this place would agree that that isn't fair, that it's not right. In fact, I've talked to several people on the other side of the House and they agree that it would be wrong. It would be morally wrong; it would be a dereliction of duty of any Prime Minister to take away a representative in this place, whatever side of the House that person came from, when we have so many challenges in the Northern Territory and we have so many people who aren't even enrolled to vote. We need to have a concerted effort to make sure that people in the Territory have the same opportunities and are part of the electoral process in our country.

Losing a voice for the Territory in this national parliament will not help anyone and, as some people from the opposite side agree, it would be unconscionable. I'm committed to working with the government, the crossbench and colleagues, because, if we're serious about developing northern Australia, the last thing we need is less representation for northern Australia in this place. We're serious about it. We need to make sure that the Territory is properly represented in this place, and I ask all members to join us in that endeavour.