Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I look forward to making my contribution to the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility Bill 2016, but before I do—and it is not very often Senator Macdonald and I are on the same team, agreeing on too much in this building, let alone outside it—I too agree that, when you listen to the contribution coming from Senator Waters and the Greens, it does not matter what it is but they have this warped view of the world that we can just do away with thousands and thousands of jobs in Australia and thousands of opportunities for enterprise to employ people.

We in this building all know that climate change is a prickly issue and has been for a number of years, but the Greens relentlessly talk down every opportunity for Australian jobs. You can check my first speech in this place; it was about how we have to leave it better than we found it. There is no argument about that. We have seen some ridiculous scare campaigns coming from the other side of the chamber about climate change and how it is all bulldust, it is all made up and it does not happen. It is true that it is there. But for the Greens to come in here and absolutely attack every opportunity for employment beggars belief. It would be all right if they had an alternative thought or alternative plan, but they have no alternative plan. I will get to the bill, but this has to be cleared up.

Acting Deputy President Gallacher, on Thursday last week I was at a committee hearing, as you were, and we were looking at opportunities for oil and gas exploration in the Great Australian Bight. Oil and gas exploration in this nation is not new; we have been doing it for 50-odd years. In my home state of Western Australia we are damn good at it. We have had a few unfortunate situations with spills, which are just disastrous, but we have got to learn from those spills and make sure they do not happen again. For crying out loud, we kill thousands of Australians on our roads every year, but we do not stop driving cars.

I am not trying to dumb down the argument, but this is no different from the conversation I heard the other day when we had witnesses in front of us, particularly from the Conservation Council of South Australia. Those people are not even on the same planet. They made it very clear: they don't give a darn. Nothing will appease the South Australian conservation council and whoever the other one was—another environmental mob. Senator Edwards was saying, 'How can we take in your concerns to make sure we have covered every angle to make sure this exploration is safe and provides the environmental lobby with the greatest assurance that we are doing our best while adding value to Australia and creating Australian job opportunities?' Both the council and the other mob, who I cannot remember, but it will come to me—a wildlife mob or something—made it very clear that it does not matter. Nothing is going to appease them. They do not want to see any jobs created in South Australia through oil or gas. We did not even talk about fracking or shale gas.

I wanted to clear that up. It really does irk me that the Greens act as if they are the only ones with concerns for the environment, which is just absurd. We all have concerns for the environment. They do not own the environmental argument. For crying out loud, as if all of us who have kids and grandkids want to blow the planet up?

I want to talk about this bill. This bill has had a few starts and stops on its journey. To make it very clear: the Labor Party has supported the main crux of this bill from day one. The Labor Party understands as much as the government the importance of northern Australia to our nation, to our GDP and to all opportunities. We also understand what a fantastic part of the world it is. No-one would be brave enough—I take that back; I am completely misleading the Senate. There are a number of people here who fully respect those who live in northern Australia. It is their part of the world, and we know that. Nothing infuriates northern Australians more than southern Australians coming in and telling them what they need to do and what they have done wrong.

Mr Acting Deputy President, you are a classic example. For 20-odd years in the Northern Territory you lived, worked and brought up your family. In fact, I know your family still resides in the Northern Territory with their children and I also know that you coached a very young Senator Peris. She was not a senator then; she was young Nova running around a hockey field. So your knowledge of the north is unquestionable. When we hear from the northerners about what they want, we need to take notice, we need to listen and we need to work with them. They understand it. It is not only those who have adopted the north as their home now but those who have been there for generations—and our traditional owners, of course.

What made this bill very interesting was the experts who popped their heads up in the southern states. I never lived in the north. I cut my teeth as a young truck driver running into the north at the age of 19 until the ripe old age of 31, when I hung up my riding boots. It is well known in this building that my family is three generations of truckies running into the north. I have been the duty senator for the great seats of O'Connor and Durack when it was called Kalgoorlie for all those years and I still venture into the north and annoy the living daylights out of the locals up there, because I enjoy being in that part of the world.

But the problem that we have, unfortunately, is that a lot of people in this bubble down here in Canberra want to be experts in the North. That is fantastic—that is great—but you are not an expert in the North when you think between May and September, 'I might just pop across the Nullarbor and have a little Senate hearing or something in Broome, so let's jump on the pointy end of a Qantas flight, sit up there in business class for two hours and 20 minutes, get into Broome, do the usual suspects, meet with the shire and a few other people—whoever's around—and then go to Cable Beach and watch the sun go down.' The next day, they leave the North and they are an expert in Broome, the Kimberley and everything in between. I have no doubt that that would probably happen in beautiful places like Cairns and Darwin.

I want to acknowledge the work of the committee. I want to acknowledge the work of a very dear friend of mine, the member for Perth, Alannah MacTiernan. Those of us who know and love and have worked with Alannah all these years know that Alannah does not give up very easily when she has got hold of a bone. The reason I say that is that the map that was put out to define what is northern Australia said the whole Northern Territory is northern Australia. In Queensland it was—I have it here and I will get it right; I will use the actual words—they used the Tropic of Capricorn, but they added in a number of areas between the tropic and the 26th parallel, which is below the tropic, so it would include the big mining town of Gladstone in Queensland—and good luck to Gladstone. That is fantastic. Gladstone has a population of 32,000 people. But, you see, on the western side we also have a couple of towns that are between the Tropic of Capricorn and the 26th parallel. How do I know this? Because, as I said earlier, I did some quick sums and I worked it out from the years I was running north-west, into the North—into the Pilbara, the Kimberley and Darwin. There is a sign just past the Overlander Roadhouse, in between Wooramel and Carnarvon, and it says, 'Welcome to the North-West—26th parallel.' With some very quick sums, I worked out that I had crossed that line 832 times, and that is not made up; that is running up north twice a week, going over that, and that is taking out three years when I did penance in the Goldfields. Mind you, that was not bad either. I made a good dollar out there.

So, when you talk about the North-West for us in Australia and you look above the 26th parallel, we include a number of towns there. One is Carnarvon. None of us here are strangers to Carnarvon, and, if you are a stranger to Carnarvon, get up there and have a look around. It is a magnificent part of the West. Carnarvon is renowned for its agriculture area. Queenslanders put up a good fight, because they say they are the centre of banana growing. Yes, that is true. There is no argument about that: Queensland leads. But in WA—it sounds insignificant, but it is not—we have about three per cent, I think, of the banana market. When you were getting whacked around by cyclones, fortunately we were not, and we were still able to supply bananas. We can supply tomatoes and all sorts of fruit and vegies. It is irrigated and it keeps that town alive. But it is not only agriculture. Carnarvon has a very active fishing industry, whether it be prawns, scallops or wet liners. It is all there in Carnarvon. So Carnarvon plays a very important role. There is another town further south. As the seagull flies, I think it is only about 100 kay at the most, but by road it is nearly 300 down to a place called Denham, which is the town on Shark Bay. It has similar tourism and fishing.

These towns, well known in the North-West, were excluded from the government's map of what would fall into the area of northern Australia which could access this $5 billion pot of money to borrow and develop. So it certainly gave us West Aussies grief. It gave Alannah MacTiernan grief and, as I have said, nothing will stop Alannah: when freight train Alannah is on the line and running, look out. Thankfully, she grabbed hold of it, but there is a little bit of history. You see, the government has said that the facility bill will establish the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility and address gaps in infrastructure finance and marketing for northern Australia. Great! The facility was announced back in the government's 2015-16 budget—tremendous! We knew that. The government also said that it is going to complement the public sector investment in economic infrastructure that otherwise would not be built, or would not be built for some time. It is proposed that the financial assistance will be delivered in partnership with state and territory governments, as it should be. The facility will operate in partnership with other financiers, filling key gaps in the infrastructure financing market for northern Australia but supplementing private lending for projects that produce significant benefits to the region. Fantastic!

The great concern, as I said, was that the West would miss out in terms of Carnarvon and Denham on Shark Bay, which are now included. But, you see, it was a struggle to get there, and it was only today that I was happy to receive a phone call from Alannah, the member for Perth, who had got it from the minister for northern Australia, Mr Frydenberg, that the government had actually worked out that they had made a fundamental mistake. It just has to be put into context. It has taken till today. Consultations started last year. The member for Durack, Ms Price, was being hammered by the local shires up there. I know, because they wrote to all of us. Senator Smith, a government senator from Western Australia, got up, and I was listening to him; he was actually reading the letter and referring to who wrote to him from where. They had got so frustrated. Last week I received a phone call from the President of the Shire of Carnarvon, Karl Brandenburg. I had not spoken to Karl for years, and I knew Karl long before he was the shire president. Out of absolute frustration, they had gone through all the shires with the member for Durack and had no sensible outcome and no sensible negotiation—nothing. So she had tried to go through her side of government, and they had knocked her back.

I am saying it right here and right now, very clearly: if it were not for the member for Perth, it would have gone through to the keeper. The good folk in Carnarvon—5,700 of them, I think there are—and Denham would have been excluded—tough; bad luck—even though on the other side of Australia the decision had moved across to incorporate Gladstone, for all the reasons why, I have pointed out, Carnarvon should be incorporated. So what message would that have sent to the people of Carnarvon? Thankfully, some common sense has come through.

I was also written to by the—gee whiz! What is his title? He is a local National member for the North there, Vince Catania. Even he was showing absolute frustration. He could not get it through to the government side over here, where they are in a coalition. For all intents and purposes, they are in a coalition in WA. It is only at election time they fall out of love, but they are always in a coalition. It was just absolutely ridiculous and frustrating, I have to say, because how can you face West Australians in Carnavan or Shark Bay or Devon and say, 'You are not part of the north-west?' Anyway, we will see where this all takes us.

There are a couple of other parts of the bill that I have a few little questions and concerns about. I would be interested to see how they fall out. The bill talks about putting together a board—whoever that board will be—and that is fine. There is a bit of work to do but I would urge the government to try and break away from the traditional mode of doing work around here of just putting your mates on it and actually put some hard thought into who would be the best representatives of the regions. One can only think that there would be people lined up for miles. There would be experts in the north and there would be experts in all parts of those states, whether it be Queensland, Northern Territory or Western Australia, but I would strongly urge the government to resist the desire to put ex-politicians on the board because they have to look after a mate or someone who has been a good donor to them.

I want to know from the government what consultation or investment opportunity through this fund will Indigenous enterprises get? I am a stickler for giving Aboriginal people not a token job to sell a few dot paintings on the side of the road or a boomerang, which is sadly what a lot of the jobs offered to them are, but meaningful enterprise for Aboriginal businesses. Believe me—I will talk from WA's point of view—there are some magnificently progressive Aboriginal leaders in the Kimberley in the west of the Kimberley and in the east of the Kimberley who have dreams and visions for their people that us whitefellas would not even think about. They are just bursting to have the opportunity, not just to be pampered to and given a few bob here or there but actual opportunity for enterprise, not just, 'Here is a token job; we will make you a cleaner or you can be a bus driver.' I do not know what conversations have been had there. I looked through the explanatory memorandum and could not see it anywhere.

I also strongly urge that on the board there be Aboriginal people. Why not? Why wouldn't we? Aboriginal people, as I said, have got some fantastic ideas. That is where they live, that is where they were born, that is where their families have lived for thousands and thousands of years and do not think for one minute that they do not want to progress themselves. They want to see their kids advance. I do not see that. I might be jumping the gun, and I think Senator Carnavan may be able to help me out and explain that during a break, but I hope that that is foremost in the government's mind as well.

I notice Senator Macdonald announced a $600 million road or something like that—there must be an election in the air. I do not know where that one fell out of but if there is an election and those opposite are promising $600 million of roads into the north then that is fantastic—as long as they do not fall for the stupidity of the department on the bridge building plans or initiatives as at the last round of estimates. There was X amount of millions of dollars for bridges and former Senator Joe Bullock quizzed the department on who was chosen. He asked what was the criteria for finding out who was going to get a bridge? There was no criteria; they just picked a few. They sat in Canberra here and might have thrown darts around the board. I do not know what they did; they could not tell us. So if there is $600 million for roads, it would be nice to know where they are going to be. We will find out, I am sure, between now and 2 July.

I also want to talk about, in the short time that is left for me, the $100 million beef road project. I am talking to you now as a truckie and, let me tell you, every time a road gets bituminised in the north or every time a road gets some culverts or every time a road gets a bridge, it is welcomed. As was said earlier by previous speakers, when it rains out there, it rains—let’s not get that wrong. I know because I have spent many days stuck on the side of the road when it was still dirt between Port Hedland and Broome, still dirt between Fitzroy and Halls Creek and then single lane. It was not all weather like it is now. Every season we were stuck there.

I asked at Senate estimates which beef roads. I asked, 'What are your plans? Is it blacktop you are going to put down with that $100 million? Is it bridges? Is it culverts? Is it widening?' No-one could tell me. The department had no idea, no answers. As was said earlier on, this northern Australia white paper is not new. Senator Heffernan was working on the north when I first came in here in the Howard years. Then it just disappeared and fell apart. If you make an announcement saying you are going to spend $100 million on taxpayers' money on a beef road, wouldn't you think someone would have a plan? Where did the $100 million come from? Were they sitting around in the 'monkey pod' and just tossed-up a number somewhere? How did those opposite come to $100 million ? I ask this question because when you are building roads in the Top End, as the northerners know, there is a window of time when you can work on those roads. Then there is the wet season. I have seen roads destroyed in one wet season. It only takes one road train to go through for half a kilometre or a kilometre and it is just completely muck when it is dirt.

There is a number of questions to be asked and there is a number of questions to be answered. I do show complete frustration when governments love to pluck figures. It amazes me that it always comes to a round figure. How? Does that $100 million go to the road—this goes for any government initiative—or are there white hands in the business all the way through, taking a little bit here and a little bit there or getting a consultancy? I thought it was more than fair, on behalf of northerners, to tell me where these roads are and what is going to be built. Sadly—I should not sound depressed and I should not sound surprised—I got no answers.

As we venture into the next eight or nine weeks, where I am sure there will be a little bit of activity around the nation, if someone else can ask the questions and find out, great. On saying that, we now know the amendments have come through so Carnavan and Shark Bay are in—I am rapt. I want to congratulate the member for Perth, Alannah MacTiernan, for her fierce work on this. On behalf of the northerners, I congratulate her. I congratulate the government for actually coming to their senses at the last minute—and thankfully they did. Obviously the pressure was brought upon them to come to their senses to include two very important towns in WA. I support the bill.