Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

The north of our country is cattle country. It is the heart of our cattle industry. Almost 45 per cent of our national herd has its home in northern Australia. The development of that industry is integral to the government's broader northern Australia development agenda—to grow agriculture in our north. Most of that cattle industry in the north, because of the state of pastures, is often breeding or not particularly strong fattening country. But what we would like to achieve with our investments in water and agricultural land is to provide the opportunities for beef producers to intensify their production, to make sure that they can turn off more cattle, and turning off more cattle means more money, and more money means more opportunity; it means more jobs; it means more people in the north. It will be a great thing for Northern Australia if we can get the support to develop the water resources that we have there, and the government has the opportunity to do that through its $6 billion northern Australia development agenda.