Susan McDonald (Queensland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Resources) Share this | Hansard source

The wealth that's created from northern Australia—11 per cent of the nation's GDP, you'll be impressed to hear, Senator Scarr, from only three per cent of the population living in the north. Not only did they axe the committee on northern Australia; they axed the Office of Northern Australia. They've melded that into some other part of the department, never to be seen again. They've axed the modern manufacturing initiatives that we were rolling forward. They've frozen the Hells Gate Dam; it will be death by consultant to that project. They're delivering uncertainty on the future of mining and resources in the north. Northern Australia is being short-changed by a short-sighted Labor government.

This part of the country has the most opportunity for irrigated agriculture, the critical development for food security both for Australians and our region. We have the resources, critical minerals and rare earths that allow Australia to take part in the new economy that we have been talking about. And most importantly—the most important thing that we do is that we take advantage and give opportunity to the 1.3 million people speaking in the north and living in the north. We give opportunity and, as Senator McCarthy just described, meaningful work, purposeful work and connection, and we can only do that by developing the very part of the country where those people live.

Under the previous government, we had committed $6.2 billion to developing the northern Australia agenda and all 51 measures under the first five years of the 20-year Our north, our future white paper on developing the north. I can't go on without acknowledging the work of a member in the other place, Mr Warren Entsch—the work that he did on that very bipartisan northern Australia committee as they examined opportunities for the north, for the people, the industries and the resources. We committed $189.6 million to developing northern Australia. That included $9.3 million to pilot the regions of growth. You cannot talk about 51 per cent of the nation without identifying the areas that can best be targeted, that can be divided up, and allow us to truly make change, to make those investments worthwhile and sticky.

There was $68.5 million for mobiles and digital connectivity. We extended the northern Australia infrastructure fund from $5 billion to $7 billion, and I will be holding this government to account that they do not axe any more of the funding that goes into this critically important part of the country. We developed the priority regional master plans—Mount Isa to Townsville, Beetaloo Basin to Katherine to Darwin, Broome to Kununurra to Darwin, and the next priority region-of-growth corridor is Cairns to Gladstone.

As I went across northern Australia consulting with stakeholders—with the councils, local community groups, the RDAs and businesses—the passion and the intention that people had to commit into the north was fascinating to see. Yet the first action, day one, of this government, was to completely abolish the northern Australia agenda. Infrastructure, roads and water: this is a long-term commitment to build roads and to seal roads into northern Australia. Did you know that there are still roads in the north that not only are not sealed but are dirt and which are cut off for five months of the year? That is unacceptable in a part of the country where, if a road goes out for a day, it is a matter of mass inconvenience. Yet that is what northern Australians live with, at the same time as delivering 11 per cent of the GDP of the country.

We have invested $700 million for 38 projects for beef roads in northern Australia and 31 investment decisions under the NAIF for $3.4 billion in northern infrastructure investments. I could go on with the specifics of the projects, but I want to touch on the Outback Way, a critical piece of infrastructure that connects Winton to Laverton in Western Australia. Did you know that there is only one sealed road connecting Queensland to the Northern Territory and the Northern Territory to Western Australia? We have been plugging away at that for the last 10 years, and yet yesterday Labor pulled the rug out from under the feet of northern Australians by removing the focus, the competition, that we need to continue investing in the north. The Savannah Way, which joins up the Top End of the country, the Burke Developmental Road and the Peninsula Developmental Road are all critical pieces of infrastructure.

We committed $7.5 billion to the National Water Grid for northern Australia infrastructure and resource assessment projects and $18.9 million for five northern Australia water projects through the Water Grid Connections Funding Pathway. What will happen to those now? Last week I was in the Bowen region. Most of Australia's tomatoes come from the Bowen region during the winter months. Huge numbers of those tomatoes have been wiped out due to the unseasonable rain events. Where are we going to grow our crops if not in northern Australia during the winter months? We had money for the Hells Gate dam business case and for the Urannah dam business case and approvals. I have already touched on the blackspot program and the Regional Connectivity Program. All of these are now in question. Soon after the election campaign, I speculated that we had seen the sun set on the northern Australia agenda, and I remain completely worried that this is the end.