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

Yes, an eclipse, Senator Scarr. Thank you; I'll take that. We committed $75 million through the CRC for developing northern Australia. This is thought leadership in the north, into crops, into other projects that are using technology and innovation to create greater food production, to expand the cotton development in Western Australia and for sugar cane products in Queensland.

One of the things I was most proud of was the reappointment of the Indigenous Reference Group. This group, chaired by Mr Colin Saltmere, from Camooweal, is a revelation, with the sorts of practical commitments they have to improving the lot of not just Indigenous Australians but primarily Indigenous northern Australians with real, purposeful, connected work. This cannot happen if you don't have that kind of prioritisation of agenda and focus. I am desperately worried about the one northern Australia representative on the Infrastructure Australia Board. Will that position remain, or will that too be scrubbed as some sort of political rhetoric, as the Labor government goes through and sacks everybody on committees that are in place at the moment? The Indigenous Reference Group has two representatives from each of the states and territories, in addition to the chair. It is talking about really exciting work, and I would be devastated to see that not continue.

We have had record export earnings from our resources sector. We had smashed all previous records, in 2021 and 2022, to bring in $425 billion in resources. It is those royalties and taxes that grow the Australian economy, that secure our energy and secure our national security. It employs, directly, around 280,000 people in Australia and, despite COVID, 40,000 new jobs since the start of the pandemic, all of those being paid at double the rate of most average Australian jobs. This growth trajectory was expected to continue, but, of course, now we have doubt cast over that by the green tail wagging the Labor dog as we see the agenda being set under this new government.

We were committed to securing our gas supply with the strategic basins policy, our gas-fired recovery, the Beetaloo Strategic Basin Plan in the Northern Territory, the North Bowen and Galilee basins plan, and the Cooper and Adavale basins plan—all of these critical resources not just for energy production but also for the manufacture of urea, for AdBlue, critical components for our agriculture and transport industries.

If the thing you have in your hand is not made of steel it's made in a factory made of steel, and we know that coal is critical in the manufacturing of steel. We invested money into carbon capture and storage, modern technology, to allow us to achieve our carbon neutral emissions target by 2050. There's our critical minerals industry, much of which is in northern Australia, the geosciences research plan and exploration plan. We invested $2 billion into a critical minerals facility.

Will this government continue with those works or will that too be cast under the shadow of a brave new government that talks a lot about rhetoric but forgets the practicality of how it actually makes a difference, of how it actually invests in industry that improves Australians' lives, whether it be the high-paid resource salaries, whether it be how that spreads across our nation through royalties and taxes, whether it be our world-leading agricultural industry that feeds not only Australia but a good part of our regional sector?

Northern Australia is a critical part of ensuring that we secure our food security. We hold much of the phosphate reserves and potash from Western Australia. These are all minerals that need to be developed for food security, to secure agricultural supply chains for Australia and for our near neighbours. With the threat of foot-and-mouth and lumpy-skin disease in Indonesia and Bali, we are looking at a food security problem for those people. Sri Lanka is working its way through a catastrophe with the removal of much of the fertilisers in that country. And Indonesia is down to 50 per cent of milk production in East Java. These are our near neighbours who are struggling with food security. They are struggling with disease.

Australia and northern Australia will have to hold our own biosecurity line in that part of the country. Yet what has Labor done? The first action on day one of this parliament was to cancel the northern Australia committee, to remove the office of northern Australia. I call out to the government to reinstate those important tools of government, but, most importantly, I call out to—

An honourable senator interjecting—

I'm sorry, I can't hear you. Would you like to speak next? Would you like the call next?