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

I move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

I'm pleased to take note of this ministerial statement highlighting the crucial role that northern Australia plays not just in the economic prosperity of this country. Northern Australia is vast. It immediately captures your imagination with its possibilities. It comprises 53 per cent of our land mass. Picture this: it includes three-quarters of Queensland, half of Western Australia and all of the Northern Territory. It is home to regions and towns that many people have only seen on a map or heard of in outback folklore, including places like Cape York, Kununurra, Katherine and Cloncurry.

The north has contributed so much to our history and to the Australian character. The determination, resilience and fearlessness of the early pioneers of the north lives on in northern DNA. One only needs to visit Rockhampton to marvel at the historical importance of trade and resources to northern Australia. Rockhampton's development from frontier town to bustling port to gold rush town in the 1800s is preserved in heritage buildings of sandstone and wrought iron which rival the grand colonial buildings of Sydney and Hobart.

The coalition values the position of northern Australia in our history but, more importantly, supports every opportunity for its future development. There are only a small number of voices advocating for northern Australia. Of the 151 members of the other place and the 76 senators, only 12 are based in northern Australia to give voice to the issues that matter, and these few voices really have to crank up the volume to be heard on issues that southerners don't really need to fight for: improved roads, bridges and transport; protection of our biosecurity and agricultural industry; protection of our northern borders; water for both our urban populations and rural communities; incentives for business, mining and tourism investment; stronger infrastructure to defend the north; reliable communications; affordable insurance; and more doctors, nurses, allied health professionals and hospital beds.

Northern Australians live with these challenges every day and face service shortages with tenacity and ingenuity, but it behoves government to design policy that develops the north—not just for northern Australians but for every Australian. There's a sense of urgency for northern Australia right now, with a dynamic geopolitical backdrop, an increasingly hungry world to our north demanding quality food with reliable supply chains, and our allies seeking a secure supply of critical and traditional minerals and rare earths to electrify the world. It places great opportunity right at our northern gateway.

The coalition have demonstrated through our track record that we recognise and care about the families, the communities, the industries, the employers, the employees, the economic contribution and the potential of the north. It was the coalition that developed the white paper on northern Australia—Our north, our futurein 2015 to set the direction for a strong future. The Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility was born from this coalition initiative to transform the north by encouraging private sector investment and transformational nation-building infrastructure projects. The groundbreaking NAIF has now financed 33 projects to provide a forecast $40 billion in public benefit and over 20,000 jobs.

Research conducted by the cooperative research centre on northern Australia derisks northern businesses by providing greater efficiency. Along with the contributions of NAIF, the CRC northern Australia develops the competitiveness, productivity and sustainability of the north. I also acknowledge the important work of the Indigenous reference group in developing Indigenous opportunity and connecting our communities.

I applaud the Joint Select Committee on Northern Australia for its inquiries into the cyclone reinsurance pool; energy, food and water security; and workforce development. Outcomes from these inquiries will build further structures for northern Australia to succeed.

The Australian resources sector is deeply invested in northern Australia. The latest ATO 'Corporate tax transparency report' shows that Australia's mining industry is the nation's biggest taxpayer, having paid $43.1 billion in company tax and $31.5 billion in royalties for 2022-23. This highlights the crucial role that mining plays in keeping our economy strong and funding the essential services that Australians rely on every day. The resources industry has paid more in tax than all other Australian industries combined for the second consecutive year, contributing to funding for schools, roads, aged care, hospitals and national security. Taxes and royalties from northern mining benefit every town and city in Australia.

That same geology that makes a resource-rich north has created an abundance of natural tourism attractions. There are few natural icons in the world that are prioritised so highly on bucket lists around the globe. Each visitor to the Great Barrier Reef in 2023-24 contributed to the $6.3 billion the reef pumped into the Australian economy. Visitors to the Northern Territory who included the Red Centre and the sacred Uluru monolith on their itinerary as well as Kakadu National Park contributed to the total tourism gross state product of $2.6 billion.

Those who've enjoyed the Kimberley or the pearl history of Broome or the long white sands and sunset camel rides of Cable Beach have helped boost the Western Australian tourism gross state product to $13.2 billion. Remember that only 1.4 million people live in northern Australia—just 5.2 per cent of Australia's total population living on 53 per cent of our landmass. However, Cairns can be populated by an extra 30 per cent on any one night through tourist visitation. The additional city infrastructure required to accommodate this additional transient population is considerable. It is one example of where the federal government needs to consider the billions of dollars that the Great Barrier Reef delivers to the national coffers and reciprocate by supporting infrastructure in Cairns. I refer specifically to the Cairns Water Security project. This is a call for drinking water, a basic human right, to support the local permanent population, visitors, disaster resilience and economic development, and above all demonstrate a show of government confidence in the north.

Let's not undervalue Australia's longest shortcut, the Outback Way. The Outback Way is the great Australian road trip as it winds 2,700 kilometres through the heart of Australia from Winton in Queensland via the Red Centre to Western Australia. It's important that we all consider driving this road because it is Australia's third transnational route, connecting the east and west coasts. A fully sealed road will boost our national productivity and GDP by expanding tourism, mining, agriculture and freight efficiencies. It will provide a corridor for commercial investments and access to agriculture markets. This is like the Savannah Way and other important roads in the north that must be sealed to allow for suppliers to service remote communities and ensure product on supermarket shelves, reducing prices and the ever-escalating cost of living. These roads facilitate access to mining projects and enable sustainable outcomes for communities by improving job creation, health, education, emergency access, Closing the Gap initiatives and social connectivity. This will improve the quality of life for northern Australians and is another example of where government needs to consider the economic input of this region to the bottom line and reinvest in that continued growth.

When we understand that there are 12.5 million beef cattle in northern Australia, which supplies around 90 per cent of Australia's annual live cattle exports and supports our near neighbours in their demand for nutritious protein, the importance of road systems and programs becomes obvious. In addition to cattle, 95 per cent of our sugar, 96 per cent of our bananas and 92 per cent of our mangoes are grown across the north, and that requires reliable road, rail, port and airport connections to feed ourselves and export to our neighbours. Northern Australia is the powerhouse of our economy, a treasure of resources, our food bowl, a tourism beacon and home to three great universities, James Cook University, Charles Darwin University and Central Queensland University. We will continue to raise our voices and advocate for our northern future because it represents a future for every Australian. (Time expired)

Question agreed to.