Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern and Remote Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Northern Australia constitutes something like three million square kilometres. It has approximately one million people, of which I am very proud to say that I am one. Two other people from our side are joining me in this debate today: Senator Eggleston, who has spent most of his life in Northern Australia and is an expert on the north of Western Australia and Northern Australia generally, as a very distinguished former mayor of Port Hedland; and Senator Bill Heffernan who, whilst he does not live in Northern Australia, could well do and indeed knows more about Northern Australia than practically anyone else in this chamber, through, amongst other things, his very successful and very visionary leadership of the Northern Australian Land and Water Taskforce set up by the Howard government.

Out of Northern Australia comes some $96 billion worth of exports via seaports, and that constitutes about 54 per cent of Australia's total. More than 636 million tonnes is exported from seaports in Northern Australia, and that represents some 74 per cent of the national exports via seaports.

And what are the big exports from Northern Australia? They are minerals and beef cattle. Have a look at what Labor has done to the minerals industry and the beef cattle industry, two industries significant in Northern Australia brought to their knees by the actions of the Gillard and Rudd Labor government. The imposition of a mining tax does more to chase away investment that is so needed in Northern Australia to unlock the wealth that is there.

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

Rubbish! You are a liar. What a load of crap!

Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Senator Sterle.

Bill Heffernan (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Could I plead with Senator Sterle. He can talk like that to me, but he cannot go around calling someone in the chamber a liar.

Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Resume your seat, Senator Heffernan. Senator Sterle, I will caution you about your language. It is inappropriate in the Senate and I would ask you to withdraw your imputation and your reflection on Senator Macdonald.

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

Being a liar, okay, I withdraw that, Mr Acting Deputy President, for now.

Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern and Remote Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It simply shows Labor's approach to Northern Australia. Here they are, setting out to destroy the industry that comes from Northern Australia that contributes so much to Australia, and what do you get from the Labor Party: name-calling, childish, bully schoolyard actions of calling people names. Names do not worry me at all, I have to say, Senator Sterle. Go your hardest! It will not alter the fact. Ask anyone in the minerals exploration industry or in the mining industry—things are being placed on hold. The only reason that there is a slight confidence in the minerals industry is that most international miners can read the opinion polls the same as Australians can, and they are hoping with bated breath that there will be a change of government later in this year. Why? Because we will get rid of the minerals tax that does so much damage to Northern Australia but, on the other side, raises no money for the Australian people. Only Labor could do that, but the thought, the sovereign risk threat of this and other initiatives, like the carbon tax, all show impacts on costs of living particularly in Northern Australia.

Let us move on to beef cattle. Here we had a very successful industry in Northern Australia. Northern beef cattle are not quite the quality of southern beef cattle, but they had found a niche market. There was a very significant trade to Indonesia from Northern Australia. It was booming. It was increasing. People had invested a lot in it. And what happened? The Labor government came along and, without even 24 hours notice either to the industry or to the Indonesians who relied on that food, they banned the export of cattle to Indonesia. So through a couple of actions, the Labor government has clearly imposed upon Northern Australia initiatives which will not help with the development.

That is what this discussion today is all about. There is no plan by the Labor government about the north. Indeed, I refer senators to the estimates of 12 February 2013 when a Labor senator was silly enough to ask some officials about the Labor Party's plans for Northern Australia. I urge people to have a look at pages 104-106. Do you know what it is all about? There is a strategy about this, a committee about that, a forum about something else, an investigation about something. Nowhere in those three pages is there any action. In fact there is very little money, and the little money that was put forward, is all for more studies, more forums, more meetings, more gatherings, more talkfests—but no action.

I am pleased to say that after years—decades—of dillydallying by Labor governments both at Queensland and federal levels, the new Campbell Newman government came into power and within six months was actually allocating water out of the Flinders River. They were doing things that Labor governments state and federal had talked about for decades. Labor across the board will have more investigations, more studies, more analyses, more forums, more talkfests—but no action whatsoever. By contrast, the coalition will have a plan for Northern Australia, and that plan is in the final stages of its release. It relies on and pays tribute to the natural and people assets of Northern Australia. It actually builds upon those natural assets.

Most irrigated agriculture in Australia of course occurs around the Murray-Darling Basin in southern Australia, but regions in Northern Australia record almost twice as much as their average annual rainfall. This rainfall could be put to more productive use without compromising the environment. The surface rainfall in Northern Australia is almost 152,000 gigalitres, of which currently only six per cent is used. To put that in perspective, I indicate that the total water use is about 12,200 gigalitres in Northern Australia and the run-off is 152,000 gigalitres. So there are clearly opportunities there.

But it just does not go to producing food and finding and exporting more minerals—and processing, I might say, more minerals. In Northern Australia we have a particular advantage because of our proximity to Asia. We have a very skilled workforce. We have some of the best universities in the world and, certainly, universities in the tropical part of the world, that lead the way in many areas of science. We have an expertise in health and research, and not just research into human health but also into animal health and into our natural biodiversity that is world class. Bearing in mind that more than a third of the world is in tropical areas, these assets should be more productively used.

These are just some of the advantages that we have in Northern Australia which under Labor have been ignored or, worse still, seriously undermined by taxes on the mining industry and practical destruction of the Northern beef cattle industry. I can understand why Labor is not interested. There are not many members of parliament up there—eight in the upper house, of which I am proud to say nearly all are members of the Liberal or National parties. There are only a couple of senators—Senator Scullion is one from the coalition. There are not many voices up there, but, for the coalition, this is not about votes. It is not about political popularity. It is about doing things for Australia that can be done on the basis of the natural assets and people assets of the North.

As with so many other things, the Labor Party has no plan. They work from day-to-day. They make promises that they think will be useful and then break them with impunity. They have no interest in Northern Australia. They know there are few votes there for them. I and all of us in Northern Australia look forward to the day we have a government that takes a real interest in the sustainable development of the North.

Trish Crossin (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is not often in this place that you can walk in and get a basketball lobbed right through the middle of the net for those of us who come from Northern Australia. When I saw the MPI today, I thought: 'Wow, an opportunity for my colleagues such as Senator Sterle and Senator McLucas to talk about what is happening in Northern Australia—bring it on!' If there is one great story that we have to talk about over the last five years of the Labor government, it is about the financial investment, the hard work that has been put in by ministers in this government and the absolute spotlight that has been put on Northern Australia in this country. I only have about nine minutes left so I am going to have to hand it over to my colleagues to continue this, but there are so many terrific things happening up there. I will try to go through some of them. I will concentrate on what is happening in the Northern Territory.

I do not want to criticise your contribution, Senator Macdonald. I know you probably spend most of your time gazing at the ocean from the east coast of Queensland, but when you actually jump across the border into the Northern Territory and you have a look at the concentrated effort that has gone into building the Northern Territory, its natural resources, its education hubs, its medical hubs, its infrastructure and its support for diverse industries, I think the work that has gone on in the last five years has been absolutely spectacular.

There are a number of particular ministers to whom this credit is owed: Nicola Roxon, Minister Ferguson and Simon Crean. I start with Simon Crean. When the former Howard government came into power they abolished the Office of Northern Development. When we came into power in 2007, we re-established that—a one-stop-shop so that northern development and Northern Australia could get back on its feet again and have a place where it could go for advice, for support, for ideas and for innovation. So in 2008 we established the Office of Northern Australia. It has been able to provide a focus on sustainable economic development in Northern Australia. As a result of that, $6 million has gone into the Northern Australia Sustainable Futures program, which was announced in August 2010 to address key challenges in the development of the North.

Out of that we have the establishment of the Northern Australia Ministerial Forum, which has now met five times. It has included ministers from conservative governments in Queensland and WA, the previous Labor government in the Northern Territory and now the Country Liberals. It has met in Darwin, Port Hedland, Mt Isa, Alice Springs and Kununurra and is due to meet again in Cairns. Out of that we have experts groups like the Northern Australia Indigenous Experts Forum on Sustainable Economic Development, chaired and led by Pat Dodson and Peter Yu. What is it doing? It is bringing together Indigenous experts from across the North. It has drafted a framework for Indigenous participation in Northern economic development based around the theme of 'resilient communities through reliable prosperity'.

There is also the expert advisory panel—a panel of experts who have knowledge in the industry and in the habitat of what is happening in Northern Australia. The panel consists of 30 academic and industry experts coordinated by Dr Andrew Johnson from the CSIRO. What is it doing? It is looking at opportunities and challenges in emerging markets for carbon. Out of that we have the Aboriginal Carbon Fund, which has been established in Alice Springs under the umbrella of the Central Land Council, which is moving ahead in leaps and bounds in providing alternative industry for Indigenous people in respect of carbon pricing, carbon marketing and the emerging market that we see under climate change.

That is what is happening in terms of actually getting together some expert advice, looking at what needs to be done in Northern Australia and capitalising on Indigenous knowledge and Indigenous expertise to see how Northern Australia can work side by side with Indigenous people and make use of their knowledge and expertise to provide some decent economic development and outcomes for these people.

If we have a look at what else has happened in the North, there is the Ichthys LNG Project. This has got to be one of the most substantial outcomes in terms of the future of this country, let alone the Northern Territory. This is a $34 billion gas plant and project that will be based in Darwin and harvest gas off the coast of Western Australia. It is the second largest industrial program to have ever been signed up to in this country.

Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern and Remote Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What did the Gillard government have to do with that?

Trish Crossin (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will take that interjection, Senator Macdonald. You say, 'What did the Gillard government or the Rudd government do to secure this? I put it to you that I know personally that Minister Martin Ferguson and his department worked day-in and day-out. They undertook many trips to Japan and had many discussions convincing this operator based in Tokyo that it should in fact, first of all, look at Australia and look at Darwin in which to base this gas hub. This is of enormous benefit to Northern Australian. It was a major project that was facilitated through the Department of Infrastructure and Transport and through Minister Ferguson's department. Undeniably a lot of hard work went into this project in order to get it to go ahead.

The Ichthys major project facilitation status was granted by this government. Let us not underestimate this. We are talking about a $34 billion infrastructure and export market in relation to gas here. We are talking about the employment of more than 3,000 people. We are already talking about 700 people being employed during the operation phase of this and additional jobs being created during the offshore construction. Already JKC have a shopfront established in Darwin Mall. They are recruiting people right now to try and get the workers village built and established in rural Darwin, and from there the major LNG plant will be established. That is what this government has done for Northern Australia. It has secured the second largest ever infrastructure in gas and gas hub in this country. That is what we have been doing.

Hand in hand with that, we have worked with the IMEX project to encourage Larrakia Development Corporation to get on board with the local Indigenous people. This is not just about a Japanese company coming to Darwin and setting up and creating jobs for 3,000 people. This is also about the work that has gone on behind the scenes ensuring that IMEX and the Japanese consortium provide employment opportunities for Indigenous people. It does not happen without a plan, it does not happen without a vision and it does not happen without hard work either.

The other thing I want to talk about quickly is the infrastructure that we have put in places like Darwin to grow and create our own doctors. The Flinders Medical School has been established at Charles Darwin University. Last year, for the first time ever, this government purpose-built a facility so that people in Northern Australia and particularly in the Northern Territory could train in Darwin to become doctors. We know that if you train in Darwin to become a doctor you are highly likely to stay in Darwin and undertake your work there as a doctor. We have put a lot of effort and emphasis into training and recruiting our own so that the number of doctors we have in Northern Australia increases because we are training them locally.

Finally, I just want to talk about our plan to put more health infrastructure in Darwin and Palmerston and our commitment to build a $70 million hospital in Palmerston, in one of this country's fastest-growing cities. Even today in the NT News we have a headline 'Plan to move Royal Darwin' about the CLP and the hospital. They plan not to replace it but to knock it down and to try and build a new one out in Palmerston. Such foolishness shows to me that the Liberal Party and the Country Liberal Party have really no vision for the growth and the expectations of the people in Darwin and Palmerston. If you think you can simply relocate the Royal Darwin Hospital, move it out of the infrastructure and the grounds that it is on, move it away from the oncology unit, move it away from the private hospital and try and create some megastructure in 10 years at $3 billion cost, you have no plan. (Time expired)

Alan Eggleston (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As Senator Macdonald says, I have spent a long time in the north. I went to live in Port Hedland in 1974, which is a while ago, so I do have some experience of the north and the issues that it faces. I must say that never before have the circumstances been so opportune as to warrant the serious promotion of and support for sustainable growth across Northern Australia. But, sadly, the Gillard government is not capitalising on these opportunities.

The vast region north of the Tropic of Capricorn covers almost three million square kilometres and is Australia's gateway to the Asia-Pacific century. This government is simply not grasping at the opportunities that it represents to be taken up and exploited. In fact, the Gillard government is absolutely no friend of regional Australia or of Northern Australia. If it were it would not have closed down the live cattle industry, which is so very vital to the economy of all three northern jurisdictions: the Northern Territory, North Queensland and the north of Western Australia. The live cattle industry, as we all remember, was closed down overnight in response to a single television program which, it seems, exaggerated a situation. There is no doubt that the closing down of the cattle industry which followed the banning of live cattle exports to Indonesia has had a devastating effect on both northern families and our international reputation.

But the real importance of the North and its potential in agriculture at least is that the north of Australia could be the food bowl of Asia. That is a great opportunity that should not be missed.

Senator McLucas interjecting—

I see Senator McLucas shaking her head which is what I would expect, sadly, from a person from a government that has no vision.

Some 60 per cent of Australia's rain falls north of the Tropic of Capricorn and this means that the north, as I said, has the potential to become a vast food bowl for the Asian region. Asia is just over the horizon from the north of Australia. Port Hedland is closer to Denpasar than it is to Perth; from Broome it is even closer and from Kununurra, where there is a great deal of irrigated agriculture, the hop over the horizon to Jakarta or Singapore to sell horticulture freighted in by air is not very hard to see as a great opportunity for future development.

Although we have 60 per cent of Australia's rainfall in the north, we capitalise on less than two per cent of it. The iconic Ord River scheme in my home state of Western Australia—set up, I must say, by the Menzies government back in the 1960s—is a great example of what can be done in the north of Australia. Already, in Kununurra there is a plan to extend the Ord River irrigation area into the Northern Territory, and they plan to grow sugar there which will be exported to Asia. It is a very, very important precedent, which could be followed in other areas around the north of Australia. The CSIRO has concluded that five to 17 million hectares across northern Australia are potentially suitable for a variety of agricultural purposes on account of arable soil. And yet this government is doing almost nothing to capitalise on that potential.

The Northern Australian Land and Water Taskforce, set up by the previous coalition government, was designed to explore the opportunities in the north. Both Senators MacDonald and, I think, Heffernan were on that. This process, however, was nobbled by the Rudd government; it was restricted in its scope and is shaped by the ALP government by influences which were not supportive of further growth in the north of Australia. For instance, it was not asked to look at opportunities for new surface water storages. In addition, the recent National Food Plan, released by Senator Ludwig, was a document devoid of any real vision, and ignorant of the potential of the north. It is little wonder that it sank without trace.

Australia has remained a net food exporter for well over a century, producing enough food currently to feed 60 million people, and our agricultural technology, moreover, helps feed some 400 million people. One simple statistic which is very important to the north of Australia is that the OECD report The emerging middle class in developing countries sets out in stark terms the economic potential that lies ahead for Australia and Asia. It shows the extraordinary projected growth of the middle class in Asia and the Pacific. In 2009, the region accounted for 28 per cent of the global middle class, or 525 million people. By 2030 that figure is expected to increase by 66 per cent to an incredible 3.2 billion people. Europe will be a distant second, with 14 per cent of the world's population.

Over this same period, the middle class in Asia is expected to have a surge in spending power from $4.9 billion currently to $32.5 billion by 2030. By 2020, more than half the world's middle class will be in Asia, and Asian consumers will account for 40 per cent of the global middle class. These people will need to be fed, and northern Australia has the opportunity of providing food to these people.

Senator Macdonald and others have talked about the mining industry, which is also very important in the north of Australia, and one has to say that the Gillard government's mining and resources rent tax, which has increased Australia's sovereign risk, is certainly not doing anything to encourage development in northern Australia and to provide jobs for the local people.

Senator Crossin has talked about Indigenous people, and of course the Indigenous people of the north are probably the poorest of the Indigenous people in Australia. Many of them live on stations and outstations. They lack education, they have health problems which need to be addressed and they often have a sense of despair about the future that lies ahead of them. What we need to do is create jobs for them in the mining industry and in agriculture. But if they had to rely on the Gillard government to provide jobs in these sectors then nothing would change for them, because under the Gillard government, and the ALP in general, nothing is going to be done to promote agriculture or to promote mining in the north.

One of the great opportunities which also exists in the north is tourism. Tourists from around the world come to areas which are different, and the part of Australia that is different is the north of Australia—from northern Queensland and the Barrier Reef through to the Northern Territory and the Red Centre and on into the Kimberley, with the Bungle Bungles, down into the Pilbara with the Wittenoom area and the gorges there, to Exmouth and the Ningaloo Reef. There is great potential for tourist development. There has not been a word from the ALP about setting up a task force to promote tourist development in the north, simply because I think they lack the imagination to see that great potential.

The north is a land of enormous potential. There are great prospects there in agriculture, great prospects in mining and great prospects in tourism; and there is a great need to improve the lot of the Aboriginal people. None of this is going to be happening under the Gillard government because they simply do not have the vision to see the potential which the north offers.

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

I really do look forward to contributing to this debate today on the MPI. When I saw it on the Notice Paper this morning, I thought it was a joke. I thought it could not be possible that the Liberals would gift us this fantastic opportunity to talk about what great stuff we have done in the north. But before I do, I want to talk about being called to apologise because I called Senator Macdonald a few things, which I retracted in this chamber. It did hurt me to have to retract them because I still stand by them. I will have a fight with anyone in here on any issue—hang on, I probably should not say 'have a fight' or I will get sooks from the House of Representatives, like Dennis Jensen, saying I am threatening to bop them. I should say that I am happy to have a debate.

One thing I cannot cop and will not cop is senators on that side blatantly telling lies. That happened earlier today at the start of this conversation. When I hear Liberal senators—look, this is cruelty to dumb animals; it really is having to listen to some of the fibs coming out here—

Sean Edwards (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order, Senator Sterle!

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

and I am not talking about people in the chamber; I am talking about myself—

Sean Edwards (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Sterle, you will have to withdraw that imputation.

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

Which one—the 'dumb animals'? I was talking about myself.

Sean Edwards (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If you could do all of them, that would be good.

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

I will. I withdraw them. Let us get back to the fibs or the nontruths that are being told in this chamber. I hear Liberal senators carry on about the poor mining industry that is going to be shackled and not invest in mines in Australia because if they dare get $75 million of profit they may have to pay the minerals resource rent tax. What a load of bollocks! If that is incorrect parliamentary language, I withdraw that. What a load of rubbish to whinge and carp because they may have to pay a tax after they earn $75 million of profit.

Let us get back to what we should be debating. We should be debating the truth. I will debate the truth, unlike some on that side—and one of them is still in the chamber. Before I do talk about the great stuff that the Gillard Labor government has done in the north I want to take this opportunity to congratulate a very good friend of mine Josie Farrer. Josie is a very highly regarded Gidja woman from Halls Creek. Josie was a very well respected shire president. Josie won the seat of Kimberley in the last state election. It is fantastic to see an Aboriginal woman being replaced by another Aboriginal woman in the Kimberley. It was tight for a while there. Have no doubt, there was a four-way contest. In the end Josie had a resounding victory. So all good to Josie and all good to the Aboriginal people in the Kimberley.

This gift from Senator Fifield is about the north, but I want to talk about the Kimberley. I want to talk about the East Kimberley Development Package that was negotiated between the federal government under the leadership of the Hon. Gary Gray as the parliamentary secretary for northern Australia and the Hon. Brendon Grylls, who is a member of the National Party, in his role as regional development minister in the Barnett government. The federal government tipped in some $195 million and the state government tipped in some $221 million I think. Let us have a look at what it has delivered to the Kimberley.

I have the greatest respect for Senator Eggleston. Sometimes Senator Eggleston can wander off a little bit on some of the mistruths about the mining industry and how bad they are going to go if they have to pay a tax on their profits, but I will forgive Senator Eggleston because he is, was and should be highly regarded in the Pilbara. As I have said before, Senator Eggleston and I have a lot in common: he used to deliver babies to the Pilbara and I used to deliver furniture, but no-one ever congratulated me!

Let us look at this $195 million package. It delivered $54 million to the Kimberley for health. I want to let the Senate know of some of the things that were delivered under this fantastic package. There was $20.5 million for the Kununurra hospital expansion. There was $3.4 million for the refurbishment of the Wyndham health facilities. There was $5.1 million for the short-stay patient accommodation in Kununurra. The residential rehabilitation facility in Wyndham got $3.2 million. There was $4.5 million for remote aged-care services. Then there were a few remote clinics in Kalumburu and Warmun. If you do not know the Kimberley, Warmun is on the blacktop, but Kalumburu, goodness me, is not. That is a fantastic achievement right up the top there. There were environmental health measures in Kalumburu and Warmun as well. It has also delivered health service provider housing in Kununurra to the tune of $6.8 million. That is a fantastic initiative.

For education and training $64 million was delivered. What did it build? It built the Wyndham Early Learning Activities Centre. That is fantastic. It built the Warmun Early Learning Centre. There were Kununurra school precinct upgrades and expansions—to the primary school, the high school, the community library and teacher training—to the value of no less than $48.9 million. While we are on education, there was the Kimberley TAFE upgrades in Kununurra and Wyndham of another $10 million.

Then we go to housing. There are those of us who have an interest in remote and rural Australia and achieving everything we can to close the gap in Indigenous communities. Under this program there was $46 million for housing. There was social housing in Kununurra and Wyndham and there was transitional housing in Kununurra to the value of $46 million. I had the pleasure of accompanying Mr Ian Trust from the Wunan Foundation. Mr Ian Trust is a wonderful human being. Ian is also a Gidja man. Ian heads up the Wunan Foundation. Part of their dream is to provide transitional housing for Aboriginal people. He proudly took me around and showed me the transitional housing project and we met and talked with young people and working couples in Kununurra and Aboriginal people who for the first time in their life actually have a house, somewhere they can call home. It is a magnificent achievement and a fantastic outcome from a very good project under the Gillard government.

In transport some $15 million has been spent. I know under the guidance and leadership of Senator Heffernan the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee will be in the Kimberley in a couple of weeks time. We will be proudly showcasing the Kimberley and the improvements that have been achieved because of the federal government and the state government working cohesively together. There has also been $16 million of community spending for sports facilities, swimming pools and art centres. This is wonderful stuff.

I am not the only one who thinks that the East Kimberley Development Package is a fantastic thing. Mr Brendon Grylls was the regional development minister in the Barnett Liberal government. I do not know Brendon enough to share a couple of beers and have a few bets on a Saturday with him, but I have met Brendon on a number of occasions and I can say is that he is committed to rural and regional Australia, particularly the north. Mr Grylss made these remarks at the opening of the new Ochre Health Centre in Kununurra on 22 November 2012, and he was with our federal regional development minister, Simon Crean. I know Simon has a passion for the north, being the Pilbara and the Kimberley. How do I know? Because he came up with me on no less than two occasions in the last six months. He has had a commitment to the Kimberley and the Pilbara for many years. This is what Mr Grylls goes on to say—it is part of his speech and I am quoting him:

Politics is sometimes tough but this should be a huge celebration for the Federal Labor Government to have come to your community and essentially rebuilt it.

Mr Grylls also goes on to say:

And thank you, Simon. Please pass that on to Prime Minister Gillard. Please acknowledge former Prime Minister Rudd when you next see him. This is a spectacular achievement of a partnership between the Federal government and the State government and local traditional owners and the local community.

I concur with him. And further:

We—

that is, the state and federal governments—

closely engaged the traditional owners and working with them closely to understand their needs, celebrated their culture, made them part of the process and listened to the local community about the sorts of needs and aspirations they have for the future so, Simon, I'm almost speechless.

Well done, Brendon. I agree. So there you go. We have wild accusations in this chamber that are unfounded, but we have Liberal and National counterparts in Western Australia doing everything that they can to stand beside the federal government—and so they should—to acknowledge the fantastic opportunity the Kimberley was given under a federal Labor government. But that is not the end of it. What happens from here? I was reading The West Australiantoday, and I note that sources have downplayed speculation that Nationals leader, Brendon Grylls, will lose regional development but the Nationals may— (Time expired)

Bill Heffernan (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this MPI. I was fascinated by Senator McLucas's remarks that Northern Australia does not have much agricultural potential. She was shaking her head when Senator Eggleston was referring to the food bowl. She obviously does not know what she is talking about but is also ignoring the facts. Since the Northern Development Task Force changed hands, from the coalition government to the Labor government, they have shut it down. They have found a whole lot of people who can find reasons why we should not develop Northern Australia for agriculture.

I would like to focus on agriculture against the background of what the world faces in the next 50 years—and Mr Acting Deputy President Edwards, you are aware of that because you are on the committee—that is, the doubling of the food task by 2050. Places like China will have to feed half of its population, estimated, barring a human catastrophe, to be two billion people by 2070, from somewhere else other than China. Of course, there is the consideration by the wider public in Australia that agriculture is somehow a mature industry and that we should rest on our laurels, think of the past and retire to the coast. I do not think so. An incoming coalition government will take a completely different attitude, with fire in the belly—firstly, from the people themselves and people like Senator Eggleston and Senator Macdonald—to find ways to get things done.

The challenge for the world is doubling the food task by 2050, in a world that is going to see 30 per cent of the productive land of Asia go out of production, while two-thirds of the world's population live there. The land that we are talking about is closer to two-thirds of the world's population than that of Sydney, but it is Australia. We should be giving hope to the next generation of Australia's farmers and we should be doing the things that do not necessarily have great political clout but have great vision for Australia and Australia's participation in the contribution of the global food task. I heard comments earlier about Cape York Peninsula. There is a plan by some people in this place to shut down the productive capacity of Cape York Peninsula.

Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Carers) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You have no idea what you are talking about.

Bill Heffernan (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We will try that out, Senator McLucas, Thank you for telling me I do not know what I am talking about. Cape York Peninsula is 17.5 million hectares. It is the same size as Victoria. I presume you knew that.

Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Carers) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes.

Bill Heffernan (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It has an estimated 800,000 feral pigs. It has about 30,000 untagged feral cattle. It has about 14,000 people who live off the coast—12,000 of them Indigenous. It has about 17 pastoral stations. The rest of it is either sit-down blackfella country or national park. And they want to turn it all into a World Heritage area. They want to lock up the first kilometre from all the rivers there, which are as good as the Murrumbidgee Flats. Sure we need new agricultural technologies. Sure we need GM production. See that against the background, Senator McLucas—you say I do not know what I am talking about—of a place like Bangladesh.

Stephen Parry (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Heffernan, you address your comments through the chair.

Bill Heffernan (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Through you, Mr Chair, I am terribly sorry. Bangladesh is half the size of Cape York Peninsula and if the science is half right—it might be half wrong—it will have to find somewhere else to go because, by 2050, there could be 1.6 billion people on the planet displaced. I could go through that, only I do not have time.

Bangladesh is half the size of Cape York Peninsula and 160 million people live there. Fifty-four of their 57 rivers flow in out of India. India is mining those rivers. If the sea rises to half the level predicted by the scientists, by 2050, they are going to lose where they live. They are going to have to find somewhere else to live. The UN will not fix that. The UN are the largest, most corrupt bureaucracy on the planet—most definitely. I have been there and told them to their own face and they just sat there with a glum look. The UN will not fix this issue. People will make their own arrangements. And do you think we should lock up the capabilities of Cape York Peninsula and prevent any commercial agricultural production which will take some research and work? Do you think we should say to the Indigenous people up there, 'Look, mate, if you just get your photo taken on a spear for the next 50 years, that's a great commercial opportunity for tourism.'

Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Carers) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That is offensive.

Bill Heffernan (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's not; it is what is proposed and I have been talking to them. It is a disgrace. There are still 5,000 kids in the north there who do not have a high school to go to and we do not give a rats!

The Northern Development Taskforce commissioned the CSIRO to do a study of the water resources of the north. Just so you know that I do not know what I am talking about, Senator McLucas, there are 78,000 gigs of run-off in the Timor catchment, there are 98,000 gigs of run-off in the gulf catchment and there are 85,000 gigs of run-off in the eastern catchment, which has the complication of the run-off into the Great Barrier Reef. So we have said to the CSIRO, 'Can you study the water resources of the north?' As you would be aware, because I do not know, but you will know and you can work that out for yourself, the most northern aquifers up there are annual recharge. By the time you get down to Alice Springs, it is very old water.

We said to the CSIRO, 'Give us a study on what we can do and what the potential is.' The government changed and you said to the same mob that we instructed to do that, 'Still do it, but don't have dams in your terms of reference', because the Northern Territory and the Western Australian governments at the time opposed new dams. You said to the CSIRO, 'Do this study of the water capabilities of the North, but don't consider storing the water or damming the water.' What a stupid bloody proposition. That is your mob. Do not tell me I don't know what I am talking about!

Sean Edwards (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Heffernan, can you please address your comments through the chair.

Bill Heffernan (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Sorry, Mr Acting Deputy President. I get pretty stirred up about this stuff. What we should be doing is considering ways of value-adding, as Senator Eggleston and Senator Macdonald said, not only to agriculture but also to complement downstream value-adding to the mining industry. Why haven't we got a urea plant coming out of the gas industry in Northern Australia? I don't know. Why haven't we got a phosphate plant? Why haven't we joined up Mount Isa to the north-south railway line to make that happen?

Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Carers) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Because we killed Townsville, that's why!

Bill Heffernan (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Excuse me, if I had time I would take you through it and you would learn something. But why haven't we done this stuff? Do you know what Clare Martin said to me as the task force chairman? I am sure she will not mind me saying, so I can tell you what she said—and what Beattie told me too. She said, 'We're not interested in developing Ord stage 3 because we haven't got the wherewithal.' That is what Clare Martin said to me. And so Ord stage 2, which is being developed, was part of a deal for Ord stage 3. Poor old Eric Ripper did not even know when he was trying to do Ord stage 2 expressions of interest—that would have been a white shoe brigade operation—and there was still a ban on GM farming, which means it would not have worked, that the drainage had to go out through the Keep River. He had no understanding that they would have had to deal with the lead mine there, because that is a serious problem for the development of the Ord.

Clare Martin was not interested, but we are. We need infrastructure that will value-add at the same time to the mining industry, to the tourism industry and to the agriculture industry. The great opportunity in the north is for our Indigenous people because they own most of the country. This is silly stuff, to put people on the Northern Development Taskforce to find ways to shut it down. They have shut the cattle industry down. The 'don't ask, don't tell' issues with the live export trade is that we do not have the culture that some of these Asian countries have where you have to pay for every signature you require on a piece of paper with what they call 'facilitation money', which is code for bribing. These are serious issues.

We have a vision for the north. It will be real and it will include—if there is no development opportunity for the north and north-west of Australia, why is a Chinese company at the present time negotiating to buy ten 10,000-hectare parcels of land up the coast there to create a series of fish farms? The reason they are doing that against the background of problems with the fishing industry in Asia, which is completely contaminated, is that they want to have a secure supply of farmed fish for the future. There are umpteen ways that we can value-add to them.

We should take the politics out of this because if you did it on the politics, because there are not very many votes up there, we would all sit down here and tell the next generation of farmers to go jump. (Time expired)

Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Carers) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I join this debate, like Senator Crossin and Senator Sterle, with some relish because this is an opportunity to really put down on the public record the differences between the former Howard government and their record, when they had 11½ years in government, and what they did for us and our Labor government. In my case, I am going to speak about Northern Queensland. We have heard a lot of bluff and bluster, a lot of very loud noise—I do acknowledge that Senator Heffernan was quite quiet, and I do appreciate that—and wild assertions, but these assertions in this motion that we are dealing with today are simply not based on fact. I encourage people to look at the record of the former LNP government under Mr Howard and make the comparison with our Labor governments' achievements and then make their decision.

Let us first go to roads. Since coming to office in 2007, our federal Labor government has committed $3.3 billion to maintaining and upgrading the Bruce Highway. This compares with the former Howard government, which could only manage to find in 11½ long years $1.3 billion. So $3.3 billion in the time that we have been in government compared to $1.3 billion in the time that the Howard government was in office. Let us go to some of those developments: $150 million, Bruce Highway upgrades south of Cairns, coming along fine; $160 million toward the Townsville ring-road; $50 million to upgrade the southern approach to Mackay; $25 million toward the upgrade of the Burdekin River Bridge; $90 million to flatten and straighten the Bruce Highway over the Cardwell Range; $95 million towards the Townsville port access road. Double the money in half the time: that is our commitment. They are the facts on roads.

Let us go to regional infrastructure. In the time we have been in government we have invested more than $101 million in community infrastructure in the Herbert electorate: more than $16 million for the Flinders Street redevelopment, $5 million for the Magnetic Island walkway. This is something that the people of Magnetic Island have been calling for for more than 15 years. Senator Macdonald, you know that and your member for Herbert tried to take the credit for a Labor government commitment to deliver the Magnetic Island walkway. There is $5 million for the Upper Ross community hub, $3.45 million toward the Murray sports complex, $4 million toward the Townsville cruise ship terminal and $2 million for the youth services hub, which will include the headstart facility.

In Leichhardt we have invested $297.5 million in funding for community infrastructure, including a $3 million upgrade to Cazaly's stadium, a $3½ million upgrade to Jones Park, $1.5 million for the Edmonton Leisure Centre and $1.5 million for the Cooktown Community Events Centre. We have also invested $4.5 million in the AFL Indigenous Academy and $9.37 million in the Daintree Rainforest Observatory. In the Dawson area we have invested $156 million for community infrastructure, including $8 million for Mackay's multi-use stadium; $6 million to upgrade the Mackay Basketball Stadium, which is also going along well; $5 million to upgrade the main street of Airlie Beach, which I inspected; and $1.5 million for the Bowen foreshore redevelopment, which I opened recently.

Compare those investments to what happened under the Howard government, when we had the notorious regional rorts program. In my area we have the allocation of $17 million to the Atherton Tablelands area west of Cairns. With the exception of the final round, that money was largely wasted. Who could forget the money allocated to the Black Stump hotel in Atherton for a so-called convention centre. The Black Stump hotel was given large amounts of taxpayers' money to establish a convention centre in a pub that has topless waitresses on a Friday night. It has never seen the light of day. Money was given to the wildlife park on the way to Kuranda and money was given to a company that went into receivership some weeks after this investment was made. Most of the $17 million was wasted.

In comparison, we have Regional Development Australia, which has taken the politics out of decision making about infrastructure projects. I commend our hardworking volunteer Regional Development Australia committees for the work that they have done to truly connect with communities to make recommendations about what infrastructure projects should be prioritised for the future.

In respect of that, let's talk about seawalls and climate change in the Torres Strait. Since about 2004 or 2005, I have been talking in this place about my concerns about the impacts of climate change on the outer islands in the Torres Strait.

Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern and Remote Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thanks to Mr Entsch.

Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Carers) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will take that interjection. Mr Entsch did nothing. I have been talking about this for nearly 10 years. All of that time I have been promoting the rights and needs of people of the Torres Strait. It took the election of a Labor government to get a commitment from Minister Wong to do some baseline mapping of where the sea level is in the Torres Strait. We did not even know that: 10 years of Liberal government could at least have done the basic mapping. The second step has been Labor announcing $12 million to build seawalls to protect communities in the Torres Strait. I very much look forward to those seawalls being constructed.

Other RDA projects funded in the north include the ACT for Kids project, investing $4.6 million for the ACT for Kids Child and Family Centre of Excellence in Townsville, which will support abused children not only in the Townsville region but right across the north. There is also funding for the Mackay regional events centre. In regional aviation we have seen the Horn Island airport provided with $5.09 million towards its $9 million upgrade. That airport has been calling for an upgrade for years to allow more seats and more services to and from the Torres Strait. The Mornington Island upgrade has also been delivered. If you look at the global figures on regional aviation, the Labor government has invested $145 million in remote facilities and services in the six years since 2008. Compare that with the $16 million that the Howard government invested in the six years before. These are the facts and they are in the budget papers. This is what has happened and I hope people take the opportunity to make a comparison.

Add to that the work that we have done in health and education. Speaking of health, let's make some observations about what has happened in the north of Queensland. We have seen a bit of a test run, a trial run or a taste of what would occur if Mr Abbott were to assume the prime ministership of this country since the election of the Campbell Newman government in Queensland.

Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern and Remote Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Are you going to talk about Mr Norman's letter, when he called you a liar?

Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Carers) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Let's talk again about Mr Norman. Mr Norman, the Liberal Party chair of the Cairns Health and Hospital district, has sacked through his management 243 hardworking health workers who now cannot deliver the services to people of the north that we very much desire.

We have had a taste of what Mr Abbott would be like as a prime minister, because we have the Premier of Queensland showing us the way. I have great faith in Northern Australia. I have great faith in the future of our part of the world, but it was a Labor government which has truly invested in North Queensland—in our roads, in our regional infrastructure, in our health and in our education services. These services support families in the north. They support families to make good, strong decisions about their futures and the ability to maintain the population of Northern Australia. We have seen since Mr Newman came to government a loss of workers totally in the north. I—

Sean Edwards (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The time for the discussion has expired.