Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Northern Australia, Senator Canavan. Will the minister please update the Senate on progress with delivery of the Northern Australia package?

Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the senator for his question and acknowledge his longstanding interest in the development of the north of his state, Western Australia, and his wider contribution to our northern Australia agenda. That agenda is a key part of our government's economic plan to build on the strengths of this nation and the strong economy we already have, and make sure we can continue to grow that and deliver prosperity for our future. Already, the north of Australia contributes significantly to that strong economy.

A recently completed Infrastructure Australia audit of the infrastructure across the north found that in financial year 2013 each employee in northern Australia contributes $369,000 a year to our economic output, almost double the contribution across Australia of $185,000 per employee. It is already a strong part of our country, but it is a part of our country that is going through a transition and some difficult times with a mining downturn, and that is why our agenda to develop the north is incredibly important and incredibly timely.

That agenda includes $1.2 billion worth of investments, over 50 different policies and the establishment of a concessional interest loan facility of $5 billion. Already, we have successfully implemented 12 of those 50 measures, including a northern Australia tourism initiative that was delivered a couple of weeks ago to provide more business advice to the tourism sector across the north—something that will be incredibly important as we move away from the mining boom. We have taken 20 proposals for pilot land tenure reforms from Indigenous groups—and I know that is something close to Senator Smith's heart. We have conducted 13 different consultations on the CRC that we will be developing for the north. Last week, I had the pleasure of being in Darwin for our third and final Beef Roads forum. We have a significant agenda for the north of Australia, which will help our entire country.

Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Will the minister update the Senate on the progress of the Northern Australia Beef Roads program?

Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would be glad to. As I mentioned, I was in Darwin last week for our third and final Beef Roads forum. I have also previously attended one in Rockhampton and we had a second forum in Kununurra late last year. The Beef Roads program is incredibly important for our beef industry, an incredibly important industry for our country but also a very important one for the north specifically. Up to a third of the cost of livestock can be accounted for in transport costs, particularly those from the north of our country given their distance from markets. Currently, the cost of transporting cattle across Australia is estimated at $262 million and that can be as high as almost $500 million when you account for return trips. We have to bring down those costs if we are going to have a strong beef sector and that is why we are investing $100 million to do so across our north in Beef Roads.

Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Will the minister provide an example of how the Beef Roads program could reduce transport costs?

Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Beef Roads program, I am very excited to say, is an innovative way of delivering these investments. We have used the CSIRO to investigate how different investments across our country can bring down costs for the beef sector. The CSIRO have now looked at 60 different projects that have been put forward by industry and some of those projects would see costs reduce by $5 a head. One of those projects is very close to my heart, which is an investment at Rockhampton to remove the current requirement to decouple trucks at Gracemere. A couple of years ago, as some senators would know, there was a tragic incident at Gracemere where Bryson Mayne was killed while cross-loading cattle. This investment alone will save $700,000 a year and, more importantly, improve safety at Gracemere, and help avoid tragic incidents like that in the future.

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.