Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—When this government announced its white paper on northern development three years ago, we mapped out a 20-year plan to develop the north, the first white paper by any Commonwealth government to develop Northern Australia. The government have made significant progress on implementing our plan, including the construction of roads, dams and other infrastructure, and three-quarters of the white paper's recommendations have been implemented.

During the past year, we have just gone past the 10 per cent time mark on our 20-year plan. While the progress we have made is substantial we must remember that true progress on northern development will take time. What is needed now is persistence to stick with the plan so that we can make a real difference.

This third annual statement tonight is noteworthy for the great momentum being built, the concrete results being delivered and the untapped potential being realised in a region that is already an economic powerhouse, for our nation yet has so much more to offer:

As I speak:

So far more than 74 per cent of the measures in the white paper have been implemented—that is, 38 of the 51 measures have been delivered. But our plan for the north was never intended to be a short-term agenda; we've continued to invest in it this year, the 2018-19 budget a clear indication of our commitment to its continuity.

B uilding world-class infrastructure

The northern agenda is a nation-building agenda, and it's rightly characterised as an infrastructure-driven agenda. Roads, railways, ports, airports, water and energy supply, telecommunications—they are all fundamental to the proper functioning of any modern economy. Making infrastructure development the linchpin of our plan for the north is therefore a necessary strategic objective.

It is gratifying to see that infrastructure development in the north, fostered by our agenda, is gathering pace. And all who live, work, do business and travel in the north stand to benefit. Nearly half of the 37 projects planned under the $700 million Northern Australia Roads Program and Northern Australian Beef Roads Program are either complete or underway. They are improving safety and access to services; more efficiently connecting communities and businesses to domestic and international markets; and allowing locals to earn money. These road upgrades are creating up to 2,400 direct jobs for the local communities involved, including significant business and employment opportunities for Indigenous people.

The impact of this investment is felt far beyond direct employment. Mayor Tom Gilmore of the Mareeba Shire Council in Far North Queensland says that on the Hann Highway the Northern Australia Roads Program is transforming vital infrastructure.

He says:

It will make an enormous difference to not only the lives of the people who live beside it, but also to the cattle, fruit and vegetable, agricultural and minerals industries.

It is heartening to hear that through these investments, we are driving economic growth in these industries.

In Western Australia works have commenced on the Cape Leveque Road, north of Broome on the Dampier Peninsula. The remaining 90 kilometres are being sealed, creating bigger opportunities for tourism and other industries. Twenty full-time positions on this project have been created for Aboriginal workers and 20 per cent of the subcontracted works are being delivered by Aboriginal businesses.

In the Northern Territory we are well underway with further upgrades to the Buntine Highway, one of the Northern Territory's high-priority cattle routes. This benefits the region's cattle industry with around 15 partial substations relying heavily on the Buntine Highway to get their cattle to markets. In our white paper, we identified the iconic Outback Way as a priority route right across the north.

The first of five new Queensland upgrades is now underway, with further upgrades planned for the Northern Territory and Western Australian roads that make up this inland route. This year we allocated a further $160 million towards the Outback Way, taking our overall commitment to $330 million for this nation-building project. We are on track to seal this third route, east-west, across our nation. These upgrades assist the communities and industries who rely on them for essential services and create potential for more employment and growth in the mining, agricultural and tourism sectors right across the north. We are building further on these roads initiatives.

This year's announcement of the Roads of Strategic Importance program, a decade-long commitment in this year's budget, invests an additional $1.5 billion directly in Northern Australia. The program will upgrade key agricultural and mining corridors to open up local supply chains and provide more reliable and safer transport links for freight, tourism and community road users. Access to domestic and export markets will be easier, enhanced through better connection to intermodal freight facilities. This investment will be a great boost to the northern economy and over the next decade will add to the jobs that have already been created.

Encouraging private investment

Since the last report, private sector engagement with our northern agenda has been steadily translated into actual investment with the help of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility—the NAIF.

I have acknowledged that the NAIF's progress did not meet our initial expectations. The NAIF is an innovative way for governments to fund nation building infrastructure by partnering with private investors. It is understandable that it has taken some time and some refinements to make this new approach work.

Last year I commissioned a review by Tony Shepherd to investigate the NAIF's progress and suggest changes that could help unlock its funding. In response we have amended the NAIF's investment mandate to increase its flexibility and to improve its potential to support projects to deliver more jobs and economic opportunities across the north. These changes have expanded the types of infrastructure the NAIF can fund—from airports and energy networks to abattoirs—and increased the amount it can lend to some projects. It is my view that these changes have helped pick up the pace of NAIF funding.

The NAIF's total investment, including conditional approvals, is now nearly $1 billion, with a total new projects value of up to $2.3 billion. I want to thank Khory McCormick, the chair of the NAIF, Sharon Warburton, the previous chair, and their team for the dynamic way they have approached this task and turned things around. Their changed approach is helping to unlock new opportunities across Northern Australia.

Take, for example, the Pilbara, Western Australia's mining powerhouse. Earnings from that region alone, with a population of just 60,000 people, are larger than the individual economies of 119 countries. (i) Yet the Pilbara has more room to create additional wealth if the necessary infrastructure is in place. The NAIF is helping generate private investment for such infrastructure.

The government, through the NAIF, has provided a $19.5 million loan to a subsidiary of Pilbara Minerals Ltd to upgrade a 70-kilometre public road from its Pilgangoora mine, home to one of the world's largest known lithium ore deposits. The loan will help get lithium from the mine to the port more efficiently, boost exports of lithium from the Pilbara, and improve travel times and safety for a wide range of road users in the region. Lithium is, of course, used in batteries for a whole range of consumer products—from portable electric devices to electric vehicles. There is a huge growing demand for such batteries and the NAIF is making sure that Australia is best placed to capture a growing share of this global market.

Our first investment for the NAIF in Queensland will transform the James Cook University campus to be a university of the future. Their landmark Technology Innovation Complex will provide contemporary facilities for a new focus on engineering for the tropics. Public benefits will be around $700 million for the first 30 years.

The NAIF has also provided conditional approval for major upgrades to airport infrastructure in Darwin, Tennant Creek and Alice Springs. This includes investments in cold storage, an export hub, upgrades and solar energy farms with an off-site multiuse battery. This project alone is likely to generate 1,000 jobs through the construction phase, support around 500 indirect jobs, and create 140 new ongoing positions. The projects set the airports up for greater tourist numbers and allow producers to export fresh agriculture and aquaculture products direct to market.

Through investments like these, the NAIF is fulfilling its aim of helping the private sector access the capital it needs to help drive infrastructure and economic development in the north. I am pleased that, following our changes, we are seeing more investment decisions from the NAIF, and it is making a substantial contribution to the development of the north's economy.

Harnessing more of the north's water resources

We have made good progress in driving an agenda to develop new water infrastructure in Northern Australia too. The ability to capture and store more of the region's rainfall, which accounts for around 60 per cent of Australia's total rainfall, is critical to our agenda to develop the north. Currently, just two per cent of this rainfall is being used. (ii) The government's $580 million Northern Water Infrastructure Development Fund has committed $230 million to Northern Australian water projects. Nine of the 15 water infrastructure feasibility studies commissioned out of this funding have already been completed. We have committed just over $176 million to build the Rookwood Weir in cooperation with the Queensland government, $3 million to modernise the Nogoa Mackenzie Water Supply Scheme, and $11.6 million to modernise the Mareeba-Dimbulah Water Supply Scheme in North Queensland.

We now have more confidence in the north's potential for expanding agricultural production. Just recently the CSIRO completed scientific assessments that identified up to 387,000 hectares across key water catchments with the potential for agricultural crops such as sugar cane and cotton. These opportunities are in the Mitchell River catchment in Queensland, the Fitzroy River catchment in Western Australia, the Finniss River catchment in Adelaide, and the Mary River and Wildman River catchments around Darwin in the Northern Territory. The assessments have also identified 710,000 hectares of additional coastal land that could accommodate lined aquaculture ponds. The data from these assessments set a baseline for major advancement in irrigated agriculture, giving investors the information they need to reduce risks and make informed decisions to finance large-scale infrastructure in the north.

Fostering globa lly competitive industries

Another piece of encouraging progress over the past year is that more businesses and industries in northern Australia are getting support from Australia's world-class researchers to flourish and stay globally competitive. The government's investment in research and development in the north is fostering world-leading innovation such as smart supply chains and generating new ideas to capitalise on the region's strengths and address its challenges.

The work of the Cooperative Research Centre for Developing Northern Australia is an excellent example of the positive difference our investment is making in the north. With funding of $75 million over 10 years, the CRC is supporting industry-led research collaborations in food and agriculture, health service delivery and traditional-owner-led business developments. Last October, I announced seven collaborative research projects in northern Australia totalling $13.9 million that leveraged partnering contributions of $37 million.

Since then, the CRC for Developing Northern Australia has announced funding of almost $3.6 million towards 12 new industry-led projects with a combined project value of over $12 million. Just last month, the CRC announced its latest funding—a $500,000 grant to trial new methods to double the north's mango production and increase business profit margins. The three-year project is a collaboration between two large commercial mango growers—Manbulloo Ltd and BJM Enterprises—and the Australian Mango Industry Association, and the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries. Grower Marie Piccone from Manbulloo, Australia's leading producer of Kensington Pride mangoes—they're coming back into season—says the CRC research and innovation has helped improve her company's performance. They're supplying Australian customers and exporting direct to the global industry. By streamlining the supply chain with automation in harvesting and packing, they're reducing their company's costs.

Growing demand for high-quality produce like mangoes from the north has led to new export opportunities. This research collaboration will ensure more Australian mangoes reach growing overseas markets, helping the mango industry to grow and create more jobs. Northern Australia is already a region of excellence in research on tropical health, medicine and environments. The government's investment in the north's R&D through the northern agenda means the region's research base is growing from strength to strength.

Greater collaboration

A promising outcome of our efforts in the north is that we are seeing greater collaboration and engagement with the agenda at all levels—government, industry and local communities. Since the inaugural Ministerial Forum on Northern Development a year ago, Australian government ministers responsible for northern development and our counterparts from the Northern Territory, Western Australia and Queensland have been working together to advance the agenda.

In April we met for the second forum in Kununurra, where we agreed to continue to fund vital roads and water infrastructure, promote investment opportunities and create new jobs. We also agreed in principle to recommendations by the Indigenous Reference Group, comprising a group of leading Indigenous business representatives, and undertook to work closely to improve economic outcomes for Indigenous Australians in the north.

A stronger economy in the north cannot be achieved without the economic participation of Indigenous Australians. Indigenous Australians make up about 15 per cent of the population in northern Australia and in the Northern Territory this figure is even higher, at over 25 per cent. I am pleased to be working with Indigenous business leaders on strategies to help get more people into jobs, get the right support for Indigenous entrepreneurs and help our traditional owners realise the economic potential of their land, sea and cultural assets. I thank Indigenous Affairs Minister Senator Nigel Scullion and the Indigenous Reference Group for their work in progressing this essential aspect of developing the north.

Conclusion

The review of the first three years of the government's northern Australia agenda shows progress being made but there is a lot more work to do. These annual statements to parliament themselves create pressure and energy to help maintain the momentum on the northern. We must maintain this pressure to ensure that the next 17 years of our northern Australia agenda continues to make progress. That is a task for all Australians that support the development of our country. Tonight 160-odd guests will join me here in parliament to continue to sell the message about the enormous opportunities that exist in northern Australia. Our plan is a plan for all of these Australians—indeed, all Australians—and we need to work together to see this plan to its conclusion.

1 Pilbara Development Commission (2018) Pilbara Economic Snapshot, Edition 1, August 2018 http://www.pdc.wa.gov.au/application/files/9615/3535/6982/Pilbara_Economic_Snapshot_August_2018.pdf

2 The White Paper on Developing Northern Australia: Our North, Our Future, page 40 https://www.industry.gov.au/sites/g/files/net3906/f/June%202018/document/pdf/nawp-fullreport.pdf and 2016 Annual Statement https://www.minister.industry.gov.au/ministers/canavan/speeches/northern-australia-annual-statement

Additional information

Visit http://northernaustralia.gov.au for the 2018 Developing Northern Australia Implementation Report and the Our North | Our Future video.

I table this statement and seek leave to have this statement incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

Claire Moore (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the minister for making the annual statement to the Senate on the government's progress on implementing the Northern Australia white paper. Our shadow minister, Jason Clare, in the other place, will be joining the minister at tonight's function, and there will be the opportunity—

Sue Lines (WA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Moore, are you moving to take note?

Claire Moore (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am moving to take note. I move:

That the Senate take note of the statement.

I've already started to take note, Madam Deputy President, and now I'll continue. In terms of the process, our shadow minister, Jason Clare, will be joining the minister this evening at the function, where he will have a chance also to continue discussion about a really important element of future policy.

I take the point the minister raised in his conclusion about the importance of having this engagement with our parliament. He said that these reports offered the opportunity to provide 'pressure and energy' to ensure that this 20-year plan will continue and engage with people across the community. Also in that space is the absolutely strong importance of collaboration across governments and the fact that that must be an integral part of the future, and also the acknowledgement of the extraordinarily important element of work with Indigenous communities across northern Australia. We know that one of the elements to make this program operate is to identify where the needs are greatest and also to look at who lives in northern Australia. It is a growing, wonderful part of the world but we do acknowledge that a very large number of Indigenous people live in northern Australia and they must be part of any plan into the future.

One of the things we do know is that these annual reports are important to the parliament. When we had a look at Hansard, we couldn't find a report that was handed down last year. Certainly there was the report the first time, but this is only the second time that a report has actually been made, from looking through Hansard.

Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It was tabled.

Claire Moore (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It was tabled but there was no discussion in terms of the process and the way we operate.

Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was in the High Court.

Claire Moore (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I take your point, Minister: you were not minister at the time. But I just think it is very important that we ensure that the interaction actually happens. Also one of the elements that needs to be looked at is that we do share a parliament in this place. You are the minister at the moment in this place, but this report should be tabled and discussed in the other place as well. And it is not only in this report; it happens a lot. I think there needs to be the opportunity and the knowledge that, when you have a report of this nature, it doesn't matter where the minister is located; it needs to have that option for debate. We can work better on doing that in future, because I think that is something we do lack. So I get the opportunity now to make some comments about it, even though I am only looking at doing a covering job for the shadow minister, who happens to be in the House of Representatives. There must be a way, not only in public functions but also in the parliament, to have that process. We know that Mr Pyne, then the Minister for Defence Industry, tabled a statement in the other place, but there was not the same opportunity to get the chance to get up and talk about why the program is important and what its focus is. And it was at that time last year when there were acknowledgements that there needed to be some changes. In fact, that was when the review of what was going on was announced. It was an important time and I hope that that will be done better into the future.

As we know, when this government launched the white paper, there was a great deal of fanfare. I will quote some of the things that were said at the time. Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott said that the white paper was designed to create an 'economic powerhouse'. Former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Resources and Northern Australia, Barnaby Joyce, said:

We are a nation smart enough and brave enough to take the next step and now we have the government motivated enough to do just that.

They promised thousands and thousands of jobs—and what have we seen since then?

The minister rolled off some figures in his report. But when you look at exactly what has happened in northern Australia, you see that it is not a great picture around employment. Since the white paper was released, unemployment in places like Townsville has got considerably worse, not better. From Gladstone to Darwin there are now more than 33,000 people looking for work. And for many of those who do have jobs, wages have gone down and not up. More than 40,000 people in northern Australia have had their penalty rates cut. And that's not all. When you look at the incredibly important and valuable aspects of education in the north, you see that local schools have lost the funding that they were supposed to get—$70 million from schools in the Northern Territory and $100 million from schools in Central and North Queensland. Universities have been cut too—$15 million from Charles Darwin University in the NT, $36 million from James Cook University in North Queensland and $38 million from Central Queensland University, which now has a range of campuses across the north. There are over 9,100 fewer apprentices across Australia. On that basis, things have got worse for the north, not better. We are worried that there is a lot of talk and not enough action.

Around the NAIF, the minister identified in his comments that this particular program had not been proceeding in the way that he had hoped.

There is, in fact, a review called to see what was going on in the first two years of the program. There's no bigger example of areas where there's been talk and media but not as much action as was promised and is obviously needed. The NAIF, the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, was the centrepiece of the government's promise to the north. When the NAIF Act passed parliament in this place, Senator Canavan said:

The Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility continues the legacy of other great nation building initiatives that Australian governments had taken in the past, like the Snowy Mountains scheme and interstate railways.

That may have been a slight exaggeration, but we all need a goal, because, after more than 3½ years, it has only announced one project in Queensland, which the minister identified in his contribution.

The NAIF also has been promoted. While it's been building and building and being reviewed, the NAIF has caused considerable media coverage. The NAIF did media during Beef Week in Rockhampton, talking about potential investments. There was lots of talk about all the possibilities. There are still lots of possibilities and potential, but unfortunately, from where the community stands, there hasn't been significant action. Particularly now, when we have drought-stricken farmers in Central Queensland and, in fact, across the community, at Beef Week there was quite a deal of expectation that something was going to translate for this incredibly important industry in our community.

We believe that NAIF has not lived up to its promises. It's no longer the centrepiece of the government's promises; it's now a symbol of things that must be done better. Certainly we acknowledge that recently there has been some movement from the NAIF in Western Australia and the Top End. That is positive. Labor welcomed those announcements. But after three years, given the importance with which this element was promoted, it's just not good enough—not when 33,000 people are looking for work.

When Labor were in government, one in every $7 invested in infrastructure was spent in the North. We committed more than $5 billion, and we didn't leave it just sitting there with promises attached. We need to get the NAIF money, which has been identified and promised, out. Every minute you delay has an impact. For example, in Darwin, the construction on the Inpex project is wrapping up. In this place, we've had a number of contributions over the past years about what that impact was, how many people are involved and how this has a real impact not just in the immediate area of Darwin but across the whole north. Last year, there were around 9,000 people working there, more than 1,100 of whom were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, which was a really positive element of that project. There are now around 3,700. These people are finishing their jobs in Darwin and they are leaving town. That has been identified both within Darwin and across the Territory. If the government had had its act together, it would have announced enough projects in the Top End to keep those workers there months ago so that, instead of people being faced with the decision to leave the area to get work, they could have continued to plan and live in the Territory with the confidence that there were jobs that they could take. That would maintain the expenditure and the community aspects that are so important in any area but, I think, particularly in the North, where, again, there had been so much hope and expectation.

The government isn't delivering what it promised. The people of northern Australia have been asked to trust into the future, and that is important. In fact, they've always been asked to trust into the future, and they're not getting their trust responded to. People in the north should be able to trust their government to deliver the things that are important to them. That's why we've told them that a Shorten plan would do things at the next election. These are not election promises; they are clear plans into the future for how we would look at a plan for northern Australia. We'd put back the money that we've identified as being cut from schools, because we understand that the only way to an effective future is to have a strong education base. Again, that builds families and communities. Just last week, we announced that we'd deliver a record $14 billion investment into public schools. We have also planned to put $700 million cut from hospitals back into the system. Importantly, as I said earlier, we would look at genuine wages and we would return penalty rates.

Sue Lines (WA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Moore. Your time has expired.

Claire Moore (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.