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

I table a ministerial statement concerning the 2019 annual statement on developing northern Australia.

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish to thank the minister for providing the Senate with an update on the government's implementation of the northern Australia white paper. It was originally intended, I think, for that to occur yesterday, but obviously, with the change to business, that has ended up happening today. This is my first time taking note on the northern Australia agenda as the shadow minister. I want to take this opportunity to put forward Labor's position on that agenda and some issues that we think need some further attention.

As a senator for Queensland, I'm all too aware of what a significant contribution the industries in our north make to our national economy. While I've previously spent a lot of time in North Queensland through my family connections, my role as a senator, and previously in the Queensland government, since my appointment earlier this year I've spent a lot more time travelling across all of northern Australia to gain a better understanding of how we can expand those industries and support northern communities. Over the last six months since the election, I've been in coalmines outside Moranbah, lead and zinc mines in Mount Isa and gas processing service hubs in Broome. I've stayed at the Larrakeyah Barracks in Darwin to understand more about our Defence Force's challenges in the north, and I've met shipbuilders and tourism operators in Cairns with Senator Green. I've met mango farmers, barramundi farmers and cattle farmers across the Northern Territory. In doing so I've seen the work that universities like Charles Darwin University, James Cook University and Central Queensland University are doing to skill up workers and develop critical research for the north. I've sat down with Indigenous health services in Wiluna and other communities in remote Western Australia, and I've been on country with the Indigenous rangers in Nhulunbuy and Cairns. In short, I've spent the last six months meeting with as many different people as I can to gain a better understanding of how the northern Australia agenda is actually faring.

It has been over four years since former Prime Minister Tony Abbott released the northern Australia white paper to great fanfare. Since then we've seen two new prime ministers and two ministers for northern Australia, and many questions have been raised about how effective the government's northern focus has been. As I made clear at last night's function to celebrate the northern Australia agenda, Labor is very supportive of efforts to economically and socially develop northern Australia, and we remain very supportive of the government's northern Australia agenda overall. But, as I have been travelling across northern Australia this year, the feedback I've received is that, while the government's northern Australia agenda remains vital, it has simply failed to meet expectations.

That's why, in July, Labor established a Senate select committee into the effectiveness of the northern Australia agenda. This cross-party committee, with representatives from Labor, the coalition, One Nation and the Greens, was formed to identify what's working well in the northern Australia agenda and what can be improved on. So far the committee has held four public hearings, in Townsville, Mount Isa, Darwin and Nhulunbuy, in East Arnhem Land, and there will be further hearings in the new year, including in Cape York and the Torres Strait, in my home state of Queensland. We've been hearing from businesses, state and local governments, unions, community organisations and industry leaders.

The disappointment from stakeholders that I've heard about during my time travelling across northern Australia has been reflected in the evidence given to the inquiry to date. Just to give a couple of examples—Mr Ian Kew from the Darwin Major Business Group, when asked about the government's northern Australia infrastructure program, said:

If we just muddle along like we have for the last four or five years, with a lot of fancy reports but not much real action, then that's not going to do much for the economy.

According to Central Queensland University's submission to the inquiry:

… while there is little doubt the Government's efforts … in Northern Australia to date have been focused on addressing real issues, there is little evidence that significant gains have been achieved in terms of enhanced economic opportunities or social dividends.

I only give two examples, in the interests of time, but anyone who cares to read the submissions to the inquiry or the evidence that we've taken in hearings to date will see that those sorts of attitudes are representative of the evidence being provided. People remain excited about this agenda but are, frankly, pretty disappointed with what has come of it four years down the track.

While there has been disappointment voiced within the hearings, we've also heard about the enormous potential that our north continues to have. Traditional industries like resources and agriculture remain ripe with opportunities to expand and value-add. The committee has also heard a lot of evidence about emerging industries, such as the space industry, tropical science and health, defence maintenance, advanced manufacturing and renewable energy projects, and what is required to build these industries in northern Australia. I think that is one issue that the government particularly needs to look at, as it prepares a refresh of this northern Australia agenda, to ensure that we are grabbing all industry opportunities—whether they be in traditional industries or emerging industries—to make sure that we insulate northern Australia from the kinds of booms and busts that we've seen in economies that remain largely dependent on commodity based industries like resources and agriculture. In my view, this chance to grow emerging industries is barely mentioned within the northern Australia white paper, and it is something that really needs attention in any refresh that the government is planning.

Investing in emerging industries, particularly in a pioneering landscape like northern Australia, is inherently risky business. Unfortunately, the federal government's brainchild to help facilitate these investments—the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility—has become its most infamous failure. Time and time again submissions to the inquiry have highlighted the northern Australia agenda's crowning failure: the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, or, as its critics in the north have dubbed it, the 'no actual infrastructure fund'.

Despite being announced over four years ago, the fund has, to this date, only released $44 million—less than one per cent of its $5 billion budget—and not one cent of that money has been spent in Queensland, the largest and most populated state across northern Australia. Instead, we've seen over $400,000 worth of bonuses handed out to senior executives within the NAIF and nearly $26.6 million spent on administrative costs. So what we can see so far is that nearly 40c in every dollar that is left in NAIF has been spent on running costs—from executive and staff salaries, to office space, to consultants, to advertising, to travel and to bonuses. That is just not an acceptable performance over four years of this agenda being up and running. Indeed, there has been more money spent on executive bonuses than on projects in my state of Queensland.

And, worse, we've now seen one of the loans actually fall over. We see repeatedly Minister Canavan in this chamber and outside crow about the number of projects and the amount of dollars that have been approved by the NAIF. But what he doesn't want to admit is that there are at least two loans, equating to close to half the value of the loans that the NAIF has already approved, that are now under a serious cloud. It was recently announced that a loan given to Pilbara Minerals Ltd would not proceed to financial close. Despite this, Minister Canavan has continued to claim it as a win in his media releases. I might also mention that in his northern Australia annual statement last year, Minister Canavan singled out the Pilbara Minerals Ltd project as a NAIF success story. What a difference a year makes!

Just last month we also saw reports of a second NAIF loan in doubt—this time, the loan to Genex Power's $700 million Kidston pumped-hydro project in North Queensland. The project is built on a $610 million loan from the NAIF—87 per cent of the project's value and almost half the loans approved by the NAIF overall. If the NAIF's Genex loan falls over, it will leave a massive hole in the $1.2 billion in loans so far approved by the NAIF.

The operation of the NAIF has now become such a worry for the minister that he has taken the extraordinary step of announcing yet another review into the NAIF, a facility he oversees.

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

A statutory review.

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I take the interjection from the minister. The minister now says that it's a statutory review. But, if you have a look at his press release the day that he made this announcement late on a Friday afternoon, he was pretending it was a new thing. This is the fourth review that the NAIF will undergo in only three years. If that's not a sign that this organisation is in trouble, I don't know what is.

The truth is that Minister Canavan has direct oversight of a limited number of government funds in his role as Minister for Resources and Northern Australia. I saw yesterday in this chamber—and I've seen it outside as well—that Minister Canavan likes to take credit for all sorts of things that are happening in northern Australia that are actually the responsibility of other ministers, people who oversee roads, water and energy infrastructure. They are the kinds of things that Minister Canavan wants to talk about—other people's achievements. That's because he doesn't want to talk about the things that are actually his own responsibility, particularly the NAIF.

Minister Canavan's inability to get the NAIF functioning properly is not just disappointing; it's holding back jobs and economic development in northern Australia. It's about time that Minister Canavan spent more time getting the NAIF running properly and actually spending money on projects, rather than going around the country lecturing people and jockeying for the Nationals' deputy leadership.

We all want to see the northern Australia agenda flourish. Labor has been and remains supportive, but at the moment the federal government is unable or unwilling to deliver on the vision. Northern Australia has huge potential, and we need to seize it. (Time expired)

Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I also seek to take note of this statement, and I will try to make my comments quick—if we are looking at time management issues. I am rising to talk about a particular place in the Kimberley that I personally and, I know, a lot of other people hold deep concerns about—about it being developed and water extracted—and that is the Fitzroy River. This is a particularly important river system in Western Australia. There have in fact been many campaigns to protect this river, and I have to declare here that I have been part of those campaigns to protect this river. People in the Kimberley are very concerned about the northern Australia development agenda and what it means for the Fitzroy River.

On 26 October there was a festival for the Fitzroy held. Over 500 people gathered on the riverbed of the Fitzroy River for a concert to show support for protecting the Fitzroy and Margaret rivers. Traditional owners called on the McGowan government to make sure no water would be extracted for large-scale irrigation.

This is not the first time that megaproposals have been proposed for the Fitzroy River. All, fortunately, have not proceeded. The people there and a number of other people have expressed their ongoing concerns about two recent fish kill events involving 46 critically endangered sawfish and large barramundi. This also affected a crocodile and a jabiru. The traditional owners argued this is an example of what could happen if large amounts of water were to be taken from the Fitzroy or its tributaries for irrigation. There were also events held in other places in Western Australia, including a seven-metre-long sawfish appearing on the steps of the Western Australian parliament house. The reason people are so concerned is we are already seeing these impacts, but there are also ongoing attempts to take out large amounts of water from the Fitzroy River. There have, as I said, been attempts in the past to dam the river for things like cotton growing. And I want to do a big shout-out here to all the traditional owners and to Environs Kimberley, who have campaigned so hard on protecting this really important river system.

The problem here is we have very large-scale proposals for large-scale irrigation. For example, there was irrigation proposed by, for example, the chair of Hancock Prospecting, Gina Rinehart, which proposed an investment of $285 million to divert 325 gigalitres of water from the river to water cotton and the cattle industry. That is not the only proposal that is around for the Fitzroy River. It is very important that the agenda for developing the north does not threaten these vital ecosystems.

I was in the Kimberley at the AGM for the Kimberley Land Council a couple of months ago, where many people stood behind a banner calling on the state government to protect the Fitzroy River. My clear message here is: protect the Fitzroy River; do not endanger it. It was listed on the National Heritage List in 2011. In 2016, the traditional owners published the Fitzroy River Declaration, calling for full protection of the river and its tributaries, with a buffer zone to protect it from mining, fracking, immigration and dams.

This is a desert river that is subject to the bloom and bust of monsoon rains. I have heard so many people say, 'The water is wasted; it's going out to sea.' That water is part of a vital ecosystem. It is vital to that ecosystem, and it is ignorant to just say that that water flowing down the system is wasted. It is not. It is very important for the ecosystem, but it also varies. So overcommitting the river system could kill the river system, and we have seen what can happen with the deaths of the sawfish.

Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak tonight on the government's agenda for northern Australia. The reason I am standing up here tonight is the northern Australia agenda is often explained to me as an agenda to further the policies of the government rather than a policy to further the agenda of northern Australia. I have some concerns about the issues that are not being talked about as part of this agenda. I want to begin tonight by acknowledging the Torres Strait Island Regional Council and Deputy Mayor Keith Fell and Mayor Fred Gela, who are here today in the gallery to listen to this debate because they are members of our community in northern Australia. It has taken a long time to get to this debate tonight, so thank you for your patience, and it has taken a long time for them to be included in the conversations around northern Australia.

I often talk about the Torres Strait in here and how long it takes to get here and how the voices of the people who live in the Torres Strait can seem to be silenced by that distance. I know, as the people here know—and I am very pleased that the Minister for Resources and Northern Australia is in the chamber to listen to these issues being raised—that it takes a long time to get here. It takes a ferry and then a small plane and then another plane and then another plane, and it's a long journey. It's about 3,000 kilometres from Canberra to the Torres Strait. But these people who are here tonight are here representing their community, and they have raised with me quite a few issues that I think are being overlooked in the northern Australia agenda.

I haven't had an opportunity to read the minister's statement in full. I have been able to have a look through it tonight and certainly to consider the statements that have been made on previous occasions, and it does occur to me that there's one glaring omission. The statement does talk about industry, and it's very important that the northern Australia agenda talks about infrastructure and industry and economic development, but there's no mention at all of climate change in the statement. It might seem unnatural for a minister of the Liberal-National government to make a statement including mention of climate change, but it just goes to show that they don't really understand the issues that are facing people in regional Queensland and the issues that are facing people in the Torres Strait Islands, because the No. 1 priority of the Torres Strait Island Regional Council's journey to Canberra today is to talk to the government about support for climate change mitigation and protection, and natural disaster impacts.

The Deputy Prime Minister has made comments to the effect that climate change is just a concern for people living in inner cities. I sometimes have sympathy for some of those comments, because people who live in inner cities might not ever really feel the effects of climate change. But members of the Torres Strait Islands, including the councillors who are here, will feel the effects first, before all of the Australians who are concerned about this. So to say that this is an issue that only people in the inner city care about is just not true, and it shows that you're not actually listening to the concerns of people who are living in islands that need protection against erosion, islands that, if we see sea levels rising, will disappear. I have to say that is something that I didn't think I'd be quite as emotional about, but, when I heard Fred Gela talk about the impacts on his communities and the fact that his people will be the first people that will have to relocate from islands that they've lived on not for a hundred years but for centuries, it really made it clear to me that this is something that we need to take seriously. We need to make sure that regional people are included in the conversations. Even if climate change is not the central part of the northern Australia agenda, it is certainly something that should be included in terms of mitigation of the impacts of climate change.

The other thing I noticed isn't necessarily part of the discussion that we're having tonight around the northern Australia agenda is the desperate need for housing. I appreciate that that comes under a different portfolio and it doesn't feel like it fits neatly with some of the concerns that are raised in the northern Australia agenda, but housing is fundamental to the lives of the people living in northern Australia. At the moment in the Torres Strait there are 324 households on the needs register for a house—324 families that need a home. That is on top of the thousands of people in Far North Queensland and regional Queensland that need housing. The government did make a promise to those people before the election, a $105 million promise, to provide housing directly to councils such as TSIRC, to give that funding to the councils to build houses but also to create jobs. That's something that needs to be done. Unfortunately, six months later, we're still waiting for that funding to be delivered. Not a single house has been built since that election promise was made.

The thing is that election promises are made and funding requirements need to be organised—I understand that. But the ferociousness of this announcement and the way that it was spoken about and dealt with meant that there was an expectation that that money would flow through to communities. And these are not communities that can make do until the money is provided; they need those houses right now. So I would like to see the northern Australia agenda include a conversation about the social welfare of the people living in northern Australia. Certainly it is an important thing not only for the Torres Strait but for communities like Yarrabah.

Finally, I want to make note of something that Senator Watt raised, and that is the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility or, as we've been referring to it, the 'no actual infrastructure fund'. The NAIF is based in Cairns, where I am based, and I could walk to the head office from my office. But, at the moment, no money has actually been spent in Cairns on a project. The NAIF was established three years ago and we still haven't seen a project in Cairns—nothing, not a cent, not one single job in Cairns. In fact, the NAIF has spent no money and created no jobs in Queensland.

Despite this, the NAIF saw fit to hand out $400,000 worth of bonuses to its senior executive this year. That's just in one year alone. Those executives who haven't actually built anything or created any jobs in northern Australia have handed out to themselves $400,000 in bonuses. When it comes to the pub test, it doesn't matter whether the pub is in inner-city Brisbane or on Thursday Island, that's never going to pass. Minister Canavan is failing to do his job and get jobs and funding flowing in Far North Queensland and across northern Australia. That $400,000 could have built at least one of the houses we need to build in Far North Queensland. Over 300 people are waiting for a house in the Torres Strait, and $400,000 went to bonuses for senior executives who have not created one single job. It shows the hypocrisy of this scheme, it shows the failure of this government, it shows the failure of this minister to take this scheme seriously and it shows that there are people in northern Australia who are not getting a look-in.

We know that there are parts of northern Australia that need economic development and that there is so much potential, but we need the government and the minister to open up their eyes, look further than the very limited scope of that agenda and start thinking outside the box. That's what we want. We want infrastructure built in places like the Torres Strait, we want homes for people to live in and we want to make sure that people have not only a job to go to but a home to go to at the end of the day. I don't think that's too much to ask for. I don't think Australians living in Queensland should have to beg and borrow to get a house. I don't think Australians living in Queensland shouldn't have a home to go to at the end of the day. (Time expired)

Malarndirri McCarthy (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's great to see such enthusiasm about northern Australia. I take note of the minister's statement and thank him for providing the Senate with an update on the government's implementation of the Northern Australia white paper. This is obviously an opportunity to provide much-needed advice to the government. I join with my colleagues Senator Green and Senator Watt on the issues they've raised in relation to Queensland. I'd like to speak about the Northern Territory. I know that our colleague Senator Dodson has very similar concerns about the Kimberley region in WA.

Just on that, I would like to acknowledge our visitors from the Torres Strait in the gallery. It's lovely to have you here. Thank you for taking the time to travel so many kilometres to listen but also to let politicians know how important the Torres Strait Islands are to our country and to all Australians.

It's been four years since Prime Minister Tony Abbott released the Northern Australia white paper, an essential part of the government's plan to build a strong, prosperous economy. It announced:

We will fix the roads and telecommunications, build the dams and deliver the certainty that landholders and water users need.

What a let-down that's been.

The government's Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility promised $5 billion in concessional loans for projects throughout the north. Four years on just one per cent, less than $50 million of its $5 billion budget, has been released—one per cent! What's more, in the meantime they've racked up about $26 million in running costs—$26 million out of $40-odd million. That could be so sensibly spent where we need it in these remote regions of our country in the north. It is an indictment of the NAIF that, four years after it was announced, the amount spent on executive and staff salaries, travel, consultants and other administrative costs is approaching the amount actually released for projects in northern Australia. Shame on you and shame on the government for allowing and enabling that waste.

There were recent hearings in Nhulunbuy and Darwin. Senator Watt, the shadow minister for northern Australia, took the committee into the northern Australia agenda. It heard of the frustration felt by the people of the Top End. Ian Kew from the Darwin Major Business Group told the hearing, 'If we just muddle along like we have for the last four or five years, with a lot of fancy reports but not much real action, then that's not going to do much for the economy.' Mr David Malone from Master Builders NT asked us, 'Is the Commonwealth slowly abandoning the north?' I ask Minister Canavan: are you abandoning the north? That is how it feels.

The Prime Minister hasn't visited the Northern Territory since the federal election. He raced up there in January before the election. He wanted to get out to Kakadu, which is one of the most beautiful places but needs so much infrastructure and rebuilding. He raced out there only because he knew Labor was going out there to make an announcement. Then he won the election, and we haven't seen hide nor hair from him, have we? It would appear that he simply does not care. It's well past time for Mr Morrison to spend time in the Northern Territory to learn about the importance of projects and the need for investment. It's time Mr Morrison heard directly from Territorians, saw the state of the Northern Territory roads and understood why spending on Kakadu is so important. There is a real need for investment in critical infrastructure in the Northern Territory, yet you cannot see that, feel that or get a sense of that by sitting in the seat of Cook.

Cory Bernardi (SA, Australian Conservatives) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator McCarthy, your time has expired and the time for this debate has expired.

Question agreed to.