Susan McDonald (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the report of the Senate Select Committee on the effectiveness of the Australian Government's Northern Australia agenda. This coalition government is filled with doers, especially in relation to northern Australia, and it's just unfortunate that I have only five minutes to highlight the huge strides being made in our great north. I think the most important element, though, is the structural changes that we are making to those things that have been holding northern Australia back—two things in particular. One is access to capital and the second is the complete market failure for insurance.

On insurance, we have acted on this market failure in northern Australia by announcing a reinsurance pool of $10 billion. Warren Entsch, as the member for Leichhardt, has been working hard on this for the last 10 years, and now he, George Christensen, Phillip Thompson and I have leaned in. This terrific announcement has made an unimaginable difference to businesses that couldn't get insurance; to retirees and owners of strata title units who couldn't get insurance; and, of course, to families, for whom the cost of insurance has become so eye-wateringly crippling that they have been either uninsured or underinsured. Some put the estimates on the reductions of insurance premiums at 50 per cent, which is a huge result on the back of this advocacy by our northern members. Again, this is in stark contrast to the Queensland Labor government, which continues to charge Northern Queensland residents predatory rates of stamp duty on their ever-increasing premiums. They're now having a windfall gain estimated at some $60 million a year being gouged out of the North Queensland economy.

On water, we have been working hard on establishing feasibility studies and preparing water projects. For the Big Rocks Weir near Charters Towers there is $30 million in federal funding, but we are still waiting for the state government to finalise their decision to get the project started. There will be 200 jobs in construction and ongoing agriculture on 5,000 hectares of high-value land. Work has begun on Rookwood Weir near Rockhampton thanks to $176 million in federal funding. Urannah Dam work is progressing north-west of Mackay. This is a terrific project, and it will require continued support to get it to construction stage, along with dams at Hughenden, the Richmond irrigation scheme and, of course, the Hells Gate Dam. We've also funded a study into a water project on the Cloncurry River. There is the Lakeland project on the Tablelands and, of course, the Mareeba-Dimbulah irrigation project, just to name a few.

Last week I was fortunate enough to be at Kidston for the sod turning on the project there, which has more than $650 million in federal funding. This includes the largest loan to date from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, at $610 million. The coalition has restructured the NAIF's lending criteria to allow smaller projects that will create jobs and boost regional economies in the north. In Queensland the NAIF has supported projects with a total value of around $1 billion, supporting around 3,500 jobs and returning an estimated economic benefit of more than $2.3 billion. The NAIF has now reached contractual close on $989 million in transactions in Queensland alone. This is a critical point of economic enablement where design and construction activities commence and job creation starts. Some of those opposite like to throw stones at the NAIF from their cushy inner-city offices, but this is not just an insult to the coalition; it is an insult to the hardworking NAIF staff who are based in the regions and making a real difference, despite the numerous roadblocks to development put in place by the Queensland Labor government.

There is so much more that is being done to increase people's ability to live and work in North Queensland and northern Australia: the increase of the Medicare rebate; regional connectivity, with the investment of more than $6 million in the latest round of regional connectivity programs to improve internet access for people in northern Australia; resources; the expansion of the geosciences program; and major transport corridors of growth. Our record in northern Australia is plain to see and is a result of action from this government.

Sam McMahon (NT, Country Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the final report of the Select Committee on the effectiveness of the Australian government's Northern Australia Agenda. Northern Australia is often regarded as having the greatest potential for development and prosperity in the country. Agriculture is one of the main economic activities in the north, and it does have enormous scope for expansion and development. The Northern Territory, in particular its agriculture sector, continues to prosper under the policies of a coalition government. But agriculture in the Northern Territory, along with many other industries, is struggling at the moment—in fact it's going backwards in some cases—due to workforce issues and labour shortages. Farms are struggling to get workers and properties are struggling. There are no pickers for our seasonal mango and melon crops. This is something that's echoed across many industries in the Northern Territory. In fact tourism and hospitality are booming and doing so well at the moment, but they've got no staff. Some hotels in Darwin and Alice Springs are operating at 25 per cent capacity, not because they don't have the rooms but simply because they don't have the staff to work in the industry. They are in fact turning people away. The Northern Territory is turning away the economy that they could have because of this massive labour shortage.

Yesterday the Minister for Agriculture, Drought and Emergency Management, the Hon. David Littleproud, confirmed that there will be an agriculture visa as part of the give and take of negotiations with the UK over the free trade agreement. UK backpackers will no longer be required to fulfil the requirement to work in the agriculture industry to extend their visa. While to some this may seem like a decision that will adversely impact the agriculture sector, the changes negotiated by Minister Littleproud on behalf of the sector he represents will also have positive flow-on effects for other industries like tourism and hospitality. Hospitality NT chief executive Alex Bruce believed the Territory's tourism and hospitality industry might not have gotten access to UK backpackers whose first preference was to work in the sector but who were not keen on spending the 88 days required in agriculture first. If that's the case—and time will tell—then this will be a double win on the back of changes by the federal government in lifting restrictions on the hours international students can work. The new agriculture visa is a massive, massive win for the Territory in securing the labour force that's needed. We will no longer have the UK backpackers but, to be honest, not many of them worked in the Northern Territory anyway. They were often unsuited to the harsh climatic conditions associated with picking melons and mangoes in the Northern Territory.

The new agriculture visa has been a long time in the planning. It has been a Country Liberal Party policy for many years and it is something that I have been working on in this place with various ministers for the two years that I have been here. It has been supported by my National Party colleagues, who have also called for an agriculture visa. It is going to be an incredible win for tourism, for agriculture and for many industries in the Northern Territory. UK backpackers will be freed up to go and work in cafes or bars, or in work that they're used to doing and that they're good at, and we can extend visa arrangements to our ASEAN neighbours to our north, to people that are used to working in the agriculture industry, to people who are already used to picking mangoes. People that have worked on farms and have run farms can now come to northern Australia, to the Northern Territory, and fill this massive shortage that we have.

Last season we saw $15 million worth of mangoes out of a $50 million industry rot on the ground simply because there weren't the workers to pick those mangoes. This will revolutionise our agriculture industries.

Concetta Fierravanti-Wells (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will put the question that the Senate take note of the report.

Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to seek some clarification. I'm not sure whether Senator McMahon sought leave to continue her remarks later on that.

Concetta Fierravanti-Wells (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Urquhart, are you seeking leave to continue your remarks later on that document?

Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, on that document—take note and seek leave.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.