ADDRESS TO 2024 DEVELOPING NORTHERN AUSTRALIA CONFERENCE, KARRATHA, WESTERN AUSTRALIA

MONDAY 26 AUGUST 2024

Good afternoon, and thank you for such a warm welcome back to Karratha and to the Developing Northern Australia Conference. 

• To Councillor Daniel Scott – Mayor of Karratha – thank you for hosting us in your city
• I acknowledge
  • The Honourable Madeleine King – Minister for Northern Australia
  • Luke Gosling – Special Envoy for Northern Australia
  • My federal Coalition colleague and proud Western Australian – the Honourable Melissa Price
  • Shane Love, the leader of the WA Nationals
  • All federal, state and territory parliamentary colleagues
• Local Government representatives
• Professor Allan Dale – the inaugural and continuing Chair of the Developing Northern Australia Conference and his equally energetic Committee
• The Indigenous Reference Group chaired by Colin Saltmere
• Fellow presenters 
• and delegates

Before I speak today I want to acknowledge the passing of a great Northerner.  Luke Bowen will be known to all of us, either in the cattle industry and his leadership during the live export shutdown in 2011, his roles with the NTCU and NT Government but mostly for being one of those exceptional people who sometimes we are fortunate to meet.  Luke was warm and considered and passionate about our region, industries and mostly about our people.  Later on today let’s raise a glass to Luke, to Tracey and all the Bowen and Hayes family at this sad time.

So, we have gathered from around the country, possibly even a few from overseas to talk about the importance of Northern Australia.  I am keen to know your “why”. We speak about the opportunities, development, and even the economics of Northern Australia.  As the conference continues I’ll be asking each of you what your “why” is for being here, and I am going to share mine.

I was raised on a cattle station outside of Cloncurry.  In the “red country” as Pat Dodson would say, and not far from Salty at Camooweal.  The families who I met lived in the north because they felt an affinity to the country, to the work, and to each other.  A sense of opportunity for themselves and their kids.  Around camp fires at geologists’ camps and dinner tables with chopper pilots – the need for better roads, and hospitals, of train lines and schools – this was my understanding of the world.  Out of this grew organisations like the Flying Doctor, School of the Air, the Isolated Children’s and Parents Association, and of course all the local show societies, rodeos and sporting groups.  My grandfathers were part of the Cattleman’s Union (before Agforce) and formed the Mining Industry Council, because all of these were about making the most of our shared northern voices to improve the lives of our people.

Our modern additions to these supports are many and I’ll come back to those later.

Mostly though I have a sense of urgency – that the time for Northern Australia truely is now :-

• because the recent defence papers, including from the US, commit to activity and infrastructure in our north facing regions;
• because our increasingly affluent and hungry neighbours desire food produced to our high standards;
• mining of critical and traditional minerals, and rare earths to enable the electrification of our world and supply chain security, are demanded by our allies.

For these reasons, we must have a sense of urgency and use conferences like this to demand action. 

The Coalition has demonstrated through our track record in government that we recognise and care about the families, the communities, the industries, the employers and employees, the economic contribution, and the potential of the North. 

The Coalition had provided the framework that develops and fortifies opportunities for Northerners to live and work to their fullest potential, so that every Australian can prosper. 

Last week I stood in a new shed on the Port Development Road, in Townsville. a shed made possible with a grant from the Northern Australia Development Program for $4.91m. This grant allowed a 36 year old business to expand, provide water tanks to farmers, and covered train wagons to mining, taking componentry from an engineering firm in Ayr, and all replacing products that would have been imported. Employing locals and showcasing the best of Northern Australian ingenuity.

The spirit of the North and a sense of urgency to advocate for recognition and support of its contribution to this nation – is what led me to the Federal Parliament. I am, like many of you, determined to add to the voices of Northern Australia for the rest of the country and indeed, for the world to hear.

While I am driving for 

• improved roads, bridges and transport
• quicker response from emergency services
• more doctors and hospital beds
• stronger defence of our borders
• protection of our biosecurity and agriculture industry
• water for both our urban populations and rural communities
• incentives for business, mining and tourism investment
• reliable communications
• affordable insurance 
• treatment for strongyloides and rheumatic heart disease, because intestinal worms ha been identified by the WHO as a focus disease.  This year the WHO announced that by 2030 the target is for at least 96 countries globally to adopt a preventative program to treat the endemic in tropical communities. Unfortunately Australia is not one, and yet this life shortening and distressing disease is common in many of our remote communities. 

These are everyday issues that southerners don’t ever have to fight for. 

Currently, of the 151 Members of the House of Representatives and 76 Senators in the Federal Parliament, only 12 are based in Northern Australia to give voice to these issues. This is why we must prioritise and turn up the volume in our advocacy.

Northern Australia should be the future powerhouse of this country. It has pioneered and continues to drive our most important industries, including agriculture, mining, tourism and defence. These industries have created prosperity for individuals, for families, for companies and for Australia as a nation, but they also feed us, employ us and protect us. However none of us should ever take Northern Australia investment for granted, and the role that it can play in securing and growing Australia’s future prosperity and safety.

The Coalition in government will protect, support and incentivise the people in the North, as we have proven through the introduction  and continuation of the

• Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility
• CRCNA
• Office of Northern Australia
• Indigenous Reference Group
• Finally the Joint Standing Committee on Northern Australia (sadly downgraded from a permanent committee by the current federal government)

I recognise the leaders and representatives of these organisations at the Conference and thank them for their ongoing contribution.

Northern Australia is a world leader in the resources sector. We are blessed with abundant high quality natural resources, including critical minerals which will complement our traditional resources leading into the future, and provide a secure supply chain to our allies.

We have been recognised as a safe, secure, experienced and trusted mining nation, especially to our strategic partners who are also navigating an increasingly complex global geopolitical landscape. But we operate in a competitive world and our competitors are establishing a regulatory and business environment to attract the international investors that we also seek. 

Peter Dutton has already announced that we will reduce energy prices, halve project approval times that can currently take up to 16 years, defund the EDO, and roll back the most combative of the IR changes and reintroduce the ABCC. 

And, we most definitely cannot afford to introduce further barriers to cripple the confidence of investors. 

Environment Minister Plibersek’s recent overruling of the Regis Resources gold mine in New South Wales – that had previously passed all federal and state planning approvals – based on Section 10 of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act is a dangerous precedent for every industry in Australia. 

The Minister’s veto decision is a short-sighted nod to Aboriginal Cultural Heritage, when, in reality, she ignored the local Aboriginal Land Council, who claimed that there were no concerns with the gold mine that could not be managed, and who questioned the authenticity of Indigenous opposition to the site.

Whilst this decision concerns a mine in New South Wales, the precedent is set and the implications will be far-reaching to affect Australia’s sovereign risk and the willingness of companies to invest here.

Minister Plibersek’s decision has opened the floodgate to Green activists to block projects throughout the country, under the guise of Aboriginal Cultural Heritage. Here in Western Australia, the Bellevue Gold Mine is now subject to a Section 10 objection, which has been lodged by just one complainant. 

And the distressing lobbying for a listing of Cape York on the World Heritage List needs deeper consultation and consideration.  World Heritage listing at Tully has now prevented the construction of a flow of stream hydro power station.

• The Cape York Peninsula spans 12,000 square kilometres
• The World Heritage listing should ring an alarm bell for those living and deriving their income in Cape York 
• Indigenous communities are contacting me asking how they can have local decision making on projects when they see international oversight 
• The Minister says that existing land tenure won’t change, but any new development has to be sympathetic to “globally important values”
• What about our Northern Australian values? 

This single move by government does not value the sectors that deliver first world living standards to every Australian. It is a red flag that needs to be flown high and waved ferociously. As I have said, we operate in a competitive world and we have fierce rivals for the same investment profile that we seek – we cannot survive, let alone prosper in an environment where our own government works against us. 

And the irony is apparent, that the politicians who represent southern cities and towns – which enjoy state-of-the art hospitals, schools, art galleries, road systems and 5G connectivity – do so largely due to the back-breaking work and tax revenue of Northern Australians who enjoy very few of those facilities. 

The Coalition recognises and cares about the Northern Australian economy, and those who build it.

The growing rare earths sector, critical and traditional minerals could flourish in the north with infrastructure assistance. Mines like Arafura will support service delivery in Alice Springs, as will new copper mines to support Mount Isa with the completion of the Outback Way.  Just try to imagine the $500 billion resources sector without towns like Karratha and Port Hedland, Newman and Mackay. All of these drive services and population in the North.

We welcome international tourists as well as domestic travellers to our spectacular natural icons :-

• with 400,000 visitors to the Kimberley region each year
• 210,000 visitors to the Kakadu National Park and 250,000 visitors to Uluru each year
• whilst the Great Barrier Reef tourism industry contributes $5.7 billion to the national economy each year. 
• I welcome the latest data from AIMS showing that coral cover has increased in all three regions of the Great Barrier Reef, and proclaiming the ongoing viability of the reef, despite the alarming claims from environmental lobbyists. Please share this research worldwide so that young people in Europe stop talking about the dead Barrier Reef!

This all forms the narrative around the strategic geography of Northern Australia. The Northern frontier is also the frontline in protecting and defending our nation. Northern Australia is our national border and checkpoint for biosecurity, food security and our national defence.

We cannot afford disincentives, more colours of bureaucratic tape, and feel-good policy based on southern preconceptions and political expediency. 

Time is not on our side, we have had two and a half years of no new action on Northern Australia.  The release of the White Paper Refresh is hardly new.

• The Government needs to stop doing deals with UNESCO over the Great Barrier Reef, putting at risk generational fishing businesses, and tourism and indigenous communities in the Cape York Peninsula
• Instead of Production Tax Credits – still not designed, still not explained, still not implemented – we need to urgently consider reformation of the zonal tax offset for Northern Australia, to offset the higher costs of living and doing business
• We need to invest in infrastructure, such as the Outback Way, that connects the three northern jurisdictions
• Increased competition among airlines is essential to foster tourism growth, enable businesses to flourish and to allow Northern Australia to seize emerging opportunities in the Indo-Pacific
• Planes land in fog around the world, but low cloud in Mt Isa will stop flights for days, despite our airlines investing in the necessary equipment to land safely
• We need to invest in liveability infrastructure, such as roads, transport, housing, access to health and emergency services, communication connectivity, fair education, job creation, closing the gap, and providing safe communities
• We need to urgently extend the mandates of the NAIF and CRCNA to ensure the framework for continued project investment in the North

Strategic investment in infrastructure, skills and industries will not only strengthen Northern Australia, but also position the nation as a key driver of economic growth, diplomacy, defence and biosecurity protection throughout the whole region, ensuring that we remain competitive in the global market.

I applaud Professor Allan Dale and the convenors of the Developing Northern Australia conference for bringing together the minds who CARE about this region, and who have the will, the voices and the collective ability to facilitate progress and urgently stop the current backslide that puts at risk everything that is critical to the prosperity and security of our whole nation.

As Shadow Minister for Northern Australia, and as one who lives in the North, I encourage you to ensure you leave this Conference with actions to make urgent change.

ENDS