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

I too would like to take note of this report. As Senator Macdonald said, having representation of the major parties and the Greens in this committee could, you would think, have challenges—and in fact it did—but I think we have worked well together to produce a report. It would be fair to say, wouldn't it, Senator Macdonald, that some of us have more support for some of the recommendations than others, but we were able to agree on the recommendations? We have, I suspect, a different vision for the north that involves perhaps not quite as much industrial development as some others, but we can agree on the parameters in which we need to be looking at the north in terms of development and what parameters need to be put in place.

We all agreed that development, infrastructure and things that go ahead in the north must be based on the principles of sustainability and must be subject to scientific assessment. For example, for infrastructure there is a set of parameters that we recommended, including that Infrastructure Australia reviews proposals for substantial investment in infrastructure. We all agreed that we needed to ensure that development proposals and other proposals for the north took into account the change in climate and that all planning processes included the development of adaptation and mitigation policies and strategies for Northern Australia. We also agreed on water resources. While I suspect there is a difference of opinion on which water resources should and could be developed, we did agree on a set of principles by which that development, if it is to go ahead, should occur, and that should be subject to scientific investigation and have access to the best scientific information.

We also, very importantly, all agreed, acknowledged and recognised as a committee that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have rights as traditional owners and/or native title holders over significant areas of Northern Australia both on land and at sea. In addition, the committee expressed its respect for the centrality of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders' language and culture and acknowledged that any future development of Northern Australia will require the engagement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples not only as landowners but as participants and potentially partners and leaders in the development process. That was very important.

When we visited areas in the north, we did talk to a lot of Aboriginal land owners and native title holders and also some really good examples of really positive projects that Aboriginal communities own or Aboriginal people own and have developed. These are multimillion dollar companies. The Rusca Bros is one that sticks in my mind because of the way that they run their business. They focus on supporting Aboriginal youth, particularly into employment, and understand the need to provide wraparound services for those young people going into employment so that they can maintain a connection with that employment. We were provided with examples of where young people have come from lacking necessary numeracy and literacy skills to then engaging employment and maintaining employment, and then gaining the certifications needed to operate very heavy equipment. We were also shown a project where a $170 million contract to deliver some necessary road infrastructure was completed on time, and not only was it performed on time but also with the efficiencies to do extra work with the money that was available and, at the same time, train people.

I want to acknowledge Senator Macdonald's role in promoting this and recognising the significance of culture and the arts in the North and building that into the recommendations. He also acknowledged the importance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art and culture. You will find there is a recommendation about that as well.

Environmental sustainability was obviously another key area that I was particularly keen to make sure that we addressed. In the report we acknowledged areas that have the potential to impact negatively on the environment such as harbour dredging, the use of water, the development of water resources and mining developments. We also looked at conservation benefits.

We did not all agree 100 per cent to 100 per cent of the recommendations. We were a little bit nervous about some of the recommendations in the report, and different members of the committee were also nervous about them, but we do not want to repeat the development mistakes of Southern Australia in Northern Australia. We need to make sure that we do not destroy the environment in any further developments of the North. We need to acknowledge that there are already communities in the North that do need some support.

It is pointed out in the report—and Senator Macdonald touched on this—that they face a higher cost of living and they do not have access to the same education, health and social services that people in the major capital cities in the southern areas of Australia have access to. If we are to support a population, in particular the growing Aboriginal population—we know that Aboriginal populations are growing much faster than non-Aboriginal populations—we need to make sure that we invest in social infrastructure. We have also touched on those recommendations in the report. In terms of other Aboriginal recommendations, we have acknowledged the need to make sure that we enhance employment opportunities and work in partnership with communities.

I am looking forward to continuing the work in Northern Australia and working as part of the committee to look at how the white paper comes out and to look at what the government does to make sure that we do not repeat those mistakes and enhance the opportunities for those people already in the North, particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. We did visit the Torres Strait Islands and gathered evidence there. I will say that there were a number of proposals from all over the North about development, some of which have more legs than others and some that are on the edge in terms of being sensible or viable. One of the projects I do think is really good is the proposal for renewable energy in the Torres Strait. We also built into this report the role for renewable energy in the development of the North.

I look forward to my continuing involvement in this report and working with my colleagues to see if we can continue to work together to see that any development that happens in the North meets the triple bottom line of being socially, environmentally and economically sensible. I commend the report to my colleagues and encourage them to read it.