Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility Amendment (Extension and Other Measures) Bill 2021. When the Our north, our future: white paper on developing northern Australia was released back in 2015, it made big promises to turbocharge growth and to create jobs right across the region. The white paper's biggest announcement—its crowning jewel, if you like—was supposed to be the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, which is now widely referred to as the 'no actual infrastructure fund'. The NAIF was intended to offer another avenue for projects which are a bit out of the norm and may not have qualified for traditional bank loans but offer great opportunities for innovation and job creation across northern Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

Northern Australia may be geographically remote, but it is home to a number of world-class, world-leading businesses and industries. There are organisations from Mackay to Darwin to Port Hedland that are achieving things that no-one else has even dreamed of doing in mining, in agriculture and in sustainability. With the right support, we can see more emerge, and this will help Australia in its post-COVID, post-recession recovery. Unfortunately, what we've seen over the past five years, since it was established, is that the NAIF has been a huge disappointment for the communities in northern Australia and has comprehensively failed to deliver what was promised back in 2015.

The government are always happy to talk about how much they have approved or how much they're going to spend eventually from the NAIF, but they go really silent when you ask them how much has actually gone out the door and into communities. There's probably a good reason they don't like to talk about that. As of 30 October 2020, NAIF had only realised $218.4 million of its $5 billion budget. That means that only 5c in every dollar promised has been released over the five-year period supposed to be the NAIF's entire life span. When the coalition government established the NAIF, it believed it could invest $5 billion in five years. Northern Australia is overflowing with potential projects, so it seemed like it should be an easy job. So how is it the government managed to make such a dog's breakfast of it, with only five per cent of funding out the door by the time its deadline rolled around? How? If it were a private business, serious questions would have to be asked about the NAIF's ability to hit its KPIs. So far, we have seen fewer than 10 projects actually begin or complete construction.

So the government gave the NAIF an extension, another five years to roll out the other 95 per cent of its funding. It's clear there is a big job for this 'announce lots, deliver nothing' government. The NAIF has also been subject to four reviews in as many years, with the Senate Select Committee on the effectiveness of the Australian Government's Northern Australia agenda also making it the subject of its interim report. It is no wonder that people in northern Australia see it as a white elephant, with review after review, announcement after announcement and recommendations made and gone unheard and northern Australia still seeing very little development. All of this inaction has meant people are still waiting to get any real results.

Labor have been calling for major changes to the NAIF for the past three years. Finally, at the end of last year, we saw the Morrison government admit its failures and commit to a much-needed overhaul of the program. Labor welcome the Morrison government finally making changes to the NAIF—changes we hope, when implemented, will be a step in the right direction. People in northern Australia don't want another announcement from the Prime Minister and Minister Pitt; they actually want delivery. They want money out the door from this program.

This bill proposes to extend the time period in which NAIF can make decisions to grant financial assistance for another five years beyond its current expiry of 30 June 2021 to 30 June 2026. The NAIF's statutory review showed stakeholder support for the extension of the NAIF based on the view that it fills an ongoing market gap in accessing finance in northern Australia. Labor supports the proposed extension. Northern Australia is bursting with opportunity, with many project proponents just needing that hand up to get started. Hopefully, the government will make better use of the next five years than they did the previous five.

The bill also proposes to expand the activities eligible for financial assistance beyond the construction of northern Australia economic infrastructure to the development of northern Australia economic infrastructure. This change is consistent with the recommendations of the Senate inquiry that the NAIF should support more smaller projects. It means the NAIF could potentially support the purchase of equipment, leasing, training and the expansion of existing business operations. The Senate inquiry into the effectiveness of the Australian government's northern Australia agenda repeatedly heard from stakeholders across the north that the NAIF was not accessible to smaller projects and that it is, a lot of the time, smaller projects that have the largest impact on communities and jobs in the north. It's always exciting to hear about $100 million projects being approved in our regions, but often it is those smaller projects that can make a big difference in communities because they can be completed more quickly and they deliver ongoing jobs faster. It's hoped allowing more of these smaller projects to prosper through the scheme will help deliver the results desperately needed to get the NAIF back on the right path.

The bill also provides for the NAIF to lend directly to project proponents rather than going through state and territory governments, as it must now. Feedback from across the north has raised serious concerns about the length of time it currently takes to get money out of the NAIF by duplicating administrative processes at the state or territory level. We acknowledge the concerns raised by environment groups that the changes would remove the ability of state or territory governments to block projects that have environmental impacts, in particular gas projects. However, the Queensland, Northern Territory and Western Australia governments, as well as business groups across the north, have all indicated that they are comfortable with this change. In addition, the bill does not alter existing federal, state or territory environmental and other regulatory processes relevant to projects that are funded by the NAIF. Labor supports speeding up the release of funding for the NAIF. However, we would like to see the NAIF support more renewable energy projects and projects which assist in achieving net zero by 2050 targets, as is Labor's own policy.

The bill also broadens the types of financial assistance which the NAIF will be able to provide to projects. Currently, the NAIF only provides loans. The bill proposes that, in addition to loans, the NAIF be permitted to offer letters of credit, purchase of bonds, guarantees and equity investments. This reflects the investment options of other government financing bodies such as the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. Labor has been calling for this change for a while now, with the Senate inquiry and the statutory review recommending that other types of finance would be of assistance to potential projects in northern Australia—especially smaller projects and those proposed by First Nations communities, which historically have had an extremely difficult time receiving support by the NAIF.

As of 30 October 2020, only two First Nations projects have reached investment decision stage with the NAIF. These two decisions total $40 million, representing only one per cent of the NAIF's total funding. That's just not acceptable. Labor has been calling on the government, and the NAIF, to work on having greater engagement with First Nations communities on the development of northern Australia. We acknowledge that this bill goes some way towards addressing this by including experience in economic development for Indigenous communities in the list of fields of expertise sought for the NAIF board. Labor had hoped the bill may go further in addressing the challenges First Nations projects seeking NAIF support have faced in accessing NAIF financing. However, we hope that, altogether, these changes will mean that smaller projects and First Nations projects, which are so vital to development in northern Australia, will have more opportunities to successfully progress through the NAIF.

The last 18 months have been particularly challenging for northern Australia. It has seen drought, fire, floods, trade embargoes and COVID-19. It has battled a lot of this without real meaningful help from this government, who time and time again seem to believe that this country stops at Kirribilli when it comes to planning those big projects. Areas like Far North Queensland, relying on JobKeeper and JobSeeker, have been hit badly by the government's recent cuts and in four short days will bear the brunt of the JobKeeper program ending altogether. For many people in the north this means less money for essentials, less money spent in local shops, meaning the north's recession will bite deeper and longer than it should.

That is why it is more important than ever that we see the Prime Minister, Minister Pitt and the NAIF start truly supporting northern Australia. Now is the time to be supporting big and small projects alike to get off the ground, employing people from local communities and stimulating those local economies. It's easy to lose count of how many reviews and rehashes of programs the government has announced for northern Australia in the last few years. Time after time this government talks about the north's potential but what they don't seem to understand is that people in the north are looking for action to actually realise that potential. A strong northern Australia is good for the whole economy and the whole country. If we want the north to lead the country out of recession, it's going to take more than unfulfilled promises. Northern Australians are fighters and they deserve a federal government who will join them, support them and invest in what the north has to offer.

As a result of this bill, the government will now get a second chance with the NAIF and another five years to spend the funds that it promised the north. Labor wants the NAIF to work. We want to see northern Australia reach its full potential. Let's hope this bill won't end up as just another example of this government overpromising and underdelivering. Northern Australia needs long-term vision but it also needs projects and jobs now. If our economy is to recover from COVID-19, the last thing they want to see is a repeat of the last five years. Communities in the north can't spend another five years waiting on funding to trickle down from the NAIF. Money must start getting out the door faster so it can start turbo-charging northern Australia's recession recovery.

As I've already said, northern Australia is bursting with opportunity. It's now up to the minister and his colleagues to deliver what they promised. Northern Australia has already been waiting too long for the Morrison government to catch up. It's time for action. It's time for jobs. It's time to see that the $5 billion that was promised to northern Australia way back in 2015 actually gets out the door, gets out of Canberra and makes a real, substantial and sustained difference for the north of this country. With that, I move:

That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:

"whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House:

(1) notes the Government's failure to:

(a) deliver what it promised as part of its Northern Australia Agenda; and

(b) get money out the door of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility;

(2) further notes the bill includes amendments that the Opposition has been calling for, for a number of years; and

(3) calls on the Prime Minister and the Government to:

(a) learn from their failures with the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility over the past five years;

(b) deliver the funding they have promised for development in Northern Australia by speeding up the release of funds from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility; and

(c) realise the potential in Northern Australia and re-commit to delivering on their Northern Australia Agenda."

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