Madeleine King (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

Indeed, I will. I thank the member for Kennedy for his question, and I have seen the cassowaries of Queensland, up near Cairns. I've kayaked on the Copperlode Falls Dam at Lake Morris there. There are only a few there, I admit, and it is a treasured species—no doubt about it. On what you say about wild pigs, I've been to orchards in Far North Queensland, a great fruit-growing area, and spoken to farmers that have lost their dogs to these pigs, actually. It's terrible circumstances when your pets are taken by wild pigs. We appreciate the problem that is there.

But I would also acknowledge the member for Kennedy's passion for Northern Australia and in particular northern Queensland. Thank you for all that you have done in your vast experience here in the House. I think you well know the Prime Minister is well aware of that, as am I, and we've met to discuss many things. I would just comment, though, that I do think it is a good thing that MPs from across the country take an interest in Northern Australia and speak on this debate in this House. Whilst they might not see the day-to-day operation of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, knowing that it has supported nearly 37 extraordinarily community-changing projects right across the north—across the north-western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland—is a very important thing. I'm really glad that there are members from inner-city Sydney or Perth or otherwise contributing to this debate; that is a good thing. I would note that there was only one Queensland LNP member that spoke on the NAIF bill earlier today, which I think is disappointing, given this is a very important piece of legislation for the progress of northern Queensland.

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