Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Back. It is great that we do agree on that. We would seriously be foolish to ignore it.

Recent research has shown that developments in plant breeding and new crop varieties have substantially increased opportunities for large-scale agriculture in northern Australia, particularly in the WA Ord River Irrigation Area. For example, field research carried out over the past 10 years has confirmed that using new and tested approaches to growing cotton in Northern Australia can be a successful undertaking.

In May 2007 the then chief executive officer of the Cotton Cooperative Research Centre had this to say:

Cotton is a feasible and sustainable crop for farmers to grow, and would provide significant employment and infrastructure investment opportunities in the Kimberley region of Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

This investment by the Commonwealth government will send signals to the private sector and to state, territory and local governments that the federal Labor government is serious about the potential to greatly expand agriculture production in Northern Australia. It will show that the government realises that this will only occur if there is infrastructure to support large-scale farming and to get agricultural produce to international and domestic markets at an economic price.

From the time it came to office the Rudd Labor government demonstrated its commitment to Northern Australia and to the people who live and work in this region of Australia. The Office of Northern Australia, under the responsibility of Gary Gray, the Labor member for the WA electorate of Brand and Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development and Northern Australia, is now getting on with the very important task of turning vision into reality in Northern Australia. Enough talk; it is now time to get cracking. Under Mr Gray’s guidance—the guidance of the parliamentary secretary—I have no doubt that this reality will take shape.