Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The policy contained a number of initiatives which were exciting and which, if implemented, could really have started a serious government thrust in the development of Northern Australia. It was always the intention that government leadership and facilitation would assist private industry in ways to move forward and invest in the types of initiatives that would sustainably develop the north. The underlying tenet of the policy was set out on page 7 of the policy document, and I quote:

The purpose of this paper (the Coalition's 2030 Vision for Developing Northern Australia) is to set out the policy options that the Coalition intends to pursue in our subsequent White Paper on developing Northern Australia.

The Coalition regards the extensive consultation over the past three years on the development of Northern Australia as an effective and responsive approach to formulating the White Paper.

Further:

The Coalition's 2030 Vision for Developing Northern Australia clearly sets out the policy priorities for developing Northern Australia that the White Paper will consider. It is not, however, a final set of policy options.

As with any other Green Paper, the Coalition’s 2030 Vision for Developing Northern Australia is intended to facilitate discussion, comments, feedback and suggestion from industry, the community and interested parties about the development of Northern Australia.

The policy went on to encourage industry, community and interested parties to participate in the discussion and to provide constructive input. The paper said:

Input can include general feedback or specific policy proposals, both near- and longer-term.

It gave details of where any such submissions should be sent. The coalition policy document said:

The Coalition is committed to realising far more development for Northern Australia.

To this end, we—

that is, the government, should we be elected—

will produce a White Paper on the development of Northern Australia within twelve months of the election—

that is, by 6 September 2014.

The White Paper will set-out a clear, well-defined and timely policy platform for promoting the development of Northern Australia. The White Paper will define policies for developing the North to 2030, including an outline for the implementation of these policies over the next two, five, ten and twenty years.

The paper also indicated that the white paper would be produced by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

The Prime Minister announced the setting up of the joint committee that is the subject of this motion in one of his first news conferences following the election. He indicated that Mr Warren Entsch, the member for Leichhardt, would be chairman. As far as I am aware, there was little consultation on the terms of reference of the joint select committee, and I have mentioned that previously. The establishment of the joint select committee was not part of the coalition's policy document but, as senators know, committees of parliament can be a useful additive to any policy implementation. I am just a fraction concerned that the joint select committee process may just delay government decisions on the development of northern Australia in a way that has happened in the past. I note that the ministers responsible for this area of government policy now are based respectively in Noosa in southern Queensland and in Adelaide.

Senators will be aware of the separation of powers and the fact that the committees of parliament are actually committees of parliament and not committees of the executive government. I note that in the Prime Minister's announcement of the committee he indicated who the chairman would be when, quite rightly, the terms of reference indicate that the chairman will be elected by the committee itself and not appointed by the Prime Minister. This does not, I might add by way of personal explanation, in any way involve me, as I do not intend to be a voting member of this committee, but I will contribute to the extent of my ability as a participating member of the committee, which according to the terms of reference has all the powers and rights of a voting committee member except for voting. But I would not want the process embarked upon by government, useful though it may be in some cases, to delay further the formation of the government's white paper within 12 months of the election, which is what was promised prior to the election.

I suspect that there will be little that comes before the joint select committee that is not already referred to in some way in the coalition's policy document. For example, the coalition's policy said:

Our White Paper on developing Northern Australia will consider, as a matter of priority, the following policy options …

It then went on to mention in some detail the Northern Australia Strategic Partnership, regional involvement, building key urban communities in northern Australia, economic infrastructure, upgrading the Bruce Highway, building research capabilities—in particular the cooperative research centre on northern Australia—promoting trade, the water project development fund, allocating funds from the foreign aid budget for the northern health and medical research institute and research generally, reallocating government departments to the North, and skills. The policy document also traversed another range of initiatives.

Mr Deputy President, of particular interest to me and, I can assure you, all northern Australians are the following words at page 5 of the policy document:

To this end, the efficacy and targeting of current relocation incentives and personal and business income tax incentives could be reviewed.

The document at page 22 also recognised:

… a significant barrier to the development of Northern Australia is the lack of scale economies, which has flow-on impacts on the availability and cost of goods, services and infrastructure in a Northern Australia.

The Coalition recognises that higher effective costs in rural and remote areas affect the incentive for families and businesses to relocate to, or remain in, these areas.

Accordingly, the first part of my amendment makes specific reference to taxation. This will ensure that there will be no opportunity for the committee or, indeed, the government to ignore a review of the existing zone tax system. That is important not only to me but to every person living in northern and remote Australia, so that is the basis of the first part of the amendment.

To assist the government, I am suggesting in the second part of my amendment that the joint select committee should actually produce its version of a white paper, from which the executive government can then start its process of producing a white paper and releasing it by, as promised, 6 September 2014. Accordingly I am suggesting that the date for the interim report and for the final report of the select committee should be brought forward to give the government at least some time to consider the recommendations of the joint select committee and, as government would so wish, include in its white paper the suggestions of the joint select committee.

If the government is intending to take any notice whatsoever of the findings of the joint select committee in the preparation of its white paper, and if it is intending to honour its commitment to produce a government white paper within 12 months of the election, then clearly the dates set out in the government's terms of reference are incomprehensible. You cannot have the committee reporting on 6 September 2014 and the government issuing its white paper on the same day. If that were to happen, clearly the government would be taking no notice of what the select committee might have thought—and if that is the case, why bother with the select committee? If you are going to have the select committee and if it is going to mean something, then the days for reporting should be brought forward so that the government can use the work of the select committee in the preparation of its white paper.

I appreciate and certainly hope that the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet is already working on its white paper, but I repeat that if the joint select committee process is to be taken seriously as a process that adds value to the government's white paper then its report should be tabled in time to allow the government to meet its commitments. If this is not done, two alternatives spring out. One is that the government intends to take no notice of the select committee work—in which case, why bother with the select committee? Alternatively, the government will delay—and this is what concerns me—the publishing of its white paper beyond the committed date of 6 September 2014. This rings warning bells with me, in that any substantial delay will put us back in the process we were in back in 2001, when we had all the work done for a serious government involvement in the development of Northern Australia which was then—to put it politely—put on the backburner and it faded away. I do not want that to happen again.

During the past six years, particularly the last three years, and since the launch of the paper I have toured extensively in northern Australia, making commitments of behalf of the coalition and indicating that our leader was at last serious about the development of the North. I know that Mr Abbott still is, but I know that the pressures of government can lead to delays which eventually result in nothing being done. Whilst I understand that matters of great national moment take priority, I can assure the Senate that, for five per cent of Australia's population who live above the Tropic of Capricorn, the development of northern Australia is a priority. I do not want the current momentum to suffer the same fate that happened to the northern Australian forums process back in 2001. As the Vice-Chancellor of James Cook University said when referring to northern Australians at the launch by Mr Abbott of the white paper in June 2013, 'For us this is personal.'

I have made too many commitments to my constituents and to those who voted for me and us at the last election to allow this opportunity to pass by. I urge senators to support the amendments that I have moved, which will, if adopted, enable the government to proceed upon its chosen path but at the same time allow it to honour its election promise of a government white paper prior to 6 September 2014. The production of a white paper will at least give the people of northern Australia some serious indication of the government action that needs to be taken, setting out how the recommendations of the white paper are to be implemented, by which government entity they are to be implemented, the timetable for implementation, and how and when any government funding would be resourced.

I am sorry if all senators have not been able to hear me. I am suffering a bit with the aftermath of a cold and my voice is not what it would normally be. I hope I have made the argument for the amendments, which allow the government to establish this select committee, as it has chosen to do, but have not interfered with the process that was set out in the government's pre-election policy on a white paper that will seriously plan the permanent forward growth of northern Australia in a sustainable way. I urge all senators to support the amendments.