Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move government amendments (1) and (3) on sheet GX128 together:

(1) Clause 5, page 3 (after line 25), after the definition of Investment Mandate, insert:

  Local Government Area means a local government area recognised by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

(2) Clause 5, page 4 (line 2), omit "Exmouth", substitute "Meekatharra".

(3) Clause 5, page 4 (lines 6 to 12), omit paragraphs (d) to (f), substitute:

  (d) the following Statistical Areas level 2:

     (i) Gladstone;

     (ii) Gladstone Hinterland;

     (iii) Carnarvon;

  (e) the Local Government Areas of Meekatharra and Wiluna (despite paragraph (b));

  (f) the territorial sea adjacent to areas covered by paragraphs (a) to (d).

These amendments seek to expand the definition of northern Australia to include the Statistical Areas Level 2 of Exmouth, Carnarvon as well as the local government areas of Meekatharra and Wiluna in Western Australia. The amendments follow discussions that the government has had with the Western Australian government and other Western Australian stakeholders about the appropriate definition of northern Western Australia. They are also consistent with other minor adjustments the government has made to the boundary of northern Australia, if you like, if you broadly took that boundary to be the Tropic of Capricorn. In the Northern Territory and Queensland, there have also been some adjustments below the tropic to take into account those parts of Northern Australia which are connected to those areas below the Tropic of Capricorn.

I should say that this bill has been out for some time for consultation since January this year. It was the subject of a joint parliamentary inquiry. There were no submissions on this particular issue to that inquiry, and the committee did not make any recommendations with regard to it. Nonetheless, since the tabling of that report, the government has received representations from Western Australian stakeholders, as I have indicated. After considering those representations, we are more than happy to agree to this minor adjustment to the definition of northern Australia.