Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Macdonald for his question and would also like to place on record the long commitment of Senator Macdonald and the work that he has done to contribute to developing the North. Indeed, the agenda the government is prosecuting now—and this is the first time a government has had a white paper on northern Australia—owes a lot to the efforts of Senator Macdonald over many years.

It is exciting today that Genex Power has announced to the market that it has received an indicative term sheet from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility for a $516 million concessional loan to support the very large investment in energy in Far North Queensland at the former Kidston mine site. That project includes investments in pumped hydro, solar and wind which will create secure supplies for North Queensland. It will create 500 jobs in the construction phase. We very much welcome the strong commitment the NAIF has provided here and wish Genex all the best for the future of the project.

I should point out that the term sheet is conditional on a number of things, including agreements on the offtake of power and further equity discussions that Genex will try to progress this year. But this is a major project. Earlier this year, I announced changes to the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility's mandate. The announcement of the term sheet today is a direct result of those changes to provide the NAIF greater flexibility to make offers of this kind. I look forward to working with Genex, the NAIF and the Queensland government to progress these very important projects for North Queensland to secure their energy supplies and to provide hope for economic development and jobs, too.