Senate debates

Thursday, 16 August 2018

Committees

Economics References Committee; Report

6:39 pm

Photo of Andrew BartlettAndrew Bartlett (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | | Hansard source

I rise to speak to the report of the Economics References Committee's inquiry into the governance and operation of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, which was formally tabled in this place this week; although it was actually released in July. Due to the unusual order of business this week, I didn't get a chance to properly speak to it, so I would like to do it the justice of making comments on it here this evening.

The inquiry was established via a motion by my Greens predecessor Senator Larissa Waters and the Labor Party. By the fact she is my predecessor and I am now here, there has been some variety of Greens senators involved at various stages of this inquiry at different times, but the continuity of our attention to the core issues remained the same. I would like to commend the report to the Senate.

I know there is a disagreeing and disagreeable minority report from the coalition senators, but I feel the Labor senators on the inquiry, including the chair, did a good job, and there are invaluable recommendations. I won't go through them all, but I certainly indicate my support for them. Some of them focused on the themes of greater involvement of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, including a representative on the NAIF itself; more transparency including around potential conflicts of interest; more presence of the organisation actually in northern Australia—including potentially having a staff person in Darwin—and also directing more investment directly to tourism.

There were some changes made by this government to the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility whilst the inquiry was proceeding, and that was welcome. It did enable, at least in theory—we'll see how it works in practice—some more capacity for somewhat smaller scale operation proposals to be put forward. It's no secret and no surprise that one of the focal points of the inquiry was around the potential use of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility to assist in starting up of the Adani Carmichael coalmine. Again, it is no secret that the Greens very strongly oppose the use of taxpayer resources, federal or state, not just for that coalmine but for any thermal coalmine in Queensland or across any part of the Galilee Basin.

I do draw the Senate's attention to a separate sole recommendation of mine that the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility Act be amended to require the NAIF to consider the Australian government's policy commitment to the Paris Agreement—we know from the National Energy Guarantee that the government's commitment to that is actually not genuine but, nonetheless, it's a commitment that they have officially made, so it's appropriate for it to be reflected in legislation—and that the NAIF consider the impact of any potential proposal on the government, whether it would be more likely the government's policy commitment to the Paris Agreement would be breached; consider the climate impacts of a project; and specifically prohibit this fund from being used to finance infrastructure that would facilitate the extraction, refinement, transportation or burning of thermal coal.

It's no surprise the Labor senators didn't support any such recommendation like that, because, of course, the Queensland Labor government refuses to withdraw support not only for the Adani Carmichael coalmine but for any. It also still supports, at least in words, ongoing proposals for other significant coalmines in the Galilee Basin, and indeed, is still calling for tenders for exploration for other new coal deposits in Queensland. That is wider than just the scope of this report, but it is an indication of the core problem with the state Labor government that does still need to be addressed if Labor in general want to claim they are serious about meeting the Paris Agreement targets.

Nonetheless, as I said, the Greens also welcome the other recommendations in the report, particularly in trying to ensure there is more capacity for the infrastructure facility to assist tourism projects in and across northern Australia. The evidence provided to the committee from some of the Northern Territory environment organisations as part of its Darwin hearing—which I attended via phone—gave some really good examples of the sorts of projects which would generate jobs, be sustainable environmentally and in terms of the community structures of the Territory, and have ongoing economic benefits. Those are the sorts of things that would be an appropriate use of public resources to assist in that type of economic development in northern Australia.

I want to put it on the record that, whilst the Greens clearly have a disagreement with other parties in this place about the use of public resources to develop new coalmines in Queensland, northern Australia or anywhere else in the country, that should not be misrepresented to suggest we do not support infrastructure development in the north. We certainly do. Indeed, we have released policies in the past with regard to that. When I speak to a later report I'll talk more about some of the proposals that are being put forward by councils in northern Australia and Northern Queensland as the sorts of things that can be supported, whether it's through direct government funding of infrastructure facilities or it's through the type of arrangement that the NAIF operates. I do want to make it absolutely clear that there is an important role, which I think can be expanded, for both state and federal governments to do better to resource northern Australia. My own interest is, of course, in Northern Queensland. It needs to be the right type of infrastructure, and part of the way that we increase our chances of doing that is by having more transparency and better rules around how these sorts of infrastructures are funded in the future.

6:47 pm

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

The Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility was one of the high points of the northern Australia white paper, which was released by the coalition government, by then Prime Minister Abbott, in 2015. It set out a blueprint for the development of the north of our country on the basis that a strong north means a strong Australia. Already, about 50 per cent of Australia's export earnings come from northern Australia, even though northern Australia only has about five per cent of Australia's population. Northern Australia has always punched well above its weight when it comes to supporting Australia.

The Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility was really one of the features of the white paper. I was pleased that the committee decided to have a look at it, investigate it and report on the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility. Unfortunately, as with everything relating to the development of northern Australia, this became an ideological and political football, the plaything of the Australian Labor Party. It had $5 billion set aside for very favourable—dare I say cheap—loans for development projects in northern Australia. Regrettably, one of the errors the government made—as much as I might say in spite of my opposition or caution about this—was that, when the federal government and this independent body that was set up made a recommendation for a loan to an entity that was going to develop northern Australia, they thought, for constitutional reasons, it had to be done through a state government. In my state, that means the Queensland state government. The Queensland state government is a Labor Party government, and it's there because of Greens preferences. It stays in power—and there's nothing the Labor Party and the unions like more than being in power—because of the Greens, who exercise undue influence on it.

Every single proposal put to the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility in the early days was either not dealt with or, in the case of Adani, which Senator Bartlett has just mentioned, deliberately avoided—vetoed—by the Queensland government. The Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility, although no decision had been made, had indicated that it was looking at the Adani proposal favourably, and then the Queensland government said it would veto any loan to Adani, notwithstanding that there wasn't a cent of Queensland government money in it and notwithstanding that the Queensland Labor government had already approved the Adani project. But they didn't want this project to go ahead and to be seen as being supported by a federal coalition government, with these favourable, long-term, lower-interest-rate loans. The Premier used the ridiculous excuse that, because her husband had worked for an international accounting firm which happened to have done some work for Adani, she couldn't allow it to go ahead. But it wasn't Queensland government money. It had nothing to do with the Queensland government, and the Queensland government had already approved every environmental and other condition for the Adani mine and the railway line to Abbot Point.

Since then, the Labor Party has made it one of its projects to try to undermine and destroy the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility purely for crass political reasons: so that the Commonwealth coalition government, the Turnbull government, could not claim any credit for major development projects in the north— which would have happened prior to this had this $5 billion fund, which we had specifically set up to develop the north, been available.

Since then, there have been some announcements made of major and significant loans, but these still require the approval of the Queensland government. One that I was involved in most recently was a loan to James Cook University to set up an engineering science hub, which would make money and allow them to repay the loan over a period of time. But even that requires the consent of the Queensland government, and, when last I heard, that still hadn't been forthcoming. We've made the announcement. NAIF has made the announcement. James Cook University has made the announcement. If I'm wrong on this, I'll apologise to the Queensland government, but up to a couple of weeks ago we were still awaiting the tick-off of the Queensland Labor government, and that was needed because James Cook University is a university and it's subject to Queensland state government legislation.

This NAIF fund that the committee inquired into is a great initiative. It has over $4½ billion still sitting there for anyone who has a reasonable business proposition for the north, and there are many around. I know most of the board members of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility. A couple of them are people from the north who I've known over a long period of time. They are highly qualified, highly experienced people passionate about the development of the north but with a business, accounting and financial background that will ensure that this taxpayers' money is properly spent and that due diligence is done. It is a regret to me that, all the way through, the Queensland Labor government, supported by the Greens political party, have done everything they could possibly do to undermine the good work that the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility is capable of doing and was set up by the federal Liberal and National parties, the federal government, to do.

I know it is difficult to appeal to Queensland Labor and Greens senators in this chamber to put their ideology aside, put their hatred of the coalition aside and actually do something positive for the state that they are supposed to represent; I think that is a bridge too far for most of the Queensland Labor and Greens senators. And, of course, the Queensland state Labor government will continue to frustrate the goals of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility and the goals of the federal Liberal and National government, who are very keen to develop the north. Why do we want to develop the north? We want to develop the north because we want to provide jobs for northerners and we want to encourage people to move from the crowded cities of Sydney and Melbourne up to the north, which they can only do if there is work for them. There needs to be real development in the north for those jobs to become available.

Liberal governments over the years have been keen on developing the north—going back 50 years to the Ord River scheme. It is actually happening. It has happened much more slowly in the last five decades than I would have hoped, but it is coming into its own in the Ord River. There are a lot of things. NAIF has given money to a aquafarming venture in the Darwin area. There's been money given to a Western Australian company for work over on the west coast of Western Australia and for James Cook University, which is starting to happen. The NAIF board have been diligent and thorough in their investigations of every application that's come before them. The Labor Party have criticised them for being slow and unable to make decisions. But it is taxpayers' money, and, appropriately, they are doing the correct due diligence. I think the board are wonderful, I think the proposal is wonderful and I think the whole concept is great. I just wish the Greens and the Labor Party would step aside from their ideology and political hatred of the government and join with us in developing the north. I seek leave to continue my remarks.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.