Susan McDonald (Queensland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to foreshadow coalition amendments to the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility Amendment Bill 2026 to make the NAIF permanent. While the coalition supports the action of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility Amendment Bill 2026 to extend the NAIF for a further 10 years from 30 June 2026 to 30 June 2036, we do not believe that 10 years is enough for the long-term development of northern Australia. I'm pleased to announce that the coalition reaffirms our longstanding commitment to northern Australia by making the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility permanent.

We believe that northern Australia should not be revisited in 10 years to see if it is worthy of more investment. The north's development should be a permanent part of the government's agenda. Northern Australia is one of Australia's greatest strategic and economic assets, and it should have an investment mechanism that matches its permanent importance to our nation. The independent review into the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, chaired by the Hon. Warren Snowdon and assisted by Professor Peter Yu and Dr Lisa Caffery, was tabled in parliament on 27 August last year. It has taken nearly 12 months for the government to land this extension. There is no bold vision for northern Australia in Labor, I'm afraid, much like when the incoming Albanese government abolished the Joint Standing Committee on Northern Australia and had to be dragged kicking and screaming to reinstate a temporary version.

The coalition recognised the significant economic contribution of northern Australia to the nation when it established the NAIF in 2016, and so too did this independent review panel. The review panel recognised that northern Australia, which is home to only 5.1 per cent of Australia's population and comprises more than half its land mass, produces a gross regional product significantly above the per capita rates for the rest of the country. They acknowledged that since 2016, when the coalition government established the NAIF, it has provided crucial financial assistance, which has bridged gaps in commercial financing to build infrastructure across the north, which supports sustainable economic and subsequently social outcomes. And the NAIF will continue to do so.

From the extensive consultations with stakeholders across northern Australia, the review panel reported that the NAIF was a known and trusted entity in supporting development and is seen as a key part of northern Australia's economy. Stakeholders see the NAIF as part of the northern Australia ecosystem. Given that feedback from stakeholders, the review panel assessed the NAIF's current legislated time limit, with its investment window for making investment decisions ending on 30 June 2026. Its very first recommendation to government was as follows: 'That the government remove the existing time limit to allow the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility to make investment decisions in perpetuity.' It beggars belief that the Labor government has chosen to ignore it.

Northern Australia has the fertile soils and water resources to grow more food and fibre for food and energy security. Northern Australia has the traditional minerals and rare earths, the gas and the critical minerals to fulfil much of Australia's and our allies' needs. Northern Australia is the front line of our defence. We recognise the unlimited opportunity of providing sustainable and resilient economic development in the north. The NAIF has financed projects in the sectors of agriculture and water, energy, resources, social infrastructure, transport and logistics across Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. It has delivered public benefit through new employment opportunities, regional economic growth and population growth, and an overall confidence across half of our country and boundless economic benefit for all Australians.

We recognise the role the NAIF has in alleviating economic and social disadvantage. It improves the lives of Indigenous peoples and communities. The NAIF delivers key infrastructure projects and contributes to realising the Critical Minerals Strategy 2023-2030. The NAIF delivers full stop, and the need for it to keep delivering will extend far beyond Labor's arbitrary 2036 deadline. Since the coalition government established the NAIF in 2016, it has supported 33 projects, underpinned by $4.3 billion in commitment as of December 2025, with the public benefit to northern Australia forecast to be $33 billion—or $7.60 in forecast public benefit for every $1 of NAIF finance. The NAIF supports over 18,000 jobs across the north.

Northern Australia has always been an exciting and challenging frontier with boundless opportunity. The NAIF is perfectly poised to encourage and support investors in converting risk and opportunity into jobs, strong communities, transformational infrastructure and an overall robust economy for the whole of Australia to crowd in investment. We support a permanent northern Australia infrastructure facility that provides certainty to investors, confidence to regional communities and a commitment for generations to come. It is our collective responsibility to continue to support the existing significant impact as well as continued progress and future opportunity presented by continued investment in the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility.

We know it is northern Australia that will provide the next wave of opportunity and prosperity for Australia. It is northern Australia that will host the new, exciting agricultural projects. It is northern Australia that will host the critical minerals and traditional commodities boom. It is northern Australia that hosts the most innovative and exciting communities, and those people deserve the same opportunities that southern Australia has enjoyed for generations. It is northern Australia where we will see located our important defence capabilities that deserve better infrastructure and more connected social and health benefits. For all those reasons, it is northern Australia that absolutely requires the infrastructure facility to be made permanent.

Ellie Whiteaker (WA, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

Northern Australia is critical to Australia's future. It is rich in resources, energy, agriculture and industry, and it's home to communities that power our economy and support our export industries. We know that developing and building capacity in northern Australia has always come with unique challenges. Vast distances, infrastructure gaps, workforce pressures and higher project costs bring with them unique challenges in attracting long-term investment into the remote and regional parts of our country in the north. That's ultimately why the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility was created, to help unlock projects that otherwise would struggle to get off the ground. In particular, the kinds of projects that are transformational for regional communities that might otherwise be considered too remote, too complex or just too long term for traditional finance to cover.

The Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility Amendment Bill 2026 extends the NAIF investment decision-making period by 10 years, while also strengthening its governance and accountability arrangements. Fundamentally, this provides certainty to the north, brings the NAIF into line with other Commonwealth specialist investment vehicles and ensures that the NAIF can continue to do the important work that it does supporting the north. The case for extending the NAIF by 10 years is really clear. Since it was established, NAIF has made 37 investments across Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory with loans totalling more than $4.3 billion supporting economic development, supporting jobs and supporting infrastructure across the north.

In my home state of Western Australia we have seen the benefit of NAIF backed investment across the Gascoyne, the Pilbara and Kimberly regions in mining, processing, renewable energy, logistics, agriculture and export infrastructure. Importantly, so many of these projects sit directly at the centre of our country's future industrial capability. Projects like the Pilbara Minerals P680 expansion, supported through the NAIF, are helping expand lithium production in the Pilbara and strengthening Australia's role in the global battery supply chain. Supported through a NAIF loan of up to $125 million, this project alone is expected to deliver a public benefit of $1.4 billion and support hundreds of jobs both in construction and in operations.

The Element 25 Butcherbird manganese project, also supported by the NAIF with a loan of up to $50 million, will produce manganese concentrate critical to steel making and the global clean energy transition. These are strategic industries tied to batteries, advanced manufacturing clean energy technologies and future supply chains. This is what a future made in Australia looks like, and it's happening in the north of our great country and in my great home state of Western Australia.

Economic diversification across the north very much happens with projects supported through the NAIF. The Perdaman urea project near Karratha is expected to establish the largest urea plant in Australia, helping to kickstart a domestic fertiliser-manufacturing industry and reducing reliance on imports. Supported through associated investments in port and water infrastructure, the broader project is expected to generate an $8.5 billion public benefit and support 2½ thousand jobs over its life.

In the Kimberley, the Kimberley cotton gin project has helped establish Western Australia's first commercial-scale cotton processing facility. Instead of sending unprocessed cotton more than 3½ thousand kilometres interstate, the region can now process it locally, creating local jobs and supporting a new agricultural industry in north-western Australia.

Of course, underpinning all of this investment is good infrastructure: ports, transmission, water, logistics, energy and export capability. We know these projects don't happen without the enabling infrastructure, and many of these projects simply would not have proceeded without patient and long-term investment from the NAIF.

Some more examples of the investment that the NAIF has made in my home state of Western Australia. The Onslow Marine Support Base has expanded marine logistics and is servicing capability in the Pilbara. It's an accelerated development that otherwise may have taken years longer to deliver at great detriment to my home state but also to the country. The Chichester Solar Gas Hybrid Project is another example, helping reduce diesel reliance in the Pilbara through large-scale renewable energy infrastructure, supporting industrial operations. This project is expected to reduce diesel consumption by around 100 million litres every year. Never has that been more important than now, with global supply chain challenges.

Really importantly, lots of these projects are also tied to long-term engagement with First Nations communities and traditional owners in the north. Across NAIF projects in Western Australia and across the north of our country, Indigenous engagement strategies include commitments around employment, procurement, the protection of cultural heritage, training and local participation. At the Thunderbird Mineral Sands Project in the Kimberley, these commitments include long-term Indigenous employment targets, Aboriginal training initiatives and contracting opportunities for First Nations businesses. We know that development in northern Australia must include those local First Nations communities and strengthen the communities in which they exist.

When we invest in northern Australia, we're investing in local communities, we're investing in national capability and we're investing in resilience and long-term economic security. Northern Australia is central to the growth of our economy over the decade to come, and Labor is committed to making sure that the NAIF is able to continue to support industries and communities in the north to realise their enormous potential. We that know that potential alone doesn't build the infrastructure that we need or finance the transformational projects that we need to create jobs. That's what this bill seeks to do by extending the NAIF for another decade. It is long-term investment in our regions. It is long-term investment in the north. It is long-term investment in states like my own, Western Australia. I commend the bill.

Penny Allman-Payne (Queensland, Australian Greens) | Link to this | Hansard source

The Greens oppose the unamended Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility Amendment Bill 2026 because currently there is nothing preventing the NAIF from being used as a slush fund to prop up the dying coal and gas industries. The Greens amendment would stop the NAIF being used to support dirty coal and gas projects and related infrastructure, and also native logging projects.

In the last parliament, the Greens worked with Labor to stop the public financing of coal and gas projects. The Greens made sure that the National Reconstruction Fund could not fund coal, gas and native forest destruction. In the Future Made in Australia package, we ended the ability of Export Finance Australia to finance coal, oil and gas projects both in Australia and overseas. We also amended the broad grant power in the Industry Research and Development Act to turn off the massive pipeline of fossil fuel subsidies that the coalition was using to fund fracking in the Beetaloo and new coal plants in Queensland, supporting the so-called gas fired recovery. That same treatment now needs to extend to the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility.

We can't forget that the coalition tried to use the NAIF to pump $1 billion into the Adani coal mine in Queensland. It only fell over when Queensland Labor vetoed the deal because they were worried about losing seats to the Greens. The risk of financing fossil fuel projects with public money is not over. Comet Ridge, which is proposing a joint venture gas project with Santos, about 250 kilometres west of my home of Gladstone, has announced it is close to securing a $110 million loan from the NAIF. Australians don't want their money propping up new coal and gas projects, especially when multinational gas corporations continue to rip us off. Over half of Australia's gas is exported without paying a cent in royalties, and then these companies make billions while ordinary Aussies are told to tighten our belts.

The NAIF is one of the last remaining specialist investment vehicles able to finance fossil fuel expansion with public money. The Greens amendment forces Labor to make a simple choice: will you back Australians or will you hand over more of our public money to private corporations for nothing in return? Comet Ridge has applied for NAIF funding because they couldn't or wouldn't obtain it through private lenders. It's ridiculous that the major parties and the likes of One Nation want Australians to take on the risk of this gas project. The big business parties seem to love anything that privatises the profits from Australian resources while chaining Australians to any losses from a project that will make climate change worse and drive up our energy costs.

The Australian people want a tax on gas exports. Our communities deserve to share in the benefits from our resources, and we won't accept Labor spending millions of dollars of public money just to keep coal and gas projects on life support. Since coming to power in 2022, federal Labor has signed off on 36 new, expanded or extended coal, oil and gas developments. Since 2022, the planet has experienced its three hottest years on record. It is suicidal to continue to back in coal and gas projects when we urgently, desperately need to stop new coal and gas and transition to cheap, low-emissions renewable energy. To everyone in this room: I remind you we work for the Australian people, not the gas lobby, no matter how many dollars some of you accept from your gas donors. I foreshadow the Greens amendment on sheet 3685 to be moved in committee of the whole.

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

It's a great privilege and honour to support the extension of the Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility, a proud achievement of the former Liberal and National government. We welcome and we will support the government continuing this important organisation's going on. It's a particular personal privilege to be here to support this because it was 10 years ago, almost to the date, that I as minister for northern Australia helped introduce and see through the establishment of this organisation.

This is now the second five-year extension of the NAIF before us this evening. Ten years ago, we established it for five years. We thought we'd give it a trial. It was a key part of the government's developing Northern Australia Agenda. There were a lot of naysayers at the time. I remember a lot of critiques of the NAIF in its early days. Like when setting up any organisation, there was a lot to do, and I want to thank all of those who played a role then in putting that together. Its success has been proven by its longevity, its continuation, the almost no criticism or almost silence of criticism—there was a little bit there from a former speaker, which I might come to if I have time—the no controversy and no scandals. It's just an organisation getting on with its job. I congratulate all of the NAIF staff, everyone in the department of industry, as it was when I was around—I think it may have been moved to the Department of Regional Development today—and to all of the department officials who had a big role in getting this ready. It came together pretty quickly in only about six months or so for development of the legislation. As I say, that legislation has largely stood the test of time. There have been a few tweaks over the years, but overall the organisation is pretty much what was established a decade ago.

The government did commission another review of the NAIF before deciding to extend this organisation for another five years. That review did come back and had a glowing report about the effectiveness of the NAIF, the support for the NAIF from the people of the north and what it's doing to help develop our great country. The review, interestingly, was so glowing that it recommended that the NAIF should be made permanent. As I said, we established this for five years—understandable for a new organisation with some, as I said, criticism. I thought, 'We'll give it five years and see how it goes.' It could make loans well beyond five years, but its actual inception, its ability to originate loans, was restricted to its first five years. But it was a success, and it was extended during the COVID pandemic. Now, again, this review says not only that we should extend it; the review recommends it should be made permanent.

Unfortunately—at least it's unfortunate from our side—the government has not accepted that recommendation. They have brought forward legislation that will extend the NAIF for a further 10 years. That's better than five, but it's just 10 years. I believe my colleague Senator Susan McDonald, the now shadow minister for Northern Australia—an able and very appropriate shadow minister for northern Australia, herself coming from Townsville and having grown up around the Gulf—has flagged that we'd like to accept that recommendation.

So we will be moving an amendment to make the NAIF permanent. If we're going to go for 10 years, we may as well make it permanent. Obviously, any future parliament can come back and look at the organisation any time it likes. But, given that the loans that NAIF makes are often 20 to 30 years—or it can make them up to 30 years; it can make them up to as long as the government bond maturity, but often the loans are more between 10 and 20 years, I should say—they're quite long. It makes sense for the organisation to be able to see through the provision of these loans.

As I said, it has been very successful. It has funded a range of projects right across the component parts of the three states, in Queensland, Northern Territory and Western Australia. I might steal some of my colleague Senator Smith's thunder. He's going to go next, or sometime next, when he comes to the chamber. I'll start with his great state of Western Australia, particularly the north of that state, which contributes so much.

In fact, before I get to the specifics, I should just outline how much the north does contribute to our nation. It's worth repeating that over half our nation's exports originate from ports in northern Australia, principally our iron ore, coal, gas, beef, bauxite and lots of other projects, like aluminium.

Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Shadow Treasurer) | Link to this | Hansard source

[inaudible]

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

Yes, that's right. They're risky investments. And, when you're out in the frontiers of our nation, they will be hurt by the tax changes the government has put in place, which particularly punish those investments with a strong risk profile. But they do contribute a lot to our nation—over half those nation's exports. The amount of people that live in the north, which is just five-odd per cent of Australians, kick way beyond their weight—about 10 per cent at least. These were the stats when I set it up. It might be more or a bit less than that—who knows. But about 10 per cent of our nation's wealth is created in the north. That's not just exports but entire wealth. If you like, each northern Australian is contributing double their proportionate amount to our nation's wealth and prosperity.

And it makes sense that you should invest back in those areas of your country that are making money. If you're running a business, you've got different lines of business, and one area of your business is making double in proportionate terms what the other line is, you'd probably look at that and go: 'Well, maybe we should invest more in that. At the marginal dollar we've got to invest, with a bit of capital we've got to invest, we should put more into that, because it's really making a big bang for our buck.' That principle is at the heart of why we pushed for this developing northern Australia agenda. The NAIF is just one component of it, but we could see this enormous, untapped potential in the north of our country of 40 per cent of our nation's landmass that remains to be developed. We should be very proud of the nation and of what we've done, but we shouldn't stop where we've gotten. We've got to go further.

As part of this, we established the NAIF to help with that extra investment. I just want to spend a bit of time looking at the record of what it achieved. I was going to start in Western Australia, as I said, because next year an investment the NAIF has funded at Karratha will help re-establish urea production in Australia. I've been banging on this for some time now. In 2022, under this government, our last urea plant shut at Brisbane. We no longer produce the most important fertiliser that goes to food production—urea—in this country. On the eve of the Iran conflict earlier this year, two-thirds of our urea needs, post this closure at Gibson Island of our last urea plant, were being imported from the Middle East. We had left ourselves, under this government's mismanagement of our energy system, very vulnerable to conflicts like we've seen in the Middle East. That has caused a lot of disruption for our nation's farmers, particularly early on in the crisis, when they were struggling to get hold of urea. If you could, it was at ridiculous, exorbitant prices. The government has taken a blank cheque and got some fertiliser in, which we support, but we shouldn't have to go around with a blank cheque to secure the supply of a basic commodity when we have everything we need here.

The NAIF has funded this project. The deal was finalised when this government got to power, but it started well before that. These deals take a while, usually, in germination. But next year, thanks to the NAIF, we'll have this back. We'll have this facility and this capability back. Admittedly, it's all the way over in Karratha, and it would be nice to have a urea plant over here in the east as well. There's no reason why we shouldn't if we develop the gas resources here. But good on the Western Australians for being generally pro gas and developing their resources and having them at hand with the assistance of the Commonwealth government here or the Commonwealth government funded NAIF to do that.

But right across the north there have been lots of very beneficial projects. Near my own town in Rockhampton, it's helped fund the re-establishment of the Mount Morgan gold mine, which was the biggest gold mine in the world at one stage. It helped build Rockhampton, my home town. It is going to produce gold and silver and tin, I think, as well—lots of different products—but the key thing is that the funding here has unlocked the potential to rehabilitate the tailings dams there, which are a big risk to the water supply of Rockhampton. If there is a large unexpected flooding event, there is that risk—it's a small risk but a risk—that those tailings dams could spill, and a whole lot of toxic materials could end up in the Don River and eventually end up in Rockhampton's drinking water supply. That's been of concern to the people of Central Queensland for some time, and thanks to the NAIF we have a solution here with this.

Heritage Minerals is doing a great job there. It's based in Rockhampton and is a great local company who have installed some innovative equipment, thanks to funding from the NAIF, to reprocess the tailings dams. They will extract and can smelt, as I said, the gold and that. It's good economic value. Jobs are being created in Mount Morgan for the first time in some time at that scale, and it takes away an environmental risk for our region. Fortunately, or thankfully, there are plans—they're not confirmed yet, but plans, potentially—for that gold, which should be starting to be smelted later this year, to go into the medals for the 2032 Olympic Games. It's another great story of the contribution of our mining industry and our heritage of the development of Mount Morgan, a very important part of our nation's history, which has a second life thanks to NAIF.

NAIF has also helped fund the Olive Downs coal mine and the infrastructure related to that as well—that's created massive wealth for our country, with thousands of jobs being created there—and a new meatworks at Moranbah. It's incredibly important to have some competition for our cattle graziers in that area not have to be beholden to the major chains. And, importantly, that meatworks does service kills. For those not in the industry, that means that a grazier can take their cows there and actually also get the product at the other end and brand and market their product, either overseas or here in Australia, with their own name and brand. If you go to the major meatworks, typically these days you're locked into having to sell over your product, and all the marketing and the branding will be taken over by the big players. So that's great. That's opened up things.

There have also been upgrades to airports across Darwin, Alice Springs, Cairns and Townsville, all helped funded through the NAIF, helping unlock tourism opportunities. In the Northern Territory, it's very important that we keep progressing the ship-lift program there, which is also funded by the NAIF, which will help build some infrastructure at the Darwin Port and give the Australian Defence Force, the Australian Navy, another option than Fremantle to help maintain and repair ships. At the moment, either those ships have to go all the way to Singapore, which they often do, or around to Fremantle, which can see them out of service for weeks at a time when obviously they're often used in the north, so this is a very important facility.

That's just a few of the projects. I forgot, too, going all the way around back to Western Australia, in East Kimberley, at Kununurra, the cotton gin there has also received support, and I believe it's a smashing success. Senator Smith might be able to update us more on that. I haven't been up to Kununurra for a little while. It's one of my favourite places in the country. It's a wonderful place. When I was minister, they were starting those cotton trials and doing very well, and so it's fantastic now to see that they don't have send that cotton all the way to Emerald to be gin. It's a long way from Kununurra, but we have a facility there now. So congratulations again to all those people in the NAIF.

As I hinted at before, we're doing this for the future of our country. These investments are in northern Australia, but they're being made to benefit all of Australia. We have all benefited from the development of our country. We can all sit back with pride and look at places like Sydney and Melbourne and Brisbane now to host the games. They're wonderful things that Australians have built over many years. I just don't want to see us, in a hundred years time, look back and think we haven't built new places, new monuments and new opera houses and opened up new harbours, ports and economic development. To do that, we've got to do what our ancestors did and be pioneers and go to the frontiers of our nation.

There's one thing that's not said enough but we should be very proud of. I do owe a debt to former prime minister Tony Abbott for coming across this statistic. His wonderful book Australia: A History is recommended reading for all of us—a very fair history of Australia. A wonderful, wonderful statistic he put there was that just a hundred years after the first fleet, just a hundred years after coming on a bunch of boats from halfway around the world, those people that settled and pioneered our country delivered, developed and built the richest nation on the earth. In a hundred years, they overtook all these ancient civilisations that had been there for thousands of years. In a hundred years, they developed, in per-person terms, the richest country on earth.

That is the legacy that we inherit and we must cherish and protect, and it's up to us to make sure that we make similar investments to keep at the top of the league tables for future generations of Australians. We will only do that by developing the parts of our country that remain undeveloped, and that's why we on this side will always support developing our north. We support the extension of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility. Let's keep building in this country.

Malcolm Roberts (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

The north of Australia is Australia's future. One Nation supports the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility Amendment Bill 2026. The Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, commonly known as NAIF, was established as a Commonwealth corporate entity in 2016 with bipartisan support. It was tasked with a $5 billion financing mandate to drive a 10-year mission to provide economic and social growth across northern Australia through the provision of concessional loans and financial support to private and public infrastructure projects. The NAIF has been upgraded, amended and fiddled with in 2018, 2021 and now 2026. Hopefully this bill is third time lucky.

Since 2016, NAIF has handed out over $3 billion of the original $5 billion, with a total of $4.5 billion committed. The government has extended the pool to $7 billion. This bill extends the investment decision-making ability for the NAIF from June 2026 to June 2036. It adds additional requirements for the NAIF to report to the minister if there's any deviation in compliance with their investment mandate. It implements the joint ministerial oversight model, which will see increased joint responsibilities for NAIF board appointments between the Minister for Northern Australia and the Minister for Finance. It establishes statutory reviews every five years. It requires NAIF to align with existing provisions in the legislation of other Commonwealth investment vehicles. In short, this bill puts NAIF on a stronger footing to carry out their mandate.

It is, though, the mandate that One Nation objects to. The Albanese government changed the mandate in 2026 to include economic development in the north—that's fair enough—and alleviating social or economic disadvantage in northern communities—fair enough. However, the mandate also included improving First Nations outcomes and achieving Australia's net zero transition goals.

One Nation's policy is to improve outcomes for Aboriginal communities through improving all communities right across the Top End. To One Nation, it doesn't matter if a community is Aboriginal or white or any colour in between. We care about Australians equally. We will advance policy based on equal rights for all—special rights for none. Our policy is to provide grants directly to local government, including Aboriginal councils across northern Australia, so that ANAO, the Australian National Audit Office, can audit where the money goes and what benefit the community derive from that money. Accountability in the Aboriginal industry—now there's a concept.

As for making NAIF about net zero, that's not happening under a One Nation government. We will require NAIF to support any project which represents value for money for the taxpayers while meeting a real need. If that's wind or solar or a big battery then so be it, but the numbers must add up without taxpayer money. We don't propose to change the investment mandate other than to take the woke back out.

Let me give you some examples of how Australia will restore wealth, prosperity and opportunity for all who are here. These are not One Nation projects. There's no taking credit here. It's about building the nation from the Albanese government, state governments and private industry for the good of our whole nation. Funding for these projects is provided through private financiers, with the possibility of a public-private partnership to ensure Australia's interests are looked after. NAIF is required in the early stage to show the government is serious about investment.

For too long, major projects have been held up through bureaucratic and political indecision, sometimes caused by environmental laws, but mostly just incompetence. This has led to trust issues between investors and the government. This is not a reflection on the Albanese government per se; this problem has been going on under successive Liberal, National and Labor governments for 20 years, which is why the NAIF is essential to providing early-stage funding and guiding these projects through the bureaucratic jungle expeditiously. After all, if the Albanese government is going to flood Australia with new arrivals as it is, we must generate new wealth to share with them, or else everyone goes backwards, which is what is happening right now.

Projects One Nation will be strongly supporting include the great Australian infrastructure network, GAIN, which involves a railroad crossing across northern Australia, linking iron ore projects in Western Australia with Queensland metalliferous coal in the Bowen Basin. Steel mills will be located at each end to provide sovereign capacity in steel and steel by-products, including cement, fertiliser and ammonia, which is the material from which pharmaceuticals are made. This development will use water from Lake Argyle in Western Australia and from a new weir where the Urannah dam was to be located.

The railway will include a multifunction corridor bringing town water, electricity and an internet backbone connection. The internet connection is of utmost importance for national security. While the old offshore copper connection between Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth has been upgraded, it's not capable of carrying Australia's internet traffic. I'll just say that. It's not capable, as it is, of carrying Australia's international traffic. It needs duplication. For a signal to get from Brisbane to Perth, it must travel via a jump-off point in Brisbane up to Asia, often as far as China, then back down again to Perth. What could possibly go wrong with that? This proposal has had a long history going back more than 100 years. The current proponents have assembled an impressive team, capitalised their project sponsor vehicle and have already exceeded any development conducted in the past through previous sponsors using all new and unencumbered intellectual property—all new on a proven concept.

Project sponsors have advanced proposals to complete Inland Rail from Parkes in New South Wales to the Port of Gladstone, using what's been called the forestry route. A second proponent is advocating a route due north from Goondiwindi via Moonie to Dalby and on to the Port of Gladstone, where a major container handling facility is currently out to tender. I look forward to the Crisafulli government fast-tracking this amazing proposal to take Australia's container handling into the 21st century.

One Nation will also build the Big Rocks Weir, Emu Swamp Dam and the Hughenden irrigation project, and complete the reconstruction of Paradise Dam. There are other projects under development. Once again, these are not One Nation projects. We are promoting them and would be happy to promote any other project that will restore wealth and abundance for all. The NAIF has an important role to play in that process. We need to rebuild our country and leave a legacy for our children and for the descendants of all in Australia right now. We need to restore Australia and make it magnificent again. I move:

At the end of the motion, add ", but the Senate is of the opinion that:

(a) the Investment Mandate for the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility must prioritise productive infrastructure which will grow the Australian economy and provide breadwinner jobs for everyday Australians;

(b) financial assistance should be encouraged under the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility Act 2016 for measures which:

(i) directly finance the extraction of coal or natural gas,

(ii) directly finance the construction of pipeline infrastructure, including for the extraction of natural gas, and

(iii) directly finance the mining of natural resources, including coal; and

(c) financial assistance must not be provided for net zero measures".

Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Shadow Treasurer) | Link to this | Hansard source

I'd like to begin by associating my remarks on the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility Amendment Bill 2026 with those of Senator Canavan, who talked about not just the important contribution of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund but the important stewardship of former prime minister Tony Abbott. If I remember correctly, it was in former prime minister Tony Abbott's election manifesto for the 2013 election that many of the ideas on the prominence that's been given to Northern Australia policy development were foreshadowed. They were then, of course, implemented under his stewardship as Prime Minister. He was ably supported by the Hon. Andrew Robb, who I think was the first Minister for Northern Australia and very involved in much of that policy development work at the time.

Debate interrupted.