I would like to congratulate the three panellists who undertook the 2024 Independent Review of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility Act. I will place their names on the record: the Hon. Warren Snowdon, who of course represented the Northern Territory for many years in this place, Professor Peter Yu, and Dr Lisa Caffery.
I also place on the record my thanks to them for the independent review they undertook. Further, I thank the secretariat that supported them throughout the process, as well as the departmental officials involved. I thought it was a quality review and, as someone speaking today about the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility and its future, I found it both informative and helpful in assessing the success of the NAIF—the acronym we commonly use for the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility. It has been a success.
I also associate myself with the remarks of my good friend, Senator Dean Smith. He made a point that is absolutely true: when Northern Australia prospers, Australia prospers. It is a fact. There is no doubt about it. I note that I have fellow Queensland senators in the chamber, and I am sure they would agree that when Northern Australia prospers, Australia prospers. Therefore, we should do everything we possibly can to unleash the potential of Northern Australia, and I believe the NAIF does exactly that.
In the course of the review, the reviewers engaged in 85 targeted meetings, undertook six site visits, and met with 83 different entities. They carried out a considerable body of work in developing the recommendations and observations contained in the review.
There were several aspects of the review that resonated with me. The first was a question posed by one of the stakeholders regarding the role of the NAIF in providing bridging finance to projects. The NAIF can make the difference between a project proceeding or not proceeding. It bridges that gap and provides the support needed to get projects off the ground.
The stakeholder asked: “If not the NAIF, then who?” That is an important question. If we did not have the NAIF, who would perform this role of bridging the finance gap and providing concessional loans after undertaking the appropriate due diligence and safeguards expected before taxpayers’ funds are advanced?
The answer is: nobody. No government institution was performing this role before the creation of the NAIF.
I also place on the record my appreciation for the work Senator Canavan undertook as Minister for Northern Australia, including his role in establishing the NAIF.
The second point that resonated with me—and which underpins the amendment moved by my colleague, Senator Susan McDonald of Queensland—concerns the most significant recommendation in the review. That recommendation was Recommendation 1, which stated:
“The Government remove the existing time limit to allow the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility to make investment decisions in perpetuity.”
The review panel recognised the importance of the NAIF, but also recognised the limitations created by establishing it within a finite timeframe—whether that be five years, as originally conceived, or the ten-year timeframe proposed in the amending legislation.
The reviewers were quite clear. Their number one recommendation—the most significant recommendation in the report—was that the NAIF should be empowered to operate in perpetuity.
From my perspective, that makes a great deal of sense. I also believe we should move to a situation—and the reviewers touched on this as well—where the NAIF “recycles” loan funds. Like a bank, the NAIF lends to a project, receives repayments on those concessional loans, and then reinvests those funds into future projects. There is considerable merit in that approach, rather than having repayments flow into consolidated revenue and relying on future appropriations.
I think that would further empower the NAIF, and it was one of the recommendations put forward by the independent reviewers. I commend them for it.
When we consider why we established the NAIF, some of the facts presented in the review are quite striking. Northern Australia covers approximately half of Australia’s landmass. It is home to around 1.5 million people—approximately 5.1 per cent of Australia’s population—yet it is an economic powerhouse.
Northern Australia supports more than 100,000 businesses, employing over 639,000 Australians. Its gross regional product per capita exceeds that of many other parts of the country. Northern Australia is an economic powerhouse, and the NAIF is helping to unlock that potential.
The review also highlights the challenges faced by businesses, entrepreneurs and communities seeking to develop projects in Northern Australia. Senator Green, from my home state of Queensland, would no doubt be familiar with these challenges. They include prolonged underinvestment in critical infrastructure, high delivery costs, workforce shortages and extreme climatic conditions.
In short, the cost of doing business is higher in Northern Australia. That is one of the reasons we need the NAIF.
To date, the NAIF has committed $4.4 billion to support 32 projects. Importantly, that investment is expected to generate $38.2 billion in public benefit. Think about that: approximately eight times the value of the original investment, largely through concessional loans that will ultimately be repaid to the NAIF.
The NAIF has also supported the creation of approximately 19,500 jobs across Northern Australia, including jobs for more than 12,000 First Nations people, who make up a higher proportion of the population in Northern Australia than elsewhere in the country.
Let me provide one example of a transformative project being supported by the NAIF in my home state of Queensland.
I come from the mining industry, so I am passionate about mining and about projects that revisit historical mine sites, including tailings—the waste left over from previous mining operations. These projects rehabilitate old mine sites while generating economic value.
The Mount Morgan Tailings Reprocessing and Rehabilitation Project, being undertaken by Heritage Minerals, is receiving up to $66 million in concessional finance from the NAIF.
Consider the significance of Mount Morgan. It was one of the great gold mines of the world. The magnificent architecture that can still be seen in Rockhampton today was, in many respects, built on the wealth generated by the Mount Morgan mine. Hundreds of tonnes of gold were produced there.
Through this concessional loan, Heritage Minerals—whom I congratulate for undertaking this project—will process tailings left behind from mining operations that occurred more than a century ago. Using modern processing techniques, they will recover gold that could not be extracted using the technology available at the time.
In doing so, they will generate returns for their shareholders while also delivering an estimated $849 million in public benefit to the Rockhampton region.
They will rehabilitate a historic mine site, generate economic value from what was once considered waste, and deliver substantial benefits to the local community. It is a win for the community, a win for the environment, and a win for shareholders.
That is exactly the sort of outcome we should be encouraging.
Accordingly, I am delighted to speak in support of the NAIF. I am delighted to speak on behalf of the people of Queensland in support of the amendment proposed by my good friend Senator Susan McDonald.
I note that there are quite a few Queensland senators in the chamber at the moment, which is always good to see. We have nearly achieved a majority.
I am pleased to support the amendment that would allow the NAIF to operate in perpetuity. And as I said at the beginning of my remarks, I will conclude in the same way:
When Northern Australia prospers, Australia prospers.
