Warren, thank you so much. Thanks everyone for being here. It is tremendous to feel the enthusiasm in this room. It really is palpable the enthusiasm in this room for our country in general but particularly Northern Australia.
Warren, you have been a tremendous advocate for Northern Australia for as long as you have been in public life. It is great to have here the Deputy Prime Minister, the Minister for Trade and Investment, all of my parliamentary colleagues but I do want to particularly acknowledge the Treasurer of Queensland Curtis Pitt, thank you for being here, and Gary Gray, one of our Opposition frontbenchers from Canberra. The fact that we have got people from both sides of the Parliamentary divide here shows that this is not just one Party’s vision. This is a vision for Northern Australia from Australia.
This isn't just about Northern Australia. This is about our country. This isn't just the Coalition – important, though, Northern Australia is to us – this is our country rallying together to make the most of northern Australia because we can't make the most of Australia unless we make the most of Northern Australia too.
This is about all of us.
If the north flourishes – our country flourishes.
We want to build on the strengths of our great north because if the north is great, Australia will be great.
I want you to savour that phrase, “the great north” because that's what it is. It's great in size, it's great in its people, and it's great in its potential and this White Paper is about seizing for tomorrow and the day after what is there for us.
Seizing the future – that's what this is all about.
Now, I've been coming up to Northern Australia for many years now and I have seen with my own eyes how Northern Australia has developed. Darwin, Cairns, Townsville, Mackay, Broome – once outposts, now each of them dynamic cities.
Fifty per cent of our exports come from Northern Australia. So, there is a fair foundation upon which to build – and build we will, starting from today.
There is a $1.2 billion spending commitment in the forward estimates in this White Paper.
There is a $5 billion concessional loan facility for economic infrastructure projects in this White Paper.
This is about giving Northern Australia what Northern Australia needs: it needs more infrastructure, it needs more people, and it needs more efficient and effective use of land.
We've got to build on the strengths we have.
Infrastructure – you all know how difficult it is to get about northern Australia. There's $700 million to upgrade roads, such as the Hann Highway – so important to people in this part of Queensland.
The Tanami Road – so important to the Northern Territory.
The Outback Way – so important to all of the three states of Northern Australia.
We must develop our water resources.
Australia does not have a water problem – we have a water management problem. That means making much better use of the water that we have.
There is a $200 million water facility in this White Paper for Northern Australia, but we are starting off with $5 million to try to make the Nullinga Dam near Cairns come to fruition and $5 million to try to make sure that Ord Stage 3 comes to fruition.
We need more people. We need people from the south going to the north. We also need people from the world coming to the north. That's why we are making it easier for people to come to this country if they are prepared to spend time working in the north, but I stress, working under standard Australian wages and conditions.
We do need to make more use of our land.
It is good that Noel Pearson is here. I have spent a lot of time over the years working with Noel.
Indigenous land is a sacred, special thing.
Indigenous land is something which must always be a cultural and spiritual asset but it needs to be an economic asset as well, for the traditional owners who choose to go down that path and we want to work closely with the traditional owners, with Indigenous people to try to ensure that economic development is possible; that economic development is available and that the Aboriginal people of our country, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of our country, can be full economic participants as well as social and cultural participants in the future of this great land of ours.
Now, all of you have heard, over the years, from many politicians. You have heard lots of politicians talk about the future. You have heard lots of politicians talk about what we are going to do. “Gonnas” – that is what you often call us.
I am determined – absolutely determined – that this White Paper, unlike so many other vision statements from Government, does not simply remain a statement of good intentions mouldering on a shelf in Canberra.
We will continue the strategic partnership for Northern Australia – a meeting of the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Premier of Queensland, the Premier of Western Australia, the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, as an adjunct to every meeting of COAG. That will continue.
The Deputy Prime Minister will make an annual statement to the Parliament on our progress in developing Northern Australia. Warren Entsch’s committee will continue. There is no greater badger for the things he believes in then your local member, Warren Entsch.
Perhaps the greatest pioneer of the development of the north in this room is Senator Ian Macdonald, and there will be a Coalition implementation Committee chaired by Senator Ian Macdonald with the capacity to call public servants, as well as ministers, before the committee to ensure that we do get this thing done – we do get this thing done – because we can’t be content with good intentions.
Good intentions are not enough.
The world is full of good intentions but unless we turn our good intentions into a better reality for all of us today, tomorrow, forever –well, frankly, we’re not doing our job.
So, my friends, this is the mission upon which we are all embarked. I know every one of you wants to make this a personal mission and together we can make a difference, we can build our country, and in the decades to come you will all be able to think of this day, this morning, and think – yes, we were there at the start of something special.
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