OFFICI2'. L OP.' ui OF THE DRIWI RIVER
DARWIN, N. T.
S2eech by the Pripic Minister,. thze Rt. Hion. William
Mci-Iahon, M-I. P. 29 June, 1972.
May I apologise to you for the delay in getting hare th~ is
afternoon. I am not any good at arithmetic, but I am -told that
we had a headwind of betw., een 100 and 22* 0 milas ner hour, ane2 that
delayed us for an hour.
I ho-e your rcmarks about your own P1. rc-mier turn out to be
wrong. I you havc your new Lcader and your new Statehood, not
at the time you get your next damff, b. ut at the time you get your next
power station,
This is trw first visit to the Torrit-ory sincz. I becacr Prime
Minister and I ca loo: i-ng forwar2! to it even though it migh1t only
be a few days. Bccausc it is mary vurnosed visit to sec the
mining dOVelOnn~ ents at Gove, to visit Darwin agaix. after a lcrng
absence, to have talks with the, aboriginos at the Yirrkala ' M'is: sion,
and to open tlia ne w Ab-original Transitional College in rnhemn Land.
First, mav i talk to yo-u butthe 7orritory and its future.
I and my Govarnment have faith in ! Iustralia andd in tho futuro of the
north. This dam 11r. eierhas said to cost $ Y! 9 million and the
largest ever build in the:. Territory -is unmistakable proof of that
f aith. Bu'_ let me put this project in the context of the total. volume
of new public works being providzed by the Conmnonwealth.
Since 1967, Cemrn cnwelth Capital expenditure of nearly two
hundred million d-ollars aFs been ap prove: d, and total Commonwealth
capital and maintenance expend~ iturLe has beer. almost 630 million
dollars. ' A lot of monay, mione\ iell spcnt because it is
providing the basic infra-structuire: for dev' lcpment and for progress.
Let uF, take mining first. big ventures at Gavc, Groote
Evlandt and Tcnnant Cre; ek have involved new investment of almost
400 million dollars. The conner and gold mines at Tennant Creek
and the manganese mine at Groote_: ' Eyelandt arc alread y major income
earners for us.
Production of bauxite at the 300 million dollar . Gove project
commenced in 1971. By mtid-1973 the project will be producing
1.4 million tons of bauxite and one million tons of alumina a year.
This will include 60 million dollars of export income.
These, and other mining projects, have attracted large-scale
private capital, modern technology and people. Private
initiative has been encouraged, and services have been provided by
the Commonwealth Government, in order to get these projects of f th6'
ground. But it is fair to say the development has only been made
possible by the faith and enterprise and large-scale investment of
the companies involved.
Then there ' is the investment in the pastoral industry, in
tourism and in prawning.
More than a decade ago, we took the initiative to construct
beef roads. To date, more than thirty million dollars has been
approved in expenditure on these roads. This has given a significant
lift to the pastoral industry and to overal national and local
development. Today 96 per cent of the cattle turned off are
transported by road, and the value of the turnoff has doubled to more
than 22 million dollars a year.
I am sure the tourist industry has uncalculable but enormous
potential. In fact tourists are now spending more than $ 20 million
a Year here.
Ta6 -~ ain~ industry, which has developed over the last three
years, is supplying about a third of the nations's prawn exports.
* This remarkable growth in the basic industries has led to a
rapid increase in population, as Mr. Reiher said, at a rate of about
nine per cent a year.
Darwin and Alice Springs are attractive in themselves and have
become the fastest growing towns in Australia. They've nearly
doubled their population over the Past six years, and can no l. onger
be regarded as frontier towns.
During the last five years, the Commonwealth has matched this
outstanding growth by programming now works in the main Territory
centres valued at very nearly 100 million dollars. This means a big
improvement in the quality of life for the people who live here,
and who want to come here in the future.
The government iJs also deeply concerned in case there should be
any possible conflict between the full development of the nation's
mineral wealth and the need to preserve the nation's environment.
In the reconciliation of these conflicting interests, we have
adopted a realistic and I believe, a practical ap * oroach. our
Paramount concern is Z2ustrali&' ncitie-na iiuLe(: rcst, iin.-the welfare
in its widest sense of our own people.
The government would be irresoonsible if it failed to
develop the recently discovered uranium deposits, but we are not
interested in development for development's sake. ./ 3
I1
3.
Wo ar,? coPnc? rnud about ccnsorvation of t'ic natural environment
an'. the preservation for posterity of unique feat. ures of the
ecology. The study which we have initiatedi on various, aspects of
the onvironment in areas of potential uraniuim develooment in the
Alligator River region, is an exanrple of our poliCy in action.
This study, jointly fi.? aic-d by tho government and the mining
comp:.. tes, is estimated to cost rnor than 500 thousand dollars.
it will Pd-kntify and evaluate th flora arid fauna and other
natural resources of tile area, so that the mining development_ can
proceed in a ; way consistent i ti the prteservatc fauiu n
. rrcrlaccable gart of our country.
The government's aim is-crnsistent with the descrP-ntion by the
Secretary of the Interior in th tUnitr-d States.-
proror balance between rz-ourcc: develonment and the
maintenance of leasant surround ' incrs'
We want to saee r-evelonment that i,. ill make a pormnennt contribution
to th-e Australian economy . in a 1., xy. which will prt: serve tho inherited
values of our own environment, anl. which will retain for all
Australians thez, features of t1~ rat ocnvircornt whilch Should ' ne
preserved and enjoyed.
ThIs lai is a credit to-all whio havc: worked on it, and who
have completoA it ahe ad o--f scho. d-ule7.. It hrings to over 15 million
dollars the total exnanditure anoro-a. 1 the-Commonwealth on new
watctr Fupl'.]. y 3? ro) jccts in the-rlorritorV cvor the Last five years.
' Congratu2. . tion: 7 to th-1'! rthern Torri. tcry aurninistratio'n,
resnonsible for the watezr surnply; to the Department of Works
tho aesign and construction authority; tc th. e main contractors,
McMahon Construction Pi. Ltd. of Adelae I can't claim any
r-zflected glor.-and to the oth; r contractors and organizations
involvzd here today.
I now have the very greatest pleasure in dcclaring the Darwin
River Darn open.