A division of the Liberal Party of Australia
SENATOR CALLS ON GRAY TO COMMIT TO NORTHERN AUSTRALIA
27 October, 2008
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Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern Australia, Senator Ian Macdonald, said that the visit of Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development and Northern Australia, Gary Gray, to Cairns is a great opportunity for the Federal Government to outline what it has planned for the Office of Northern Development.
“The North is the future of Australia and I am very keen to hear what Mr Gray and the Rudd Government’s plans are for developing the North of Australia.”
“However, if last week’s Senate estimates were anything to go by, sadly there is no strategic plan, just the re-badging of two Department of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development to be called the Office of Northern Australia. These will only exist in Darwin and Townsville."
“Neither WA nor the inland is represented at all. What about Kunnurra, Port Hedland, Cairns, Alice Springs or Mount Isa, Mr Gray?”
“The staff will remain the same, the office location will remain the same, the money will remain the same – only the name will change.”
“There is no money for the huge public investment needed in the North. I am looking forward to hearing Mr Gray’s plans, which will hopefully be more focussed on substance than the usual spin that we have become used to from the city-centric Rudd Labor Government,” Senator Macdonald said.