DEFINING A FUTURE FOR NORTHERN AUSTRALIA IN THE NATIONAL AND GLOBAL ECONOMY

_{06 May, 2009}

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Thank you Ross for that generous introduction.  If I had half an hour I could talk about your attributes too.  We are indeed lucky today to have someone of Ross’ calibre chairing this first session.  And so thanks very much.

Let me say how wonderful it is again to be in Australia’s northernmost city.

It’s good to see a number of faces here of people I recognised for their leadership role in Northern Australia and welcome to those who are at the beginning of their passion for the future of this part of our Nation and this part of the globe.

Mankind (and indeed womankind too, I guess) have come a long way since this part of this continent was first inhabited millions of years ago. 

The original inhabitants here recognised this as a harsh but beautiful land, a land of complexity, of turmoil and hardship but with boundless opportunity and wealth.

The first Europeans who recorded seeing Northern Australia also had that same impression – a forbidding land in parts but a land that held promise of making a contribution to civilization as it was known in the 16th 17th and 18th centuries.

And similarly, the first European settlers, almost 200 years ago, came this way because of their belief in the future, their belief that beneath this sometimes difficult and different landscape there lay a promise of new things to come, of a wealth then undreamed of, of a source of food and sustenance and creature comforts.

We’ve come a long way since those days and civilization in inverted commas has brought progress and wealth – it’s also brought some of the lesser achievements of mankind.

But we have come a long way – or have we really?

I remember as a member of the Northern Australia Land and Water Taskforce a couple of years ago visiting the CSIRO establishment in this city and picking off the shelves of their library a fine but old looking book dated, I think it was 1907 or 1908.  And a skim through the pages of that manual showed that in those years, almost 100 years ago, scientists, the bureaucracy, visionaries were then looking at almost exactly the same opportunities that the Land and Water Taskforce was looking at 100 years later.

In the meantime there have been some spectacular successes – and some spectacular failures up this way.

But this part of Northern Australia, in the Territory, has progressed into a modern and caring and exciting community and other parts of Northern Australia have achieved a wealth in tourism, in universities, schools, hospitals, new forms of agriculture, minerals extraction and processing and, or course, in establishing legendary source of red meat for the world.

The recent film by Baz Luhrmann has given the world a snapshot of the beauty, the ruggedness, the mystery, the potential, the strategic importance of Northern Australia.

And the resurgence of uninvited arrivals to our northern shores highlights, as did the film Australia, the importance of the north to the safety, well-being, freedom and liberty of our Nation.

But when mining falters in the north west, in the Territory and in the north west mineral province and the coal fields of Queensland’s Bowen Basin, then our Nation slides into panic and foolish decision making. 

So, most of you in this room would be well aware, as I am, perhaps you’re even better informed than me, about the wealth of Northern Australia and its potential in the National and Global economy.  If any of you are in any doubt, then the quality array of highly experienced and visionary researchers, administrators, business people and industry and community leaders who have been gathered together by the organisers to participate in this Conference will leave you in no doubt of the ability we in Northern Australia have to assist the world in the decades and centuries ahead.

Ladies and gentlemen, you all know that climate change modelling suggests that Southern Australia will receive between 2 – 5 % less rainfall in the next 20 years and as a result Australia’s former Food Bowl in the Murray-Darling Basin is likely to have lost half of its agricultural output and according to Professor Garnaut, agricultural production in the basin is likely to have ended before the end of this century.

This is not just academic and economic theory I might add – this reality is confirmed by investors with vision who are already actualising the long term transfer of farming operations to the North.  For those who remember when the name Kingaroy was synonymous with peanuts, could you have possibly envisaged a time when Kingaroy would become cattle country and that the world’s premium peanut precinct would be in Katherine in the Northern Territory?

But, whilst our continent is dry, 23.3% of our surface rainfall run-off on this continent is lost, well, principally lost to productivity, as it gushes out into the Gulf of Carpentaria.

But with an abundance of water and a mosaic of suitable soils right across the top of Australia, the north has the potential to feed and clothe a world that is getting hungrier and more desperate for food and sustenance.

In 2008 an analysis was undertaken by the CRC for Irrigation Futures and the CSIRO to look at sustainable irrigation across Northern Australia.  It was building on some work another body had done - Northern Australia Irrigation futures: building a basis for developing sustainable irrigation across northern Australia which was commissioned by the Howard Government in 2003 and it developed new knowledge tools and processes to support debate and decision making regarding irrigation in Northern Australia.

The work of those scientific organisations described the irrigation areas of the lower Burdekin River – in my home town of Ayr in North Queensland – which has now operated for more than 100 years and pointed out that it provided some 80,000 hectares of irrigated land under cultivation.  That Report also compared those activities in the Burdekin with perhaps the better known example of the Ord River Scheme in Western Australia where there are some 14,000 hectares of surface watered irrigation established during the 1960s and since.

The Report also described the Katherine and Douglas Daly areas of the Northern Territory, with its 2,200 hectares of irrigated areas.

In each of those three irrigation areas of Northern Australia there is huge further potential.

In October last year, the new West Australian Government committed $200 million to Stage 2 of the Ord Scheme to double the size of the existing Irrigation Area.

And I was delighted when the Federal Government, in December last year, announced $198 million to support the extension of the Ord.  However, with the Federal Government, you will excuse me for saying this, as always, that allocation of money was subject to yet another Government assessment of what they said had to be the most effective infrastructure investments to meet the social and economic development needs of the region.  The Prime Minister’s press release announcing that money, subject to that assessment, did indicate that the Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development, Gary Gray was to lead the Government assessment process and that he was to report by March, 2009.  Of course, it’s now mid May 2009 and to date there has been no evidence of that report ever having been released.  So I am concerned as to where that is going.

In the past the Northern Territory Government has been reluctant to get on board in relation to Stage 2 of the Ord River Scheme.  Just yesterday I had some discussions with a Minister in the Northern Territory Government and I was delighted to learn from him that the Northern Territory is back at the Table regarding the extension of the Ord River Scheme, which as you’d know, Stage 2 and Stage 3 comes across the border into the Northern Territory.

But ladies and gentlemen the development of our water resources in the North doesn’t need to be all about such huge schemes – for example the proposals of local and regional councils in North Queensland for the development of water storage infrastructure on the Flinders River at O’Connell Creek at Richmond – and at Mount Beckford, near Hughenden – or the proposed Green Hills Dams on the Gilbert River – all seem to me, as an unqualified observer, to have merit.

Feasibility studies into the proposed water storage facility at O’ Connell Creek near Richmond suggest that there would be a yield of some 55,000 megalitres of water at 85% reliability, and the facility could be capable of irrigating some 5,000 to 12,500 hectares of good, self cracking black soils which are, for those of you who know soils, good for any sort of cropping. That facility at O’Connell Creek would draw some 100,000 megalitres annually, which is only about 2 and a half per cent of the total river flow of the Flinders River.

The potential of Northern Australia of course is not confined to just food production: mining and minerals extraction, shipment and processing already carries the rest of Australia in the terms of our economy.

Northern Australia is abundant with all sorts of minerals, and others will be talking to you about that later, these mineral activities in the North provide huge royalties to State and Federal Governments and provide employment for many Australians and some 39% of Australia’s sea-port exports comes from this area.

The unique natural environment of Northern Australia provides world-class, iconic tourism experiences in places such  as Uluru, the Great Barrier Reef, Ningaloo, the Bungle Bungles, Kimberleys, the Kakadu National Park, together with top end cruising, all very fashionable these days in Europe and North America.  There is, of course, the fabulous barra fishing right across the North and the grey nomads who are heading this way across the top of Australia in increasing numbers and particularly at this time of year.

Ladies and gentlemen, James Cook University, Charles Darwin University and the University of Western Australia, the CSIRO the Australian Institute of Marine Science all produce some of the best collaborative research on a broad range of issues which are unique to the tropics, including scientific assessment of what crops are most suited to tropical conditions, best management practices for tropical marine, riverine and coastal ecosystems and hydrology and fisheries management.

Over 40% of Australia’s land mass lies within the tropics – and, globally, the tropics are home to over half the world’s population and around 81% of its biodiversity. Northern Australia’s world-class universities are well-placed to undertake leading tropical research and contribute to some of the planet’s most rapid economic growth and challenges in health, the environment, economic, social and political development.

With its proximity to south east Asia, Japan, the Pacific and India, of course Northern Australia offers good trading potential with these countries through sea-ports and airports in Townsville, Cairns, Weipa, Karumba, Nhulunbuy, Darwin, Broome, Port Hedland and Dampier. 

We all know that Northern Australia has a lot to offer - however this potential will never be realised unless Federal and State and Local Governments make significant investment in a network of infrastructure which enables and supports private investment in the sustainable, economic development of the North.

I see from the program you have before you that many of these topics will be addressed over the next couple of days in far more detail and expertise than I am able to offer.

However, clearly, an integrated traffic plan for the whole of the North is needed together with a plan for more greenhouse efficient and less costly electricity production and distribution for the whole of the North, including the incorporation into the distribution grid of some of the things which we have a competitive and natural advantage of in the North, that’s solar, geothermal, tidal and hydro-electric sources of power in addition to the huge coal, oil and gas resources still abundant across northern Australia.  And, of course, with the abundance of uranium in the north, nuclear power generation should never be ruled out.

Reliable and extensive telecommunications coverage is essential as is housing and community infrastructure, health care, education - and the inclusion of indigenous people in the decision making in the future we have here.

We also need an experienced, “job-ready” workforce with families who actually want to live in the north because of the lifestyle it provides – but without compromising their access to education and health standards that are available in the cities.

Indigenous Australians should be made a real rather than token part of the land which was originally theirs.  Leadership is needed to treat these Australians as intelligent, caring citizens, rather than dealing with them in a way which insults them by taking away from them the ability to make their own decisions, for their own future, to get an education, to gain and achieve wealth and actually to be part of society – not dependent upon society.

Northern Australia comprises around 45% of the Australian continent; however, almost 95% of Australian’s live south of the Tropic of Capricorn.

On a per capita basis, Northern Australians (according to the State Government Treasury figures in 2006), contribute $58,690 each to the Gross Domestic Product of our country whilst people living in Southern Australia contributed only, on average $44,790.  That is, on a per capita basis, we, in the North, contribute 31% more than our fellow Australians below the Tropic of Capricorn.  And as you know, and as I have mentioned almost 30% of our export earnings emanate from Northern Australia.

Now ladies and gentlemen, it was suggested to me by the organisers that my presentation should define a future for the North in the National and Global Economy – by presenting my thoughts on how Northern Australia may sit in the National and Global Economy of the future.

But when you look at the vast sweep of world history in human times, you see cycles of economic and political leadership.  China is clearly returning to a stage of economic and political leadership on our globe.  Its vast population and the energy of its people, its huge resources give it a wealth and a strategic role that is surpassed by none.  India is up there as well.

But the aquifer under the northern Chinese plain is running dry, and no water means no food and no food means a very unhappy population, a population who will demand of its leaders that they do provide food and clothing and the raw materials necessary to keep their populations housed and happy.

Australia can sit back and do nothing, smug in our own comfortableness and wait for others to recognise our potential and then allow Asian Nations, as one did in the middle of last century to look enviously and take steps towards doing something about Australia’s potential.  We can do that or we can be a pro-active partner in providing the raw materials and sustenance those other nations need and this requires investment.  And there is private capital available for the sort of investment that’s necessary and available in the North.

But it also does require Government Regulatory Support as well as support for common user infrastructure.

Regulatory support needs clear thinking, without hypocrisy and humbug.

 Malcolm Turnbull often tells the story of how, when talking to the former Labor Government in Western Australia, he was told in hushed terms that the Ord Stage 2 could only succeed if farmers were allowed to grow “illegal crops”.  Thoughts of huge hemp farms and hashish factories immediately crossed Malcolm Turnbull’s mind until he was told that the illegal crop being spoken about was GM cotton! 

Similarly in my State we have legislation called “the Wild Rivers Legislation” which is meant to protect an odd collection of rivers running into northern waters.  The State’s reasons for this legislation, so they say, is for protection of sustainability – the real reason, in my view, without being too political, relates to second preference votes from parties masquerading as environmentally conscious who receive 8% of the vote in the southern capitals making their second preferences essential to gain and retain government.  The protection, so called, afforded by this legislation prevents the removal of weeds, the removal of feral animals; it stops indigenous people dealing with the land they know the best, in the manner they know. It also prevents water from being sustainably harvested. 

One wonders what might have happened had the Wild Rivers legislation been introduced into the Parramatta River or the Murrumbidgee which supplies water to the National capital. 

And so we do need Regulation from Government but it needs to be Regulation that’s there for the right reasons – not for political reasons.

We also need support from the Government for common user infrastructure and sensible environmental policies and, ladies and gentlemen I hear the bell ringing, but if I can just indicate that, in the past, we have had leaders, Bob Menzies with the Ord and  Malcolm Fraser with the Fairburn and Burdekin Dams.  John Howard ignored the doomsayers (who incidentally and regrettably were probably correct about the initial economic viability of the project) when he constructed the Alice to Darwin line.  But that’s now there and it’s able to continue to make a contribution to Northern Australia.

But I did just want to indicate in closing that what we really need to bring together the expertise and knowledge and do the things that we in this room all know need to be done is that we have to get the action that’s needed.

And, as Minister for Regional Services a decade ago, I was pleased to be able to establish the Northern Australian Forum which did a lot of work in identifying and promoting opportunities in the north. 

But to really succeed we need to bring together the expertise and knowledge that has been gained over many 10s and even 100s of years to provide the leadership to get the action that’s needed.

We do live in a democracy and that means majority rules and to get the support of the majority you need to do things that the majority want to benefit themselves and their families and their own lives and that, regrettably, means that many decisions of Australian Governments are taken for selfish power-seeking reasons to provide good roads, good schools, good infrastructure in those places from where the politicians will get the maximum thanks and glorification – and, of course, votes?

Out of a Federal Parliament of 150 members 110 of them are in the south east of Australia with only 8 of them representing Northern Australia.  Naturally the 142 Federal Members from the South East are keener on seeing development and facilities in their localities rather than in a foreign place that is only, for many of them, a landscape in a recent movie.

As I’ve mentioned, occasionally you do get leaders with vision that transcends political consideration but, throwing away crumbs like re-badging an existing Office of Regional Development as the Office of Northern Australia is not the sort of action we need.

Over the years ladies and gentlemen, I’ve thought deeply about this and how we can actually make southern Australians understand that it’s in their interests and in the interests of the future of their children and grand-children that Governments seriously do what’s required for the development of Northern Australia. 

I’m sure that all of the 8 politicians up in the North, including myself, can talk about the north in Parliament, and in our various Party Forums, but I have come to the conclusion that defining the future of Northern Australia in the National and Global Economy requires an independently financed team of advocates, researchers, community, business and indigenous leaders and professionals working on a long term basis for the North, to turn its future, into a benefit now, for mankind. 

That’s why I advocate leadership from the only elected people in the North who have a responsibility only to the North, that is, the 78 Local Authorities across the north of Australia.  I would argue that they should set aside some funds from their always meagre and stressed budgets, to establish some form of Northern Australian Congress to continually urge for, highlight and do research about the ways we can convince the majority of Australians that leadership is required now by Governments to develop the North for the benefit of all future Australians.

Any such Congress could include elected Councillors, their advisers, Development Groups, NRM Bodies, Indigenous Bodies and industry leaders and workers.  It could well attract long term private and institutional funding to enable it to act like a de facto Northern Australian Parliament ignoring current manmade State and Territory boundaries that are a relic of bygone days.  It could meet regularly, debate locally and organise and develop strategies that will clearly define the way forward for Northern Australia in an economic, social and environmental sense.  To be front of mind, as our Chairman said in his opening.

As an attendee of this Conference, you understand and are committed to the sort of sustainable development that will define the future of the north.  As I see it, the challenge is to achieve the decisions we all know need to be taken.  We must all continue our search for leaders who can make it happen.

Because it’s only with the right leadership that we can take advantage of the promise that so many of the first people living and settling here in the North saw when they first came here to this land millions and then hundreds of years ago.

We need to convert that promise, our understanding of the potential, into Action, and that’s what this conference is about.  It’s another step in that direction.

Thanks for having me with you today and I look forward to participating in the balance of the conference.

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