Senator McDONALD (Queensland) (11:59): I rise to speak about a topic which is near and dear to the heart of every representative of particularly northern Australia, members and senators alike. It is on this topic that we rise above the petty politics of party politics and we talk about the future opportunity of this nation. I'm delighted to speak after Senator McCarthy, who is one of those other northern Australian representatives. Many of the topics she touched on, I think, are critical to us investing in the future of our country. After nine years in opposition, on the very first day of parliament, one of the first actions of this new government was to scrap the northern Australia agenda. They scrapped the northern Australia committee, the only committee in this parliament dedicated to exploring the very important cross-portfolio and cross-jurisdiction issues to develop 51 per cent of our land mass. There are 1.3 million people living in northern Australia, 16 per cent of those Indigenous—over 200,000 Indigenous people—and we removed the very, very small advantage that northern Australia had in that place. Senator Scarr: How much wealth does it create? Senator McDONALD: The wealth that's created from northern Australia—11 per cent of the nation's GDP, you'll be impressed to hear, Senator Scarr, from only three per cent of the population living in the north. Not only did they axe the committee on northern Australia; they axed the Office of Northern Australia. They've melded that into some other part of the department, never to be seen again. They've axed the modern manufacturing initiatives that we were rolling forward. They've frozen the Hells Gate Dam; it will be death by consultant to that project. They're delivering uncertainty on the future of mining and resources in the north. Northern Australia is being short-changed by a short-sighted Labor government. This part of the country has the most opportunity for irrigated agriculture, the critical development for food security both for Australians and our region. We have the resources, critical minerals and rare earths that allow Australia to take part in the new economy that we have been talking about. And most importantly—the most important thing that we do is that we take advantage and give opportunity to the 1.3 million people speaking in the north and living in the north. We give opportunity and, as Senator McCarthy just described, meaningful work, purposeful work and connection, and we can only do that by developing the very part of the country where those people live. Under the previous government, we had committed $6.2 billion to developing the northern Australia agenda and all 51 measures under the first five years of the 20-year Our north, our future white paper on developing the north. I can't go on without acknowledging the work of a member in the other place, Mr Warren Entsch—the work that he did on that very bipartisan northern Australia committee as they examined opportunities for the north, for the people, the industries and the resources. We committed $189.6 million to developing northern Australia. That included $9.3 million to pilot the regions of growth. You cannot talk about 51 per cent of the nation without identifying the areas that can best be targeted, that can be divided up, and allow us to truly make change, to make those investments worthwhile and sticky. There was $68.5 million for mobiles and digital connectivity. We extended the northern Australia infrastructure fund from $5 billion to $7 billion, and I will be holding this government to account that they do not axe any more of the funding that goes into this critically important part of the country. We developed the priority regional master plans—Mount Isa to Townsville, Beetaloo Basin to Katherine to Darwin, Broome to Kununurra to Darwin, and the next priority region-of-growth corridor is Cairns to Gladstone. As I went across northern Australia consulting with stakeholders—with the councils, local community groups, the RDAs and businesses—the passion and the intention that people had to commit into the north was fascinating to see. Yet the first action, day one, of this government, was to completely abolish the northern Australia agenda. Infrastructure, roads and water: this is a long-term commitment to build roads and to seal roads into northern Australia. Did you know that there are still roads in the north that not only are not sealed but are dirt and which are cut off for five months of the year? That is unacceptable in a part of the country where, if a road goes out for a day, it is a matter of mass inconvenience. Yet that is what northern Australians live with, at the same time as delivering 11 per cent of the GDP of the country. We have invested $700 million for 38 projects for beef roads in northern Australia and 31 investment decisions under the NAIF for $3.4 billion in northern infrastructure investments. I could go on with the specifics of the projects, but I want to touch on the Outback Way, a critical piece of infrastructure that connects Winton to Laverton in Western Australia. Did you know that there is only one sealed road connecting Queensland to the Northern Territory and the Northern Territory to Western Australia? We have been plugging away at that for the last 10 years, and yet yesterday Labor pulled the rug out from under the feet of northern Australians by removing the focus, the competition, that we need to continue investing in the north. The Savannah Way, which joins up the Top End of the country, the Burke Developmental Road and the Peninsula Developmental Road are all critical pieces of infrastructure. We committed $7.5 billion to the National Water Grid for northern Australia infrastructure and resource assessment projects and $18.9 million for five northern Australia water projects through the Water Grid Connections Funding Pathway. What will happen to those now? Last week I was in the Bowen region. Most of Australia's tomatoes come from the Bowen region during the winter months. Huge numbers of those tomatoes have been wiped out due to the unseasonable rain events. Where are we going to grow our crops if not in northern Australia during the winter months? We had money for the Hells Gate dam business case and for the Urannah dam business case and approvals. I have already touched on the blackspot program and the Regional Connectivity Program. All of these are now in question. Soon after the election campaign, I speculated that we had seen the sun set on the northern Australia agenda, and I remain completely worried that this is the end. Senator Scarr: An eclipse. Senator McDONALD: Yes, an eclipse, Senator Scarr. Thank you; I'll take that. We committed $75 million through the CRC for developing northern Australia. This is thought leadership in the north, into crops, into other projects that are using technology and innovation to create greater food production, to expand the cotton development in Western Australia and for sugar cane products in Queensland. One of the things I was most proud of was the reappointment of the Indigenous Reference Group. This group, chaired by Mr Colin Saltmere, from Camooweal, is a revelation, with the sorts of practical commitments they have to improving the lot of not just Indigenous Australians but primarily Indigenous northern Australians with real, purposeful, connected work. This cannot happen if you don't have that kind of prioritisation of agenda and focus. I am desperately worried about the one northern Australia representative on the Infrastructure Australia Board. Will that position remain, or will that too be scrubbed as some sort of political rhetoric, as the Labor government goes through and sacks everybody on committees that are in place at the moment? The Indigenous Reference Group has two representatives from each of the states and territories, in addition to the chair. It is talking about really exciting work, and I would be devastated to see that not continue. We have had record export earnings from our resources sector. We had smashed all previous records, in 2021 and 2022, to bring in $425 billion in resources. It is those royalties and taxes that grow the Australian economy, that secure our energy and secure our national security. It employs, directly, around 280,000 people in Australia and, despite COVID, 40,000 new jobs since the start of the pandemic, all of those being paid at double the rate of most average Australian jobs. This growth trajectory was expected to continue, but, of course, now we have doubt cast over that by the green tail wagging the Labor dog as we see the agenda being set under this new government. We were committed to securing our gas supply with the strategic basins policy, our gas-fired recovery, the Beetaloo Strategic Basin Plan in the Northern Territory, the North Bowen and Galilee basins plan, and the Cooper and Adavale basins plan—all of these critical resources not just for energy production but also for the manufacture of urea, for AdBlue, critical components for our agriculture and transport industries. If the thing you have in your hand is not made of steel it's made in a factory made of steel, and we know that coal is critical in the manufacturing of steel. We invested money into carbon capture and storage, modern technology, to allow us to achieve our carbon neutral emissions target by 2050. There's our critical minerals industry, much of which is in northern Australia, the geosciences research plan and exploration plan. We invested $2 billion into a critical minerals facility. Will this government continue with those works or will that too be cast under the shadow of a brave new government that talks a lot about rhetoric but forgets the practicality of how it actually makes a difference, of how it actually invests in industry that improves Australians' lives, whether it be the high-paid resource salaries, whether it be how that spreads across our nation through royalties and taxes, whether it be our world-leading agricultural industry that feeds not only Australia but a good part of our regional sector? Northern Australia is a critical part of ensuring that we secure our food security. We hold much of the phosphate reserves and potash from Western Australia. These are all minerals that need to be developed for food security, to secure agricultural supply chains for Australia and for our near neighbours. With the threat of foot-and-mouth and lumpy-skin disease in Indonesia and Bali, we are looking at a food security problem for those people. Sri Lanka is working its way through a catastrophe with the removal of much of the fertilisers in that country. And Indonesia is down to 50 per cent of milk production in East Java. These are our near neighbours who are struggling with food security. They are struggling with disease. Australia and northern Australia will have to hold our own biosecurity line in that part of the country. Yet what has Labor done? The first action on day one of this parliament was to cancel the northern Australia committee, to remove the office of northern Australia. I call out to the government to reinstate those important tools of government, but, most importantly, I call out to— An honourable senator interjecting— Senator McDONALD: I'm sorry, I can't hear you. Would you like to speak next? Would you like the call next? Senator Scarr: Oh, please, No! The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Honourable senators. You're not assisting, Senator Scarr. I ask senators to restrain themselves. You have 36 seconds, Senator McDonald. Senator McDONALD : So it is without the particular focus on northern Australia that we threaten the future prosperity of our country. We threaten the future severity of city dwellers who don't have the ability to grow food, to mine for energy and other resources. Without northern Australia, the resources sector, I fear for what our future, for ourselves and our young people, will look like and I will be endeavouring to hold this government to account along with my other northern Australia counterparts. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: I shall now proceed to senators' statements.