MINISTERIAL STATEMENTS

Mr GOSLING (Solomon) (12:44): As special envoy for northern Australia and the federal member for Solomon in the Top End, I'm very proud to speak on our government's focus on building a much stronger and more prosperous regional Australia and, in particular, a much stronger and more prosperous northern Australia. In order to achieve that aim, we are investing over $30 billion in the sustainable and resilient development of northern Australia, which is really important as we play a critical role in delivering on our government's agenda, including delivering a Future Made in Australia, supporting our nation's transition to a net zero economy, developing the critical minerals industry and all the work we're doing in defence as well.

Our government's Northern Australia Action Plan 2024-2029 has a renewed focus on economic opportunities, housing, education and infrastructure in the regions of Northern Australia. We're collaborating with the Queensland, Western Australian and Northern Territory governments through the Northern Australia Ministerial Forum on key issues. In recent times, these have included housing, which everyone agrees is a critical issue, and research, which leads to commercial opportunity, better livelihoods and the all-important economic development, particularly for regions where there are First Nations communities that have traditionally not had access to opportunities in the market.

I did attend the Northern Australia Ministerial Forum in April, and our discussions also included insurance affordability, which is a critical issue for us; fuel security; labour data; and future collaboration across northern Australia. Ministers received jurisdictional updates across priorities such as disaster recovery, energy security, critical minerals, tourism, resilience, defence investment and those First Nations employment and housing initiatives that I mentioned previously.

In November last year, our government announced the 10-year extension of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, the NAIF. It will continue to invest in projects across Northern Australia well beyond the current investment deadline of 30 June 2026. The continuation of NAIF for another decade will reassure communities and stakeholders in the north, many of whom contributed to the review.

The NAIF is here to stay! The 10-year extension will be safeguarded by reviews every five years to ensure that the NAIF remains fit for purpose. It really has seen a great development in opportunities across Northern Australia.

They are really important regions of Australia—from Queensland, through the Northern Territory, to north-west WA. We have worked to ensure that the Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility is supporting projects that deliver tangible benefits to northern communities. It was great to meet with the new CEO, Neil MacDonald, in Cairns very recently.

He is an impressive bloke who is really getting after the great work that Craig Doyle did as CEO. I acknowledge Craig's fantastic work from when he was the CEO. The NAIF has provided, under Craig's leadership and now Neil's, $4.5 billion of the $7 billion through financing infrastructure developments across the north of Australia to support 35 projects.

This includes 16 projects in Queensland with concessional loans of around $1.7 billion, 10 projects in Western Australia with loans of around $1.7 billion and nine projects in the Northern Territory, where I'm proud to represent Territorians, with loans of almost $1 billion. Those projects are forecast to generate more than $33 billion in public benefit and more than 18,000 jobs, which is a big deal for northern Australia.

Over $3 billion in NAIF funds has now been drawn down by proponents to deliver on key infrastructure projects in northern Australia. The Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility Amendment Bill 2026, introduced in March, amends that The Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility Act to extend NAIF's investment decision-making period, strengthen accountability for compliance within the investment mandate, establish joint responsibilities for the responsible ministers and refresh statutory review requirements to allow for two future reviews on the operation of the NAIF Act.

I'm sure honourable members will forgive me for talking a bit about the NAIF. When you talk about regional Australia, the north is such a vital engine of resources and of talented humans who really want to make the north stronger and more resilient; we know, in turn, that that will make our nation stronger and more resilient. When it comes to regional Australia, our government—the Albanese Labor federal government—is working collaboratively with states and territories and, as we've seen this week, with local government as well as industry to create the environment in which the regions of Australia can thrive.

I'm proud to be part of those efforts. Debate adjourned. Federation Chamber adjourned at 12:51