Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility Amendment Bill 2026
Senator WHITEAKER (Western Australia) (19:24): Northern Australia is critical to Australia's future. It is rich in resources, energy, agriculture and industry, and it's home to communities that power our economy and support our export industries. We know that developing and building capacity in northern Australia has always come with unique challenges.
Vast distances, infrastructure gaps, workforce pressures and higher project costs bring with them unique challenges in attracting long-term investment into the remote and regional parts of our country in the north. That's ultimately why the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility was created, to help unlock projects that otherwise would struggle to get off the ground.
In particular, the kinds of projects that are transformational for regional communities that might otherwise be considered too remote, too complex or just too long term for traditional finance to cover. The Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility Amendment Bill 2026 extends the NAIF investment decision-making period by 10 years, while also strengthening its governance and accountability arrangements.
Fundamentally, this provides certainty to the north, brings the NAIF into line with other Commonwealth specialist investment vehicles and ensures that the NAIF can continue to do the important work that it does supporting the north. The case for extending the NAIF by 10 years is really clear. Since it was established, NAIF has made 37 investments across Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory with loans totalling more than $4.3 billion supporting economic development, supporting jobs and supporting infrastructure across the north.
In my home state of Western Australia we have seen the benefit of NAIF backed investment across the Gascoyne, the Pilbara and Kimberly regions in mining, processing, renewable energy, logistics, agriculture and export infrastructure. Importantly, so many of these projects sit directly at the centre of our country's future industrial capability. Projects like the Pilbara Minerals P680 expansion, supported through the NAIF, are helping expand lithium production in the Pilbara and strengthening Australia's role in the global battery supply chain.
Supported through a NAIF loan of up to $125 million, this project alone is expected to deliver a public benefit of $1.4 billion and support hundreds of jobs both in construction and in operations. The Element 25 Butcherbird manganese project, also supported by the NAIF with a loan of up to $50 million, will produce manganese concentrate critical to steel making and the global clean energy transition.
These are strategic industries tied to batteries, advanced manufacturing clean energy technologies and future supply chains. This is what a future made in Australia looks like, and it's happening in the north of our great country and in my great home state of Western Australia. Economic diversification across the north very much happens with projects supported through the NAIF.
The Perdaman urea project near Karratha is expected to establish the largest urea plant in Australia, helping to kickstart a domestic fertiliser-manufacturing industry and reducing reliance on imports. Supported through associated investments in port and water infrastructure, the broader project is expected to generate an $8.5 billion public benefit and support 2½ thousand jobs over its life.
In the Kimberley, the Kimberley cotton gin project has helped establish Western Australia's first commercial-scale cotton processing facility. Instead of sending unprocessed cotton more than 3½ thousand kilometres interstate, the region can now process it locally, creating local jobs and supporting a new agricultural industry in north-western Australia. Of course, underpinning all of this investment is good infrastructure: ports, transmission, water, logistics, energy and export capability.
We know these projects don't happen without the enabling infrastructure, and many of these projects simply would not have proceeded without patient and long-term investment from the NAIF. Some more examples of the investment that the NAIF has made in my home state of Western Australia. The Onslow Marine Support Base has expanded marine logistics and is servicing capability in the Pilbara.
It's an accelerated development that otherwise may have taken years longer to deliver at great detriment to my home state but also to the country. The Chichester Solar Gas Hybrid Project is another example, helping reduce diesel reliance in the Pilbara through large-scale renewable energy infrastructure, supporting industrial operations. This project is expected to reduce diesel consumption by around 100 million litres every year.
Never has that been more important than now, with global supply chain challenges. Really importantly, lots of these projects are also tied to long-term engagement with First Nations communities and traditional owners in the north. Across NAIF projects in Western Australia and across the north of our country, Indigenous engagement strategies include commitments around employment, procurement, the protection of cultural heritage, training and local participation.
At the Thunderbird Mineral Sands Project in the Kimberley, these commitments include long-term Indigenous employment targets, Aboriginal training initiatives and contracting opportunities for First Nations businesses. We know that development in northern Australia must include those local First Nations communities and strengthen the communities in which they exist.
When we invest in northern Australia, we're investing in local communities, we're investing in national capability and we're investing in resilience and long-term economic security. Northern Australia is central to the growth of our economy over the decade to come, and Labor is committed to making sure that the NAIF is able to continue to support industries and communities in the north to realise their enormous potential.
We that know that potential alone doesn't build the infrastructure that we need or finance the transformational projects that we need to create jobs. That's what this bill seeks to do by extending the NAIF for another decade. It is long-term investment in our regions.
It is long-term investment in the north. It is long-term investment in states like my own, Western Australia. I commend the bill.