Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility Amendment Bill 2026
Senator ROBERTS (Queensland) (19:51): The north of Australia is Australia's future. One Nation supports the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility Amendment Bill 2026. The Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, commonly known as NAIF, was established as a Commonwealth corporate entity in 2016 with bipartisan support.
It was tasked with a $5 billion financing mandate to drive a 10-year mission to provide economic and social growth across northern Australia through the provision of concessional loans and financial support to private and public infrastructure projects. The NAIF has been upgraded, amended and fiddled with in 2018, 2021 and now 2026. Hopefully this bill is third time lucky.
Since 2016, NAIF has handed out over $3 billion of the original $5 billion, with a total of $4.5 billion committed. The government has extended the pool to $7 billion. This bill extends the investment decision-making ability for the NAIF from June 2026 to June 2036.
It adds additional requirements for the NAIF to report to the minister if there's any deviation in compliance with their investment mandate. It implements the joint ministerial oversight model, which will see increased joint responsibilities for NAIF board appointments between the Minister for Northern Australia and the Minister for Finance. It establishes statutory reviews every five years.
It requires NAIF to align with existing provisions in the legislation of other Commonwealth investment vehicles. In short, this bill puts NAIF on a stronger footing to carry out their mandate. It is, though, the mandate that One Nation objects to.
The Albanese government changed the mandate in 2026 to include economic development in the north—that's fair enough—and alleviating social or economic disadvantage in northern communities—fair enough. However, the mandate also included improving First Nations outcomes and achieving Australia's net zero transition goals. One Nation's policy is to improve outcomes for Aboriginal communities through improving all communities right across the Top End.
To One Nation, it doesn't matter if a community is Aboriginal or white or any colour in between. We care about Australians equally. We will advance policy based on equal rights for all—special rights for none.
Our policy is to provide grants directly to local government, including Aboriginal councils across northern Australia, so that ANAO, the Australian National Audit Office, can audit where the money goes and what benefit the community derive from that money. Accountability in the Aboriginal industry—now there's a concept. As for making NAIF about net zero, that's not happening under a One Nation government.
We will require NAIF to support any project which represents value for money for the taxpayers while meeting a real need. If that's wind or solar or a big battery then so be it, but the numbers must add up without taxpayer money. We don't propose to change the investment mandate other than to take the woke back out.
Let me give you some examples of how Australia will restore wealth, prosperity and opportunity for all who are here. These are not One Nation projects. There's no taking credit here.
It's about building the nation from the Albanese government, state governments and private industry for the good of our whole nation. Funding for these projects is provided through private financiers, with the possibility of a public-private partnership to ensure Australia's interests are looked after. NAIF is required in the early stage to show the government is serious about investment.
For too long, major projects have been held up through bureaucratic and political indecision, sometimes caused by environmental laws, but mostly just incompetence. This has led to trust issues between investors and the government. This is not a reflection on the Albanese government per se; this problem has been going on under successive Liberal, National and Labor governments for 20 years, which is why the NAIF is essential to providing early-stage funding and guiding these projects through the bureaucratic jungle expeditiously.
After all, if the Albanese government is going to flood Australia with new arrivals as it is, we must generate new wealth to share with them, or else everyone goes backwards, which is what is happening right now. Projects One Nation will be strongly supporting include the great Australian infrastructure network, GAIN, which involves a railroad crossing across northern Australia, linking iron ore projects in Western Australia with Queensland metalliferous coal in the Bowen Basin.
Steel mills will be located at each end to provide sovereign capacity in steel and steel by-products, including cement, fertiliser and ammonia, which is the material from which pharmaceuticals are made. This development will use water from Lake Argyle in Western Australia and from a new weir where the Urannah dam was to be located. The railway will include a multifunction corridor bringing town water, electricity and an internet backbone connection.
The internet connection is of utmost importance for national security. While the old offshore copper connection between Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth has been upgraded, it's not capable of carrying Australia's internet traffic. I'll just say that.
It's not capable, as it is, of carrying Australia's international traffic. It needs duplication. For a signal to get from Brisbane to Perth, it must travel via a jump-off point in Brisbane up to Asia, often as far as China, then back down again to Perth.
What could possibly go wrong with that? This proposal has had a long history going back more than 100 years. The current proponents have assembled an impressive team, capitalised their project sponsor vehicle and have already exceeded any development conducted in the past through previous sponsors using all new and unencumbered intellectual property—all new on a proven concept.
Project sponsors have advanced proposals to complete Inland Rail from Parkes in New South Wales to the Port of Gladstone, using what's been called the forestry route. A second proponent is advocating a route due north from Goondiwindi via Moonie to Dalby and on to the Port of Gladstone, where a major container handling facility is currently out to tender. I look forward to the Crisafulli government fast-tracking this amazing proposal to take Australia's container handling into the 21st century.
One Nation will also build the Big Rocks Weir, Emu Swamp Dam and the Hughenden irrigation project, and complete the reconstruction of Paradise Dam. There are other projects under development. Once again, these are not One Nation projects.
We are promoting them and would be happy to promote any other project that will restore wealth and abundance for all. The NAIF has an important role to play in that process. We need to rebuild our country and leave a legacy for our children and for the descendants of all in Australia right now.
We need to restore Australia and make it magnificent again. I move: At the end of the motion, add ", but the Senate is of the opinion that: (a) the Investment Mandate for the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility must prioritise productive infrastructure which will grow the Australian economy and provide breadwinner jobs for everyday Australians; (b) financial assistance should be encouraged under the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility Act 2016 for measures which: (i) directly finance the extraction of coal or natural gas, (ii) directly finance the construction of pipeline infrastructure, including for the extraction of natural gas, and (iii) directly finance the mining of natural resources, including coal; and (c) financial assistance must not be provided for net zero measures".