Latitudes North - Cairns - Address
18th May, 2013
Thank you Noeline,It's a breath of fresh air to have a candidate in Kennedy who is a forward-thinker for north Queensland.
The key northern Australian electorate of Kennedy has been in the wilderness for too long.
If the Coalition wins the next federal election, with a swag of seats in places like western Sydney - as bookmakers predict - the north will need every voice it can find.
The north needs Noeline Ikin to be at the government's party room to help make the policy choices need for a stronger north half of our continent.
The choice could not be starker. A vote for more moaning in the wilderness or a seat at the decision-making table.
A bright, proactive future geared for northern Australia's growth or more backward-looking yearning for the past.
The farmers, graziers, fishers, miners, tourism operators and small businesses across Kennedy cannot afford to be left out in the cold for another three years.
That's because the Coalition has a dedicated plan to populate, invest in and develop northern Australia.
Opening up the north's vast untapped resources is pivotal to building a stronger Australia and creating, right here, the jobs of the 21st Century.
Just this week Treasurer Wayne Swan handed down his six straight budget deficit - a cumulative budget shortfall of $192 billion since Labor came to office and, at least, more to come.
The truth is they will never produce a surplus.
The government's gross debt - the debt we all have to pay back - will be $300 billion by election day and almost $400 billion over the forward estimates.
Getting Australia back into the black isn't just about budget cuts. It's about making the right investments for growth and prosperity - building a stronger economy also boosts government revenue and reduces deficits.
And northern Australia is in the vanguard of that push for very good reasons.
By 2050, Australia's population will balloon to 40 million mouths to feed.
At the same time, the world population will explode to over 9 billion.
And half of these people will live in the Asia-Pacific region - literally on our northern doorstep.
The globe is entering an era of world food shortage and shrinking farm production as farmland is eaten up by urban sprawl and water diverted to quench the needs of thirsty cities.
Australia must ensure we can meet our future domestic needs but also capitalise on ever-growing world food needs.
There are rising populations and a bourgeoning middle class among our nearest neighbours, they are under mounting pressure to feed themselves.
In fact, they are keenly aware that they can't meet that basic need and they are looking outwards for solutions.
Australia is in a prime position. But are we geared to deliver?
At the moment it seems to be taken for granted that we will just organically benefit from our geography. But as everyone here knows, you only reap what you sow.
A serious national debate and consideration of initiatives that can deliver a multitude of benefits to the north, and Australian more generally, must be had.
I reject the view that because some development in the north has failed in the past that we should just give up.
We want to establish a northern food bowl, treble mineral exports, see major energy developments, a bigger high-value northern tourism industry, and world centres of excellence for tropical medicine and health research.
These go hand-in-hand with major education and defence facilities and a larger northern population.
Building dams and water storages to protect us from droughts and floods have the capacity to make regional Australian more productive.
The Coalition continues to consult on this policy, but some clear conclusions can be drawn.
Australia has not built a major dam for 20 years. In 1990, Australian dams could store more than 4 years supply of our water needs.
Today, they can just store over 3 years of supply, and if we don't build new dams, by 2050, they will only be able to store just over 2 years supply.
Australia currently uses just 6% of our available water resources, compared to a world average of 9%.
If we increased our use to equal the world average (about the amount used in North America) Australia could double its food production to feed more than 100 million people.
Managed the right way, a dam is a flood mitigation device, a potential provider of zero emissions power, and a source of environmental flows in dry times as well as means of better water security for farmers and an essential source of reliable and affordable water for the mining industry.
Moving water long distances is not a viable option. The Coalition prefers an approach that "uses water where it falls".
Australia's generally flat landscape, and the high cost of power, makes moving water long distances an expensive option. Australia should look to move the industry to the water, not the water to the work.
Dams will be crucial if we want to expand agricultural production, particularly in our north given its proximity to the growing markets of Asia.
The CSIRO has identified that there is 5 to 17 million hectares of arable land in our north, where more than 60% of our rain falls.
While not all of this land can be developed, Australia only irrigates a total of 2 million hectares at the moment.
There is no need for major water infrastructure in most capital cities for probably 10 to 15 years given the recent large investments in recycling and desalination plants.
Still, it can take up to 15 years for a dam to go from concept to completion.
We should start that planning now so we don't make the kinds of poor decisions that State Labor governments made in our last drought.
Because of those decisions water prices have gone up 64% since 2007 - much of that cost for infrastructure has been mothballed.
The Coalition has travelled to every State and Territory and there are some key locations where the case for additional water infrastructure is strong.
There are some dams at an advanced stage of planning, including the expansion of the Ord scheme, in Western Australia, and the Nathan Dam in central Queensland.
More dams in central Queensland will be crucial to help expand our mining industry. Producing one tonne of coal requires about 200 to 300 litres of water.
Other projects need more work on their feasibility, including options to expand agriculture in the Gulf (Richmond, Hughendon, Georgetown) and parts of southern Queensland too like Emu Swamp Dam.
The Queensland government is considering ways to mitigate flood damage in regional Queensland towns and our coastal cities.
It is not just about dams. More work is needed on the potential for additional use of groundwater in the Northern Territory (eg, Tindall Limestone) and aquifer recharge in Victoria (Lindenow Valley).
The performance of our existing dams can also be improved by looking to maximise power generation, investigate the potential for dam covers to cut evaporation and to install fish ladders to improve environmental outcomes.
The government should also be concerned that the 200,000-strong Cairns area has consistently had amongst the highest level of unemployment in Australia and it remains around 10 per cent today.
As the mining boom has shown, growth and development in all parts of Australia feeds back into jobs and opportunity in our major capital cities.
Treasurer Wayne Swan said on Tuesday that his budget is about growth and jobs, but the budget spells out higher unemployment at 5.75% and lower growth at 2.75%.
Investing in the growth and prosperity of northern Australia is in everyone's best interests.
I've had a bit to say about foreign investment in Australia.
The West Australian Liberal-National Government has announcement a preferred proponent to bring the iconic Ord River and East Kimberly Expansion Project to fruition and we support it.
Kimberley Agricultural Investment - an Australian company owned by the Chinese company Shanghai Zhongfu - will pump $700 million into the region, creating and developing a sugar industry in Kununurra and opening 13,400 hectares to irrigated farming.
When we say we welcome foreign investment this is the type of project that can make a difference.
Under the terms of the lease, the north-west of Australia will finally get the sustained investment necessary to make a go of the region, while all the infrastructure created remains the property of Australia.
Unfortunately, there were no Australian companies that could credibly have been shortlisted to undertake this development.
It is a major disappointment the Australians do not value our land or food producing industries as highly as people who come from other parts of the world.
These major projects are for the long-haul and are exactly what is needed in the region. They can act as a catalyst for opening up and developing more of northern Australia for agriculture, but where are the Australians with enough vision and courage to back these developments ourselves?
On the other hand, there are other purchases of Australian land and business that have been more controversial. We are yet to have any explanation as to why the sale of Australia's most valuable farm, Cubbie Station, along with its massive water rights, being ceded to overseas owners was in the national interest.
Under current rules it is very difficult for foreigners to buy a suburban home in Australia, but it seems the Treasurer has no issue with the biggest irrigation farm in the country being bought by overseas interests.
Now the government must deal with the takeover of Australia's largest listed agribusiness, GrainCorp, by Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) - the US owned giant that is the second largest grain business in the world.
This bid would mean that every grain export facility in Queensland, NSW, SA and all but half of one in Victoria, would be foreign owned - including Mackay in north Queensland.
The owners of these vital assets have the ability to decide whether Australia has a grain industry or not. ADM is not offering new investment just new ownership at above market value.
Grain storage and handling charges will rise for Australian farmers to pay for the purchase and the profits will be transferred to the new overseas owners.
This purchase, along with the dominant buyouts of Australia's sugar industry, meat works, dairy industry, grain marketing, oilseed crushers, food processing, wine industry - mostly over the past 4 years - raises serious questions about the future decision-making in our agricultural industries.
We dream about becoming the food bowl of Asia but whether that can happen will increasingly be decided in boardrooms in the US, Europe, Asia and even New Zealand.
We support genuine foreign investment that strengthens our economy, which promotes growth and fosters confidence, but investments must be in our national interest.
We should be criticising not the foreign investors who know the true value of our agricultural assets, but Australian investors who do not and who want immediate profits and lack the vision to see the potential of our food producing industries.
And we need to ask our own regulators why they never say no to these takeovers.
The Coalition has announced a new regime to scrutinize foreign takeover bids - but it is already too late for many of Australia's key agricultural industries.
A crisis meeting in Richmond last week starkly illustrated that, two years on, the live cattle trade is still reeling from an over-reaction to a television program. In Longreach a week earlier, heifers were selling for as little as $18.50 a head.
The plummeting price has come on the back off drought-like conditions, the high dollar and a backlog of cattle caused by Indonesia's reduced live export quota.
Not surprisingly, Indonesia's reaction to Labor's blanket ban on live exports was to fast-track its aspiration of self-sufficiency and reduce Australia's quota for live cattle and, I might add, boxed meat exports as well.
Australia's $1 billion live export industry is very important to the national economy, in particular for the families, businesses and entire communities across Australia's north - spanning Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia.
In all, some 13,000 direct Australian jobs depend on the sector.
But it is also particularly important to Indigenous communities with 82 Indigenous cattle properties alone directly supporting 700 Indigenous jobs and, indirectly, supporting a further 17,000 people in station communities.
The message is clear. Our key market has been burned by the Australian government. Rebuilding that relationship will be a key focus for the Coalition.
We've already been over there to help mend relations and, if elected, we'll be back to make further repairs following Labor's diplomatic gaffes and economic sabotage.
But there are other lessons to be learned as well. The northern cattle industry has become too dependent on live exports. I welcome the proposals to build abattoirs in northern Australia and stand ready to help.
But there are already 14 closed abattoirs between Townsville and Bunbury in WA. There will need to be a different business plan if we are to try again.
We fervently believe the economic potential of northern Australia is unlimited and has to be facilitated.
For too long, governments have neglected the economic potential of this region.
The Coalition does not apologise for wanting to create greater economic opportunities for that part of our country that is on Asia's doorstop.
Closer engagement and effective trade relationships across Asia is an integral part of our strategy to create more jobs, higher real wages here at home and drive a stronger, more prosperous economy.
The Coalition has been listening to experts and community leaders about the possibilities to grow our economy in northern Australia. It's all about opportunities and I see nothing but upside.
The impetus behind our push is focussed on developing and populating inland and northern Australia, ensuring regional businesses can achieve their full productive capacity to meet bourgeoning world demand and providing more Australians with better opportunities and higher living standards.
A 2012 report in Victoria found that by supporting growth in the regions we can help reduce the estimated $95 billion in cumulative congestion costs associated with expanding Melbourne's outer-metropolitan areas over the next 20 years.
For example, the cumulative cost of providing critical infrastructure to support an additional 50,000 people in Victoria's regional cities is estimated at $1 billion.
This compares with inefficiency costs of $3.1 billion associated with the same number of people being accommodated in metropolitan areas. I am sure the numbers would be the similar in Queensland.
Australia is at a cross-roads and regional Australia, now more than ever, needs to be front-and-centre in our national consciousness.
It is my unequivocal belief that the regions will need to play an even bigger role if we, as a nation, are to see a return to the brighter future Australians want for themselves and expect for their children.
It has always been the case that regional Australia drives our country's economic prosperity.
When the regions are strong, so is our nation. Too often these days that fact is forgotten - or just plain ignored.
Unless we can bring businesses and people to regional cities and develop new commercial hubs, the 40 million people Australia is expected to have by 2050 will grind our cities into perpetual gridlock.
It's a little known fact that Australia's population is already one of the most densely concentrated in the OECD - almost double the OECD average.
Just under 90% our population is crammed into 3% of the landmass - namely Sydney and Newcastle, Melbourne, Brisbane and Queensland's south east, Adelaide and Perth.
That's not a sustainable population.
So many opportunities have been lost by our city-centric government over the past 5 years.
You may or may not be surprised to know that there is not one single minister in Julia Gillard's cabinet who lives outside a capital city.
In the entire time under both the Rudd and Gillard eras, no cabinet member has lived in rural Australia.
For the record, six of my colleagues in the Shadow Cabinet proudly call regional Australia home.
The point is, if we are elected, we will have a government with a strong regional focus and will ensure that the regions share in the growth and development to deliver real opportunities to those who live outside the capital cities.
Making the economy strong again is the place to start. We have a plan to get government spending under control and ensure spending is focussed on projects that benefit the nation.
We know that a stronger economy is not an end in itself - but it is the precursor to the better services and modern infrastructure that everyone wants and regional Australia desperately needs.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am positive about the future and the key role regional Australia, including northern Australia, must play in resuscitating our country - economically and socially.
But now it's the nation's turn to back the north and invest in its growth if we are to reap the rewards and opportunities ahead and deliver better living standards for all Australians.
I want to assure you we will be doing all we can to ensure regional Australia gets its fair share so the regions can achieve their full potential.
Thank you.
[ENDS]
