Select Committee on the Effectiveness of the Australian Government's
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The Senate Select Committee on the effectiveness of the Australian Government’s Northern Australia agenda Select Committee on the effectiveness of the Australian Government’s Northern Australia agenda Final report April 2021 © Commonwealth of Australia ISBN 978-1-76093-219-0 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License. The details of this licence are available on the Creative Commons website: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. Printed by Printed by the Senate Printing Unit, Parliament House, Canberra. Members Chair Senator Murray Watt ALP, QLD Deputy Chair Senator Susan McDonald NATS, QLD Members Senator Patrick Dodson ALP, WA Senator Malarndirri McCarthy ALP, NT Senator Malcolm Roberts PHON, QLD Senator Rachel Siewert AG, WA Senator Dean Smith LP, WA Secretariat Ms Lee Katauskas, Committee Secretary Ms Fattimah Imtoual, Principal Research Officer Ms Adrienne White, Senior Research Officer Ms Ella Ross, Administrative Officer iii Contents Members ............................................................................................................................................. iii Terms of Reference .......................................................................................................................... vii Abbreviations and acronyms ........................................................................................................... ix List of Recommendations .............................................................................................................. xiii Chapter 1—Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2—Overall effectiveness of the Northern Australia Agenda .................................... 21 Chapter 3—Transport infrastructure ............................................................................................. 37 Chapter 4—Water infrastructure .................................................................................................... 73 Chapter 5—Social infrastructure .................................................................................................... 91 Chapter 6—Investment, opportunities and engagement with First Nations people ......... 123 Chapter 7—Employment and education ..................................................................................... 147 Chapter 8—A broader northern economy .................................................................................. 179 Chapter 9—Insurance ..................................................................................................................... 197 Chapter 10—Environment ............................................................................................................. 225 Chapter 11—Committee view and recommendations ............................................................. 239 Coalition Senatators' additional comments ............................................................................... 259 Australian Greens' additional comments ................................................................................... 267 Senator Malcolm Roberts' dissenting report ............................................................................. 269 Appendix 1—Submissions and additional information ......................................................... 283 Appendix 2—Public hearings ....................................................................................................... 289 v Terms of Reference The Select Committee on the effectiveness of the Australian Government’s Northern Australia agenda was established to inquire into and report on the effectiveness of the objectives, design, implementation and evaluation of the Australian Government’s Northern Australia agenda, with particular reference to: (a) facilitation of public and private investment in infrastructure and economic development; (b) economic and social benefit arising from that investment for Northern Australians, in particular First Nations people; (c) funding models and policy measures that capture the full value of existing and emerging industries; (d) measures taken to develop an appropriately skilled workforce; (e) emerging national and international trends and their impact on the Northern Australia agenda; and (f) any related matters. vii Abbreviations and acronyms The 2015 Audit Northern Australia Infrastructure Audit (Infrastructure Australia, 2015) ACCC Australian Competition and Consumer Commission ACCC Final Report Northern Australia Insurance Inquiry, Final Report (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, 2020) AFPA Australian Fresh Produce Alliance AgForce AgForce Queensland Farmers ALRA Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 AMEC Association of Mining and Exploration Companies AREH Asian Renewable Energy Hub ASIC Australian Securities and Investments Commission Beef Roads Northern Australia Beef Roads Program CEFC Clean Energy Finance Corporation CHP Community housing provider CKD Chronic kidney disease CME Chamber of Minerals and Energy COAG Council of Australian Governments CRCNA Cooperative Research Centre for Developing Northern Australia CSIRO Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation CQUniversity Central Queensland University CV Curriculum vitae CYLC Cape York Land Council CYRP Cape York Region Package DAMA Designated Area Migration Agreements DAWE Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment DFAT Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade DIRDC Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Cities and Regional Development DISER Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources ERF Emergency Response Fund FBT Fringe benefits tax ix The First Interim Report Northern Australia Insurance Inquiry, First Interim Report (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, 2018) FIFO fly-in-fly-out FNQROC Far North Queensland Regional Organisation of Councils FTE Full-time equivalent GEBIE Groote Eylandt and Bickerton Island Enterprises GP General practitioner HOT NORTH Improving Health Outcomes in the Tropical North: A Multidisciplinary Collaboration (National Health and Medical Research Council program) IAHA Indigenous Allied Health Australia IBA Indigenous Business Australia IBI Indigenous Business Incubator ICA Insurance Council of Australia IES Indigenous Engagement Strategy IGAB Intergovernmental Agreement on Biosecurity ILSC Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation ILUA Indigenous Land Use Agreement The Infrastructure Audit Australian Infrastructure Audit 2019 (Infrastructure Australia, 2019) IRG Indigenous Reference Group to the Ministerial Forum on Northern Development ITECA International Tertiary Education Council Australia JCU James Cook University KPCA Kimberley Pilbara Cattlemen's Association KRA Key Result Area LGA Local Government Area LGAQ Local Government Association of Queensland MBS Medicare Benefits Schedule METs Mining Equipment, Technology and Services NAIEDB Northern Australian Indigenous Economic Development Body NAIF Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility NAIF Act Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility Act 2016 NAILSMA Northern Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance NAIPT Northern Australia Insurance Premiums Taskforce NAPLAN National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy x NARP Northern Australia Roads Program NAWRA Northern Australia Water Resource Assessment NBN National Broadband Network NCL Northern Land Council NDISO National Defence Industry Skills Office NGO Non-government organisation NHMRC National Health and Medical Research Council NIAA National Indigenous Australians Agency NLC Northern Land Council NPARIH National Partnership Agreement on Remote Indigenous Housing NQWIA North Queensland Water Infrastructure Authority NWI National Water Initiative NWIDF National Water Infrastructure Development Fund ONA Office of Northern Australia QATC Queensland Agricultural Training College QCU Queensland Council of Unions RASS Remote Air Services Subsidy RAU Remote Airstrip Upgrade RDA Regional Development Australia RDAFNQTS Regional Development Australia Far North Queensland and Torres Strait RDATNWQ Regional Development Australia Townsville and North West Queensland The Review Report Statutory Review of the Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility (Australian Government, 2020) RIC Regional Implementation Committee RMAC Red Meat Advisory Council RNTBC Registered native title bodies corporate ROSI Roads of Strategic Importance SARRAH Services for Australian Rural and Remote Allied Health SDA Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association The Second Update Report Northern Australia Insurance Inquiry, Second Update Report (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, 2019) STEM Science, technology, engineering and maths TAFE Technical and further education TCHHS Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service xi TCICA Torres Cape Indigenous Councils Alliance TPH Town of Port Hedland TSIRC Torres Strait Island Regional Council TSRA Torres Strait Regional Authority VET Vocational education and training The White Paper Our North Our Future: White Paper on Developing Northern Australia (Australian Government, 2015) WTMA Wet Tropics Management Authority xii List of Recommendations Recommendation 1 11.5 The committee recommends that the Australian Government refresh the Northern Australia agenda, in light of the new challenges and opportunities posed by COVID-19, with the goals of: