It is great to see comments and
policy announcements from the coalition about developing the north. The
policy announcements recognise the enormous potential in northern Australia in
a range of industries.
There are numerous industries that
could prosper in the north - agricultural pursuits, mining, tourism, medical
services to high end consumers in Asia and no doubt other industries that we
have not thought of yet. This will
create benefits to the entire nation in addition to the people who live
there. This will create benefits to the
entire nation, in addition to the people who live there.
It is a choice whether Australia
captures the opportunities available for northern Australia. The opportunities will not materialise for the
nation, rather it will take effort to capture them.
In the past Government
policies and actions about northern Australia have never matched the
rhetoric. It has been all too easy to
talk about the opportunities and not take the hard decisions necessary to
capture the opportunities. Indeed many
Government policies in the past have negative consequences for industry
development in the north – the suspension of the live cattle trade to Indonesia
being a prime example.
The decisions required of
Government will be difficult especially given the state of Federal Government
finances currently. The investment required to capture the opportunities
available to northern Australia will be substantial due to the large
geographical area involved. A major
requirement of Governments will be investment in infrastructure which is likely
to be extremely costly.
Despite that there is some low
hanging fruit that an incoming Government could pick. Reinvigorating
existing industries will obviously require less initial investment and give an
almost immediate return. My own
industry, the northern cattle industry could be reenergised by improving trade
relations with Indonesia.
I hope that the latest round of
political rhetoric translates into action on the ground as soon as
possible.
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