OPINION: The Shadow Minister for Northern Australia, Gold Coast based Queensland Senator Murray Watt, recently outlined Federal Labor's plan for Northern Australia at the COVID-19 affected Developing Northern Australia Conference.
The central proposition in Senator Watt's speech was Labor's plan would create more jobs, in more industries, in Northern Australia.
Senator Watt asserted the pandemic had exposed Northern Australia's vulnerabilities - a narrow economic base, poor social infrastructure and a dependence on overseas workers.
He said Labor supported the north's traditional industries (resources, agriculture and tourism), but also talked up new industrial opportunities (renewable energy, manufacturing and aquaculture).
Senator Watt's speech was not only full of shallow platitudes and half-baked gestures; it was an extraordinary exercise in rank hypocrisy and historical revisionism.
Predictably, with little of substance to offer, Senator Watt padded out his speech with petty political attacks on the Federal Government's Northern Australia agenda.
Northern Australians would do well to remember the Rudd/Gillard Labor Government destroyed investor sentiment and industry confidence in Northern Australia with the carbon tax, the minerals resource rent tax and the live export ban.
It was, in fact, the Abbott Liberal National Government that gave Northern Australia a focused development platform.
As Labor is desperate to rehabilitate its reputation with resource communities, Senator Watt's speech does acknowledge the importance of the resources sector to Northern Australia, although notably, in respect of coal, its support is limited to metallurgical coal.
Translation: thermal coal projects and jobs in Northern Australia are not supported by Labor.
While Senator Watt mouths support for Northern Australia's traditional industries, here in North Queensland, former Labor Government decisions to shut down our timber and fishing industries wrecked local communities.
Thanks to Labor's preference deals with the Greens, our once thriving timber towns and fishing villages are shadows of their former selves.
Thanks to Labor's preference deals with the Greens, our once thriving timber towns and fishing villages are shadows of their former selves.
- Andrew Cripps
Clearly, Senator Watt doesn't understand the reason why North Queensland relies on overseas workers, is because former Labor Governments shut-down industries that provided jobs in our once vibrant country towns, forcing families to leave.
The schools lost students and then teachers. Railway sidings had less freight to move. Small businesses closed.
It is sad Senator Watt doesn't understand our communities suffer from poor social infrastructure, because the decisions of former Labor Government's effectively depopulated our regional communities, compromised operational funding streams, downgraded service delivery standards and eventually, reduced our democratic representation.
I warn Northern Australians tempted to welcome Labor's "support" for our traditional industries - their policy is conditional, nuanced and compromised.
Conditional because industry growth will be subject to net-zero carbon emissions, nuanced in that it will pick winners based on politics and compromised, because the cold, dead hand of the Greens will never be far away.
Senator Watt is right to praise the Northern Australia CRC for its work to de-risk investment in the region.
The fact is sustainable health, education, manufacturing and services jobs in Northern Australia will be underpinned by profitable and productive industries.
It's very clear the biggest risk to that outcome is the election of an Albanese Labor Government.
- Andrew Cripps is a former Queensland Minister for Natural Resources and Mines.
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