Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s visits Lake Nash Station, Alpurrurulam in the NT
The Territory’s cattlemen association has welcomed a visit from the PM, but said it hasn’t made up its mind on his or the opposition party’s policies, as the PM defends his brief trip into the NT. Read the latest.
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Update, 4pm: A cattle station owner is “chuffed” the Prime Minister visited his station, but residents from a nearby community have been left feeling blindsided – despite the PM landing in their town.
Lake Nash station owner Peter Hughes said he was “really chuffed” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited the Northern Territory station on Wednesday afternoon.
“I don’t think a Prime Minister’s ever visited Lake Nash,” he said.
“It is nearly in the centre of Australia, it’s a wonderful place and a wonderful piece of country … it’s great to have you come out to look at it, though it is a fairly short visit it is short but sweet and I welcome (Mr Albanese) very much.”
The Prime Minister visited the property as part of a tour spanning the east to west of northern Australia.
Earlier in the day, he was in Mt Isa, about 350km west (as the crow flies), while late Wednesday afternoon he was travelling to Kununurra, WA.
Joining Mr Albanese was federal minister for infrastructure and regional development Katherine King, Solomon MP Luke Gosling, and some journalists.
Mr Albanese landed in the airport at Alpurrurulam to visit the station, the first time a Prime Minister had visited the remote community.
Alice Springs Town Councillor Michael Liddle, an Alyawarre man who has family living in town, said Mr Albanese visited a “community of 10 people as opposed to 350”.
He said none of his family was aware the PM was coming, and believed he should’ve stayed longer to talk to residents.
With 350 residents according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the dry community had been plagued by illicit supply of alcohol and water with high fluoride content, Mr Liddle said.
Alpurrurulam has also been without a police station since 2018.
Mr Albanese said he was aware of Alpurrurulam’s “water issues” and “water is trucked into the community here”.
On working with the NT government to establish a new police station in town, Mr Albanese said “policing matters are a matter for the NT Government”.
Combating the secondary supply of grog into town “are the responsibilities of the Northern Territory Government”, he added.
“We work cooperatively and we engage (with the NT government),” he said.
PM defends NT trip from QLD, NTCA welcomes him ahead of ‘big year’
Update, 1pm: The Prime Minister has defended his trip to a Territory cattle station, saying “we can’t stop everywhere” when asked why other NT regional centres were being bypassed.
Speaking in Mt Isa ahead of his trip to Lake Nash cattle station and Alpurrurulam, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he’d only recently spent Christmas in the Territory.
“We can’t stop everywhere,” he said.
“I have been to the Northern Territory 12 times as prime minister. That is more times than the three previous prime ministers went during what was almost a decade.
“In two-and-a-half years I’ve been to Nhulunbuy, I’ve been to Katherine, I’ve been to Darwin, I’ve been to Alice Springs, I’ve been to Uluru, and now I’m going to a cattle farm.”
He also shot back at comments made by NT Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, questioning why she didn’t attend the 50th anniversary of Cyclone Tracy in Darwin.
“There were no LNP reps in the Northern Territory from the federal government at that time, not the Northern Territory Senator at what was a very significant event,” he said.
Northern Territory Cattleman’s Association chief executive Will Evans said the NTCA welcomed the PM coming to the cattle station “for the first time in his 29 years in federal politics”.
“We would like to express our apologies that we were unable to make time to meet with him,” he said.
“It’s a big year in the NT and for the NTCA. We have a month-long hearing of the Federal Court scheduled in the first half of this year, to finalize the hundreds of millions of dollars owed to the industry by this government from the Brett Cattle class action. On top of this, we have a federal election to plan for and are currently assessing the policies of both major parties for opportunities for our members.”
When questioned how his government was supporting the agriculture industry, Mr Albanese answered by attacking opposition leader Peter Dutton, then pointing to his own successes.
He said Australian producers of lobster and red meat being able to resume trade with China was one of his successes.
“That represents jobs. It represents economic activity. It represents improvements in living standards for our hard working people in the agricultural sector and the exports to China that have bounced back, whether it’s barley, whether it’s wine, whether it’s red meat, has bounced back stronger than it was before, and that is a very positive thing that my government has delivered, that certainly would not have been delivered had there not been a change of government in 2022,” he said.
‘Joke’: Price slams Albo’s Territory trip while mayor welcomes visit
Initial, 11am: The Prime Minister’s visit to the Northern Territory has been labelled a “hapless photo-op” by one NT Senator, but the local council mayor is hopeful the trip will bring about positive change to a remote community in the Barkly.
Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians and NT Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price was critical of Mr Albanese’s visit to Lake Nash, calling it a “blink-and-you’ll-miss-it trip”.
“The cattle industry has no reason to trust Anthony Albanese, and visiting a cattle station for a few hours isn’t going to erase the betrayal which he and the Labor Party have shown to the cattle industry,” she said.
Mr Albanese, along with Solomon MP Luke Gosling, is visiting Lake Nash cattle station on Wednesday – home to roughly 60,000 cattle at its peak – and the nearby community of Alpurrurulam.
He will fly from Mt Isa, in Queensland, landing in Alpurrurulam before visiting the station.
It will be the first time a Prime Minister has visited the remote community, located about 17km from the Qld border, and home to about 350 people, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Barkly Regional Council Mayor Sid Vashist welcomed the Prime Minister’s visit, but wished he’d been informed of the trip ahead of time.
“I learned about this through media channels and it’s rather a surprise, but it’s a welcome visit,” he said.
Mr Vashist said Alpurrurulam was facing a number of challenges, from crime, grog running, and water issues.
“The community is really concerned about the secondary grog run, the illegal alcohol that gets brought into the community, the lack of police in Alpurrurulam,” he said.
“The (NT) government has promised for quite some time to have a police station based out of Alpurrurulam community but we don’t know what the status on that is.
“It’s important that we have police based out of the community so the community actually feels safe and they get supported.”
Mr Vashist said he had written to Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro and NT Police commissioner Michael Murphy in December to seek an update on the promised station.
Senator Price pointed out Labor’s recent form when it came to the agriculture industry.
“The phasing out of live sheep exports by sea is just the latest conquest by Anthony Albanese on his journey to kill Australia’s agricultural trade. Farmers right across this country know full well that Labor doesn’t intend to stop with live sheep exports,” she said.
“The trip is nothing but a hopeless, hapless photo-op – he should’ve said no and should’ve gone home.”
In 2022, the Commonwealth offered cattlemen $215 million to settle a class action brought by NT-based Brett Cattle company against the 2011 live export ban.
The ban implemented by then-Labor Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig, who was part of then-Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s government.
In 2020, the Federal Court ruled the ban was illegal, calling it “capricious and unreasonable”.
However, cattlemen are instead seeking more in compensation, lodging a counter offer of $510m plus interest and costs of up to $400m – an amount the Commonwealth has rejected.
“Anthony Albanese saw no problem in making light of the industry when he joked about live exports at an agricultural awards night in August last year while recalling his dinner with Indonesian President-Elect. Well Anthony Albanese is a joke himself if he is now going to suggest he is somehow on the side of hardworking Australian farmers and our agricultural industry,” Ms Price said.
Mr Albanese said he wanted to visit Lake Nash station to “see the results” of the trade ban on Australian red meat being lifted with China – an industry which brings in $2 billion for the country.
More to come.
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Originally published as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s visits Lake Nash Station, Alpurrurulam in the NT
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