Northern Australia white paper is worth revisiting

In June 2015 the Abbott government released Our North, Our Future: White Paper on Developing Northern Australia. The ambitious 20-year plan envisaged millions more people living and working in northern Australia, seizing opportunities for greater integration with the booming economies of Asia, especially China. New and upgraded transport and water infrastructure would open up land for agriculture. Development, easier access for foreign workers and population growth would be key.

“We need to lay the foundations for rapid population growth and put the north on a trajectory to reach a population of four to five million by 2060,” the white paper said. Cities flagged for growth included Darwin, Townsville, Cairns, Rockhampton, Mackay, Broome and Karratha. We are still in the early stages of the plan, however progress towards these goals has been frustratingly slow. The centres identified have grown, but not at the rate predicted. And while 38 of the plan’s 51 recommendations have been implemented, the development of water infrastructure has also been too slow. The fertile north receives 60 per cent of the nation’s rainfall but only 2 per cent is captured. Because it is almost immune from drought, its potential to become an enormous food bowl, with proximity to Asian markets, needs to be better developed. Red and green tape, the main barriers to progress, must be dealt with.

What has changed since the 2015 report is the strategic outlook of the Asia-Pacific region, including Chinese aggression in the South China Sea. While China is Australia’s largest trading partner, our nation should not, as Northern Australia Minister Matt Canavan says, “hitch our star to one country”. Doing so elevates risk, from a political and economic perspective. In this light, the Morrison government’s drive to develop closer ties with India and other Asian and Pacific nations is a sensible priority.

Peter Jennings, executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute and a former deputy secretary for strategy in the Defence Department, agrees. Writing on Monday, Mr Jennings argues: “It has been painfully obvious for years that our major ally, the US, major regional partner, Japan, and our major market, China, all see more strategic value in northern Australia than successive federal governments and much of our Defence establishment.’’ At a time when the US has been trying to reduce overseas military commitments — including in the Middle East — the rotational deployments of US Marine Corps troops to the Top End, now in its ninth year, affirms its judgment that northern Australia is increasingly important to Asia’s security, he writes.

Four months after the release of the white paper in 2015, the Northern Territory leased the port of Darwin to a Chinese company with alleged links to the communist government. In today’s environment, such a lease would not happen. The move prompted Canberra to swiftly tighten foreign investment rules on similar transactions. The lease angered the US, and Chinese media now brazenly describes the port as part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. It is nothing of the sort.

In light of developments since 2015, the northern Australia plan is even more important to Australia’s future. As the government works to refine it, strengthening the Australian Defence Force’s role in the region should be an issue on the table.