Northern Australia Minister vows to continue with Middle Arm project, pushing to keep $2bn NAIF injection

Northern Australia Minister Madeleine King has claimed the former government was ‘looking for an announcement’ when it claimed the new Middle Arm precinct would be a second Darwin Port. EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW>>>

LABOR’S new Northern Australia Minister has vowed to continue developing the vast Middle Arm industrial precinct and argued the region’s economic expansion is vital to strengthening our links with Asia.

Madeleine King, who recently made headlines for being appointed to the portfolio despite representing a seat in Perth, has vowed the Albanese government will press ahead with the massive $1.5bn investment into the Middle Arm advanced manufacturing precinct.

In an exclusive interview with the NT News held just minutes after she toured Middle Arm on a helicopter, Ms King sought to clarify that the precinct on Darwin Harbour will likely not serve as an alternative to the Chinese-owned Darwin Port.

That’s at odds with senior Coalition politicians, who before the May 21 election suggested it would be comprised of “port facilities”.

Minister for Northern Madeleine King. Picture: (A)manda Parkinson

“Well, Barnaby Joyce was looking for an announcement when Middle Arm came to him as an idea, which the Northern Territory government had quite rightly presented to the federal government,” Ms King said.

“(Mr Joyce) didn’t take the time to find out what it was.

“It won’t replace the Darwin Port that is owned by a Chinese state controlled entity.”

Questions about the future of Landbridge’s ownership of Darwin Port were best directed to Defence Minister Richard Marles, Ms King said, but she defended the facility as still operating “very well for the ownership of Australians”.

Ms King praised the vision of Middle Arm, heralding it as the project she was most excited about within her portfolio of Northern Australia.

She said it was a crucial part of creating a “more resilient supply chain for our own people” while building trade ties with Asia.

Peter Dutton claimed ADF forces could use the Middle Arm industrial precinct instead of the Chinese-owned Darwin Port before the May 21 election. Picture Twitter

“Darwin is a provider of gas to the world and force for stability in the region and our neighbours’ energy security, particularly Japan,” she said.

“We have concentrated a long time naturally on the south … because it’s easier.

“It’s time we really focused on the north and help these communities that need help. Help them combat those costs of construction and cost of living, because it’ll be for the benefit of the whole country.”

With the future of Beetaloo also prompting concerns from the now much larger Greens crossbench in federal parliament, Ms King tried to address concerns about onshore gas extraction.

“The NT government is progressing very solidly on implementing all of those recommendations (of the Pepper Inquiry),” she said.

The NT government has granted a geothermal exploration permit to drill a well at Middle Arm, where carbon capture and storage has been floated as an option. Picture: Supplied

Among the major pledges of the former Northern Australia Minister David Littleproud was to pour $2bn of extra funding into the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility.

But with Treasurer Jim Chalmers handing down a new budget in October, all bets were off as to whether Labor would follow through with the extra cash.

“We’re going through an audit of all things that were promised in the election period,” Ms King said.

“I expect and I’m fighting for that extra bit of the facility to remain in place. I don’t have a final answer on that.”

Ms King’s appointment to the Northern Australia portfolio was ridiculed by some after Labor’s election win, given she is the MP representing the seat of Brand, in metropolitan Perth.

But she brushed off the criticism, saying parts of her native state of Western Australia fell under the portfolio and that she had connections to Australia’s north.

“I haven’t lived there (but) I’ve got family that lived in Cairns for 30 years,” she said.

“I have travelled extensively, I have colleagues in parliament from the Northern that I talk to extensively – Luke Gosling here.

“There are people with expertise within the parliament in Australia that I will listen to. I don’t pretend to know all about Northern Australia and I never would.”

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Originally published as Northern Australia Minister vows to continue with Middle Arm project, pushing to keep $2bn NAIF injection