Regional links key to office for north

THE head of the Office of Northern Australia says it is “critical” that a majority of his staff live and work in the northern half of the country.

Mark Coffey, whose agency works alongside the Cairnsbased Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility to help develop the vast region, said staff working in his office needed to have close ties with the communities they served, particularly indigenous people.

The Darwin-based senior bureaucrat’s comments seemingly counter those of the rest of the Turnbull government, which has argued that it is necessary to have NAIF staff based outside of Northern Australia to be near the nation’s financial centres.

It has been revealed that only a third of the 15.5 full-time staff that work for the NAIF are based at the agency’s headquarters in Sheridan St, Cairns.

The rest of the staff work in Brisbane and Sydney.

Mr Coffey said yesterday at the Northern Australia Investment Forum it was critical for a majority of his staff to be based in the North.

“We need to have people based in Canberra to work with our Commonwealth colleagues, but most of our staff are in the north,” he said.

“This is important that we understand that context and we’re able to relate to the people up there.

“The indigenous opportunities in the north are critical.

“They are the largest landholders across Northern Australia and so you really need to be on the ground to really understand some of the challenges that they face, which are particular to them.”

Northern Australia Minister Matt Canavan said it was always expected the NAIF would be set up to work with the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation, which has staff in Sydney and Brisbane.