NAIF has southern tilt
Body to push north has few staff in region
ONLY a third of the staff at the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility headquarters actually live north of Brisbane.
Staffing figures for the region’s economic development agency were revealed at a recent Senate Estimates hearing. An ALP Senator questioned the NAIF’s commitment to Northern Australia.
The NAIF employs 15.5 fulltime staff, however only five are actually working at the agency’s head office on Sheridan St in the Cairns CBD.
Earlier last year, a campaign was kicked off to have the NAIF have a presence in the top half of Queensland, rather than a capital city.
The agency’s chief executive, Laurie Walker, told the Senate hearing that her employees were predominantly located in the Cairns headquarters, and at EFIC – the Federal Government’s export credit agency – in Sydney.
Under further questioning, NAIF chief-of-staff Carol Bellettini also revealed at the hearing that there were some employees at NAIF who were working out of offices in Brisbane.
“There are five staff based in Cairns,” she said.
“There are three in Brisbane. That’s a total of eight in Queensland.
“Then there are five in Sydney, who work at the EFIC office.”
A NAIF spokesman said three of the agency’s six board members were also based in Queensland.
“Some executives live in Sydney for logistical reasons,” he said.
“While the projects financed by NAIF are primarily in Northern Australia, the proponents and other investors are often in the financial centres of Australia – Sydney and Melbourne – so it makes sense to have the executives based there.”
The NAIF’s annual report showed the agency’s seven board members and staff spent a total of $347,000 traversing the continent last financial year
Since it was launched in June last year, only one project, in WA, has received support from the NAIF.
Brisbane-based Labor Senator Chris Ketter said the relatively low number of staff actually living and working in Northern Australia was a disappointing aspect of how the NAIF office had been established.
He said, with modern communications, it was not necessary for staff to be located in metropolitan areas.
“You want people up in Northern Australia, where the projects are going to be, and to be accessible to the people who are doing the work,” he said.