NAIF funding freed up

Removing cap should stimulate projects

LABOR has likened the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility to an obstructed bowel after the Federal Government announced an economic laxative.

Opposition spokesman for Northern Australia Jason Clare said the government’s removal of a 50 per cent funding cap on the $5 billion organisation and other restrictions was long overdue.

“This has got to be the most constipated organisation the Turnbull government has ever created. We’ve got to get it moving,” he said.

“We want the NAIF to succeed, we want to start seeing it invest in infrastructure and creating local jobs and hopefully the changes that have been announced by the government today will start to see action.”

Opposition leader Bill Shorten was in Townsville with Mr Clare when he caught wind of the NAIF changes yesterday.

“Well, if you were waiting for NAIF to give you loan, we would all be on the old age pension, wouldn’t we,” he said.

“I mean, really, as Jason corrected me, it’s been 1072 days since the Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund was set up, but it’s a most unusual fund, they cannot hand out a dollar to North Queensland in the last 1072 days.”

Coalition Senator Ian Macdonald backed the reforms, which came after an independent review deemed the fund too restrictive.

Sen Macdonald heaped blame on the Labor Queensland Government, which he suggested had simply boycotted the process out of political spite. “I am told by the minister that the Queensland Government has not made one application to NAIF in spite of there being many state-controlled projects that could be eligible, even under the old rules,” he said.

“The Queensland Government has control over much of the state’s infrastructure and many government business authorities but seems determined not to do anything that would help Northern Australia.

“I can only assume that their ideological hatred of the Federal Government, whose initiative is NAIF, has blinded the Queensland Government to the real interests of the people of Northern Australia.”

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