Multi-billion dollar northern investment fund overhaul
Peter de Kruijff | The Kimberley Echo
Wednesday, 18 April 2018 1:08PM
Minister for Northern Australia Matt Canavan speaking with the Kununurra media yesterday.Picture: Peter de Kruijff
Minister for Northern Australia Matt Canavan has let loose in the Kimberley throwing money behind freshwater prawn farming and relaxing the requirements for a $5 billion loan program for major northern projects.
Mr Canavan toured the Ord Valley yesterday as part of a series of meetings this week with ministers from WA, Northern Territory and Queensland.
This morning he announced the Federal Government would be making the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility more flexible following an independent review.
“We will implement changes to the NAIF Investment Mandate recommended by the expert review, in response to a key finding that the NAIF’s Investment Mandate is too restrictive,” he said in a statement.
Currently the NAIF can finance up to 50 per cent of a project’s debt but this will be raised to 100 per cent.
Proponents will no longer have to prove that without a government loan they can’t do the project and the definition of infrastructure will become broader.
“These changes will ensure NAIF is in the best position to help drive the infrastructure investment, in partnership with the private sector and state governments, that delivers jobs in Northern Australia,” Mr Canavan said.
“There are currently 17 projects in the due diligence and execution phases across all three northern jurisdictions.
“There are seven in the Northern Territory, five in WA and five in Queensland ... there are 90 active enquiries in the pipeline.”
Typical cherabin found in the Kimberley.Picture: Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development
Yesterday Mr Canavan said the Commonwealth would be putting funding towards a Kimberley aquaculture project through the Cooperative Research Centre for Developing Northern Australia.
“The CRC will invest $100,000 in the $2.5-million Broome Aquaculture Centre and Ribinyung Dawang Aboriginal Corporation project to develop an Indigenous freshwater prawn — cherabin — business out of Broome and Kununurra,” he said.
The three-year project will link Broome institution with the Mud Springs-based Aboriginal corporation located outside of Kununurra.
RDAC has recently made moves to re-start its fish farm and train up community members in aquaculture in preparation for the potential Seafarms $2 billion tiger prawn farm across the border.
North Regional TAFE Broome training manager Jeff Cooper said the project provided a significant opportunity to undertake meaningful research in the development of a new and exciting species.
“To many people in the Kimberley, cherabin are a very tasty delicacy and provide significant opportunity to the people of Mud Springs, with further expansion opportunities for the industry across the top of the state,” he said.
Read more about the Minister’s visit to Kununurra in next week’s edition of The Echo.
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