Peak vegetable industry bodies have pinpointed loopholes on the federal government’s proposed investment in Northern Australia.
AUSVEG and Western Australian’s vegetablesWA said that the proposal follows inconsistent and unfair boundaries and excludes valuable regional centres.
Both lamented that legislation for the government’s $5 billion Northern Australia fund defines Northern Australia as including the entire Northern Territory and “the areas of Queensland and Western Australia that are north of the Tropic of Capricorn”, with some additional areas included in Queensland.
This definition excludes Carnarvon, a major regional hub in Western Australia with a horticulture industry worth over $100 million – or more than 10 per cent of the entire horticulture production of Western Australia.
“The federal government’s definition of Northern Australia using the Tropic of Capricorn is inconsistent with previous approaches and unfairly excludes key regional centres, including Carnarvon,” said AUSVEG Deputy CEO Andrew White.
“Western Australian Government departments and agencies consider Carnarvon to be within the scope of northern Western Australia for the purposes of infrastructure development. It makes no sense for the Federal Government to disregard this precedent,” said vegetablesWA Executive Officer John Shannon.
