Northern Australia minister David Littleproud has defended the Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund despite it giving out less than 10pc of its available funding since its creation six years.
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Created in 2015 out of the Northern Australia white paper, it had its terms extended in May to 2026, a move applauded by CopperString which had indicative financing terms from the fund.
However Kennedy MP Bob Katter has long been critical of the NAIF and the lack of infrastructure projects for the north while Labor took a policy to the 2019 to scrap the fund if elected and replace it with a new fund focused on pipelines to link gas fields between Queensland and the NT.
Speaking during his visit to Mount Isa last week, Mr Littleproud said that while only $427m of the five billion was drawn down, around $3.2 billion had been committed from the NAIF of the five billion and the balance would will be committed within the next 6-12 months.
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"That's a responsible thing to do as we are asking the proponents to use their money first before they use Australian taxpayers' money," Mr Littleproud said.
"It also means there is skin in the game by the proponents to actually build the infrastructure, not get halfway through and walk away - that would be a reckless use of taxpayers' money."
Mr Littleproud said the drawdowns from the NAIF would start to ramp up.
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"We'll have to relook at that NAIF balance and see do we extend it because there is a pipeline that's starting to come through, there is a degree of confidence from the business sector," he said.
"Because what we are trying to do is derisk our investments as best we can, partner with capital to give them the opportunity to derisk projects to backers and that has happened but these projects aren't your garden variety ice cream shops on the main street, these are big projects that take time to build and that's why you'll see an acceleration of that as they meet those milestones in building."
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