Support comes out for Abbott's northern Australian plan

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Created on Tuesday, 12 February 2013 15:21

Written by Editorial staff

Federal politicians and even state premiers have come out in support of Tony Abbott's leaked Developing Northern Australia plan.

The agenda, which would see income tax incentives provided to private sector workers who move north, is part of an overall scheme to boost the population in resource-rich areas such as Cairns, Darwin and the Western Australian town of Karratha - 1,500 kilometres from Perth.

News Limited reports that Queensland premier Campbell Newman has backed the agenda - a weighty endorsement given that his state encompasses much of the geographical area for the plan.

He explained: "As a long-term policy and a real objective for our nation, to take the centre of gravity of the whole nation north, I think it's a very important thing."

One key aspect of this plan would be to re-evaluate immigration visa policies as a means of attracting more foreign workers to these targeted regions.

The Labor Party has come out against the plan, saying that they have their own agenda - the Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme - which allows for 16,000 skilled workers to be employed in rural parts of Australia.

Immigration and Citizenship minister Brendan O'Connor has spruiked the initiative, despite the fact that the department website specifically states the visa plan has closed.

The site said: "The Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (subclass 119/857) visa is closed to new applications from 1 July 2012."

In addition to boosting the population in those areas, the plan would see defence facilities relocated to northern areas such as Cairns and Darwin.

As well as tax incentives and boosting the population of the mentioned areas, the CSIRO is being considered for relocation - a move that has been questioned by the Labor party.

But despite government criticisms of actually developing a plan for the future, Mr Abbott has referred to the proposal as simply a draft. He insisted that it was not a done deal but that it was open for discussion.

But locals have lauded the agenda with Gulf of Carpentaria Chamber of Commerce secretary Yvonne Tunney saying that the idea has merit.

"There's the proximity of the north to Asia - which is the future of our markets - and some rather big irrigation initiatives which are being investigated, as well as the fact the whole of northern Australia is rich in various resources and minerals," she said to the Australian.