MY road trip last week through the Kimberley in WA’s far north left the strongest of impressions.
Talks with pastoralists, indigenous community leaders and local government representatives engendered feelings of invigoration and excitement.
It seems everyone has a positive idea about how Australia’s north can be better.
The scale of the opportunity is vast, but this enormity invites considerable risks, which are not entirely understood or properly appreciated.
With single farms larger than the entire Ord River scheme now under active consideration, the challenge facing governments developing a policy framework to attract large-scale investment is immense.
If we view these opportunities through the prism of our experience thus far – such as small, family-run farms found around WA’s Wheatbelt, or in the Murray Darling Basin - we limit ourselves.
We must harness the energy of those living and working in northern Australia, putting them in the driver’s seat.
The opportunity now is for commercial operations - big businesses, covering bigger areas that are able to capture greater economies of scale.
Harnessing this potential will require a change in our attitude.
How do we fund the infrastructure to capture, store and distribute the water from dams and groundwater pumping?
How do we develop an effective and efficient export supply chain, including upgrading our northern roads and ports?
How do we attract and maintain a sustainable workforce in a seasonal environment?
Development of the north will require that governments at all levels create an investment environment that will attract the significant capital essential for new ventures.
That means getting the balance right between removing red tape, revisiting the ‘balance’ between conservation and exploration, and being more open in our attitude towards the origin of commercial investment in our agricultural industries.
As investment banker David Williams noted, new investment sources will "breathe new life into assets that have been under-utilised for a long time; they’re going to create enormous employment and enhance our culture by being here".
Another critical challenge will require the courage from government to address the long-standing issue of land tenure reform.
Doing so will mean northern Australia development finally morphs from being an aspiration to a crystal clear reality.
For decades, land tenure reform has been absent from policy discussion - but now, there is reason for new hope.
Recent initiatives, including the Coalition Government’s White Paper on Developing Northern Australia and the WA State Government’s Water for Food initiative have canvased the issue of land tenure reform and are providing the basis for fresh policy approaches that establish a more investor-friendly form of tenure.
These initiatives are also seeing land tenure reform become the primary focus for many Native Title Representative Bodies, who are taking greater control of the land tenure process as it applies to their own determination areas, strengthening communities throughout the Kimberley, and creating sustainable jobs and training opportunities for Aboriginal workers, now and into the future.
The flagship Mowajum irrigation trial near Derby, located on the Mowajum Aboriginal Corporation’s pastoral lease is an early but encouraging example of this.
Once completed, the project will provide vocational training opportunities for Derby High School students and assist Mowajum to negotiate approvals for a more flexible form of tenure that will attract third party investment.
The signing of an Aboriginal Development Package Agreement between the traditional owners in the Kimberley Ord irrigation scheme and Ord River developer Kimberley Agricultural Investment (KAI), has now led to Miruwung Gajerrong (MG) Corporation calling on the Western Australian State Government to offer freehold land at the six thousand hectare Knox Plain site, saying its viability is uncertain due to land tenure issues in the agricultural zone.
The Fitzroy Valley investigation project will, for the first time, confirm the ground water capability of the Fitzroy valley and increase confidence among pastoral station owners wanting to diversify their operations from traditional grazing practices mandated under legislation.
And the Knowsley Agricultural Area water investigation will define sustainable water supply options for future cropping programs outside of Derby, creating a new industry out of traditional grazing country for local communities.
Of course, we can’t ignore that aspirations for greater control over land tenure are tempered by concerns about potential for extinguishment of native title and the costs associated with native title reform.
Navigating Western Australia’s land tenure system is expensive, and the costs associated with land tenure reform could prove prohibitive for many communities.
Furthermore, costs associated with a native title “Future Act” provide additional challenges for all parties involved in the consultation process.
This system is a legacy of past government policies which were focused on the ‘protection’ of Aboriginal people underpinned by concepts of communal management.
It is a legacy that has allowed infrastructure on many remote communities to fall well below acceptable community standards.
It is a legacy that has caused poor alignment between the present and future interests of Aboriginal communities, Native Title holders, and governments.
With Native Title determinations being finalised across Western Australia, now is the time to progress land tenure reform.
We will never have a better chance to address the inadequacies and failings of the current system.
Good intentions are all very well - but without land tenure reform, the development of northern Australia risks becoming a lost opportunity.
