Bill Shorten will hive off $1bn from the Turnbull government’s $5bn northern Australia infrastructure facility and repurpose it for tourism projects in the north.
The Labor leader planned to make the announcement on Tuesday as he again campaigns in north Queensland where Labor is fighting for seats including Dawson, Capricornia, Leichhardt and the independent-held seat of Kennedy.
Shorten announced a separate $500m fund to help protect the Great Barrier Reef through better research, coordination and environmental programs.
The Coalition has set up an independent board to administer concessional infrastructure loans from the $5bn facility it announced in its 2015 budget.
Its investment mandate stipulates that the loans must be at least $50m and its public statements indicate dams, airports, port expansions and other projects that could boost the economy of northern Australia will be the beneficiaries.
But if it wins government Labor will take $1bn of that money and allocate it to a tourism-specific fund, to be administered by the federal infrastructure, transport and tourism department.
It says the money could be used for smaller-scale projects than the Coalition fund, including “projects targeting the expanding Asian tourism market, projects promoting Australia’s natural environment such as the Great Barrier Reef, eco-tourism, Indigenous tourism ventures, event-based facilities including stadia and convention centres and transport and access upgrades, including for ports and airports.”
And it appears to envisaging wider possible funding arrangements including grants, saying “money from the fund could take the form of low-rate loans, interest-only payment periods, longer repayment periods, and partial grant funding used for the purpose of attracting matched finance from state or local government, super funds or the private sector.”
The resources minister, Josh Frydenberg, told Guardian Australia recently that more than $20bn worth of projects had already been identified as potentially eligible for the $5bn pool of development funds.
But the money is not set to start flowing until July and no projects have yet been announced.
Because the funds are from borrowings, they only hit the budget bottom line to the extent that the loans are concessional – which amounts to about $43m over four years.
Labor insists its plan does not add any expense to the Coalition’s already budgeted plans for its existing northern Australia fund.
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