The Finocchiaro CLP Government has announced the Northern Territory’s latest ‘Investment Committee’ that will provide “independent advice on [government] investment opportunities” to help grow the stagnant economy, which appears to be the latest iteration of the previous Labor government’s Infrastructure Development Fund that was shut down amid an investment scandal in 2019.
The government said without providing details that it hopes the new committee will eventually attract long elusive private investment to the Territory.
The new, six-member committee has been billed as “driving economic growth and creating jobs” across the Northern Territory by “backing projects that unlock growth across our regions”, which is similar to what the previous Labor government said its $200 million Infrastructure Development Fund would do before it was shut down in 2019 following the $10.5 million NT Beverages investment scandal.
That committee could not find another company to invest in over more than two years, with NT Beverages going into voluntary administration months after receiving the taxpayer cash.
It has not been explained how the six people named to the new Investment Committee were selected or how much they would be paid, but the new chair has been involved with the previous Labor government’s Local Jobs Fund since the IDF was renamed in 2019.
It appears the new Investment Committee will be drawing on the remaining pool of money from the IDF, which was put into the Local Jobs Fund in 2019, which Labor then used to also invest $10 million in the failed amphibious aircraft company Amphibious Aerospace Industries. Labor had claimed the investment would create an aerospace manufacturing industry in the NT and create 300 direct jobs at the height of production of the amphibious aircraft.
Trade and Business Minister Robyn Cahill did not respond to questions about the new committee that it appears will manage the pool of funds left in something called the Territory Growth Initiative – the CLP’s own $66 million infrastructure development fund that was struck last July to offer “financial support for eligible high-growth potential businesses” that would help establish or expand operations for private businesses that “may not otherwise be able to readily access capital in the Northern Territory”.
The Territory Growth Initiative offers private companies a “collaborative investment program” with concessional loans of up to $10 million on a co-contribution basis, as well as offering infrastructure loans of up to $10 million.
The TGI also administers the Paspalis co-investment fund, which offers up to $5 million in investment for companies that “have a distinct presence in the Northern Territory”.
“This is about backing projects that unlock growth across our regions, support local industry and deliver long-term economic outcomes, while recognising there is more work to do,” Ms Cahill said in a media statement.
“The Territory Growth Initiative supports transformational projects and high-growth businesses that align with the Territory’s economic strengths, including tourism, resources, and infrastructure.”
Ms Cahill added the new Investment Committee will review all applications to the TGI, including an already approved $10 million concessional loan for the proposed Uluru-Kata Tjuta Signature Walk – a five day guided walk in the national park run by a private company.
The Investment Committee will be chaired by former banker Bill Reeks, who has been a member of the Local Jobs Fund committee since July 2019 and would have been involved in the decision to invest in the amphibious aircraft disaster.
He was quoted in a CLP press release stating that the new committee will “play an important role in strengthening investment outcomes”.
Bios of the individual members were not provided in a government press release announcing the committee’s establishment.
The committee will also be made up of former banker Robert Annis-Brown; former NAIF CEO Craig Doyle; property lawyer Lachlan Drew; Batchelor Institute CEO Renee Long; and Energy Resources Australia chief executive Brad Welsh.
The previous five-member IDF committee cost taxpayers $1 million a year in board and management fees. Ms Cahill’s office did not say how much the new Investment Committee members would be paid.
While openly criticising Labor’s poor investment decisions with public money, Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro refused to order an investigation into any of their failed investments.
What on Gods Earth is anyone from Batchelor Institute , the most unsuccessful organisation of all time which has swuandered millions in tax payers mponey, anywhere near this board? Let me Gues how many students they have now? Is it 50? How many staff? Is it still 220?