{"id":30163,"date":"2024-02-09T13:51:50","date_gmt":"2024-02-09T03:51:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/infrastructuremagazine.com.au\/?p=51117"},"modified":"2024-02-09T13:51:50","modified_gmt":"2024-02-09T03:51:50","slug":"northern-australia-infrastructure-investment-mandate-refocused","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=30163","title":{"rendered":"Northern Australia infrastructure investment mandate refocused"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Federal Government has announced that it is updating the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility\u2019s (NAIF) investment mandate, to ensure that future investment decisions on potential projects align with the government\u2019s priorities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Under the new investment mandate, tabled in Parliament this week, the NAIF must be satisfied when making investment decisions that potential projects align with one or more of Australian Government policy priorities including:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Economic development in the north<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Alleviating social or economic disadvantage in Northern Australian communities, including the development of social infrastructure<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Achieving Australia\u2019s net zero and energy transition goals<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Improving First Nations outcomes and contributing to Closing the Gap<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The changes will also formally align NAIF investments with the objectives of the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Critical Minerals Strategy 2023-2030<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, following the government\u2019s $500 million commitment under the NAIF for critical minerals projects.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Federal Government has said that growing the critical minerals sector will contribute to broader national and economic security, emissions reduction, green trade, investment and industry growth.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NAIF has so far approved nearly $4 billion in loan investments across a range of sectors including critical minerals, energy, agriculture, student accommodation, health, aquaculture, universities, and airports.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This includes $655 million for critical minerals and rare-earth projects forecast to deliver $5.5 billion to the economy and 2,500 jobs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2022-23 alone, NAIF approved $491 million in new loans, supporting over 1,000 new jobs in the north.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Federal Minister for Northern Australia, Madeleine King, said that the NAIF is at the heart of the Federal Government\u2019s northern Australia agenda.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cUnder the new investment mandate, the Federal Government has instructed NAIF to deepen its investment in social infrastructure, including in remote and regional housing,\u201d Ms King said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI want to see NAIF invest further in remote and regional housing, particularly in projects that benefit First Nations communities.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cA strong north means a strong Australia.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Federal Minister for Finance, Katy Gallagher, said that the updated investment mandate ensures NAIF\u2019s continued high standards for risk and financial management.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cAmendments to the investment mandate strengthen the expectation the NAIF will consult and collaborate with other Federal Government entities, including to support the Net Zero Economy Agency\u2019s role in the transition to net zero emissions,\u201d Ms Gallagher said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThese changes empower NAIF to continue to leverage and align with national priorities and programs to crowd in investment in the north.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Federal Government has announced that it is updating the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility\u2019s (NAIF) investment mandate, to ensure that [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6630,1232,471,336,163,8203],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-critical-infrastructure","category-investment","category-news","category-policy","category-rail-industry-news-australia-new-zealand","category-spotlight"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30163"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30163\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38003,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30163\/revisions\/38003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}