The Hon Barnaby Joyce MP
Deputy Prime Minister
Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development
MEDIA RELEASE
Tuesday, 12 April 2022
TRANSFORMING MIDDLE ARM INTO AN EXPORT POWERHOUSE
The Morrison-Joyce Government is investing $1.5 billion to transform Middle Arm in the Top End into an export powerhouse, creating thousands of jobs and making our nation wealthier and stronger.
To make Australia as strong as possible as quickly as possible, the Government will deliver the infrastructure needed to export more gas, including hydrogen, and critical minerals from Middle Arm.
This will generate the wealth we need to grow our economy and turbocharge our regions, allowing Australians to get the job they want and to pursue their dreams.
Developing Middle Arm has been recognised as a nationally significant project by Infrastructure Australia and we are committed to driving this forward with the Northern Territory Government.
New marine infrastructure will help Middle Arm become a world-leading industrial hub for downstream gas processing and high-value minerals processing and refinement.
Our $1.5 billion investment will deliver this, supporting port infrastructure, including a wharf and offloading facility, and dredging of the shipping channel.
Investing in enabling infrastructure paves the way for private sector investment in Middle Arm, which the Northern Territory Government estimates will be in excess of $16 billion.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development Barnaby Joyce said Australia must become stronger and more resilient in the face of geopolitical tensions.
"This is part of our plan to become as strong as possible as quickly as possible," the Deputy Prime Minister said.
"Transforming Middle Arm will unlock the potential of resources industries right across our north, facilitating the sale of more products that create wealth.
"Australians must embrace the fact that it is our resources sector that pays for the services and opportunities we all enjoy and without coal and gas and iron ore, we would be weaker and poorer.
"We are an exporting nation and we must continue to sell the products that make us wealthier and stronger.
"A Labor-Greens alliance would put all of this investment at risk."
This investment forms part of the Government's $7.1 billion investment pipeline under the Energy Security and Regional Development Plan and is part of the $2.6 billion set aside for infrastructure projects across the Northern Territory, including:
- $440 million to build new logistics hubs at Alice Springs, Katherine and Tennant Creek to facilitate more export activity out of the Northern Territory.
- $300 million to support low emissions LNG and clean hydrogen production at Middle Arm, together with associated carbon capture and storage infrastructure.
- $200 million to further develop the Middle Arm Sustainable Development Precinct, delivering enabling infrastructure such as a rail spur and a new road network to strengthen supply chains.
- $110 million in additional funding to continue to upgrade and further seal the Tanami Road, better connecting mining, resources, tourism, and agribusinesses between the Northern Territory and Western Australia.
Under the Energy Security and Regional Development Plan, the Government will develop key regions across Australia, transforming them into next generation export hubs.
Through targeted investments in infrastructure, low emissions technology and energy production, resources extraction and processing, and water infrastructure, we will open up new frontiers of production and growth.
This will attract new sources of investment to Australia, further unlocking the potential of our regions and supporting the industries that earn the export dollars that make us wealthier and stronger.
