2024 Review of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility Act 2016

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An independent review of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility Act 2016 (the Act) was tabled in the Parliament on 27 August 2025. Submissions and the Review report are available to download.

Why we want your input

Your input will help inform the Review and the future activities, governance arrangements and operations of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF). Your views will also make sure the recommendations for the Australian Government are relevant to your region and industry.

How you can voice your opinion

You can provide a submission below before 23:59 AEST 21 October 2024.

What will be the outcome of this consultation?

Your views will help inform the written report the expert panel will provide to the Minister for Northern Australia and the Minister for Finance for consideration. The Review, including the final report, will be finalised by the end of 2024.

The Issue

The NAIF is a $7 billion government Specialist Investment Vehicle established by the Australian Government under the Act to facilitate economic growth in northern Australia by financing transformative infrastructure projects.

As at 31 December 2024, the NAIF has a portfolio of 32 projects, ranging from large-scale critical minerals and energy developments to social infrastructure – including universities – to airport upgrades, health infrastructure, agriculture and aquaculture. This has resulted in a commitment of around $4.4 billion, forecast to generate more than $38.2 billion in economic impact and more than 19,500 jobs across northern Australia. NAIF’s pre-investment pipeline of potential future loans, which currently includes more than 30 projects, demonstrates interest in NAIF finance remains strong.

Section 43 of the Act stipulates a review of the operation of the Act must be undertaken as soon as possible after 30 June 2024. The review, at a minimum, must:

consider whether the time limit of 30 June 2026 for making decisions to provide financial assistance should be extended, and
consider appropriate governance arrangements for the facility after that date.

The Review will also consider the effectiveness of the Act in delivering its intended goals of facilitating economic growth and ensuring future Australian Government investment in economic infrastructure in northern Australia genuinely reflects the operating environment, including sectoral diversity and enhancing opportunities for First Nations employment and procurement. The Review is not a performance review of the NAIF, but rather an assessment of the success of the Act in achieving its desired outcomes.

Visit the 2024 Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility Act Review website for more information about the Review and the consultation process.

Outcome

Thank you for your feedback and submissions to the independent review. The review report was provided to the Minister for Northern Australia on 12 February 2025, and published online on 27 August 2025.

The review report can be downloaded from our Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility Act Review page.

The Independent Expert Panel (the Panel), chaired by the Honourable Warren Snowdon alongside Dr Lisa Caffery and Professor Peter Yu, conducted the review in accordance with the Terms of Reference.

How you had your say

The review received 40 submissions in response to the discussion paper.

Submissions for which the department received permission to publish, and that don’t include any inappropriate content are listed below.

The Panel also conducted 85 consultation sessions with a range of stakeholders from across northern Australia. This included all levels of government, First Nations organisations, regionally based economic development organisations, research bodies and individuals.

Relevant documentation

Participate

28 Aug 2024 12:00 AEST

21 Oct 2024 23:59 AEDT

Closed

This consultation is closed.

Privacy Collection Notice

Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility Act 2016 Review

Your submission, including any personal information supplied, is being collected by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts (the department) in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988.

Use

The department may use your submission to inform consideration of issues associated with and resulting from the review of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility Act 2016 (NAIF Act), including but not limited to informing the Australian Government’s response to the findings of the review, and consideration of future policy proposals arising from the review.

Disclosure

The department may disclose your submission to the independent review panel (Review Panel) to inform their review of the NAIF Act and preparation of the report of the review.

Subject to your agreement, the department may also disclose your submission (including confidential submissions) to other Commonwealth agencies including but not limited to, the Department of Finance) for the purposes of verifying or obtaining information to inform the Review Panel in their review and preparation of the report.

The department may publish your submission as explained below. Otherwise your submission will not be disclosed unless authorised or required by law.

Contacting You

The department may use your contact information to make further contact with you about your submission and the consultation process.

Publication

Unless marked confidential (see below) submissions (including the author’s name) may be published in part or full on the department’s website or in any public response by the Panel and/or the department. When publishing, the department will redact any personal contact details of the author.

Confidentiality

Confidential submissions will not be published and will only be disclosed in the following circumstances:

in response to a request by a Commonwealth Minister;
to the Review Panel for the purposes of informing the Panel in their review and preparation of the report of the Review on a confidential basis;
where required by a House or a Committee of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia;
where necessary in the public interest or
where authorised or required by law.

Submissions will only be treated as confidential if they are expressly stated to be confidential. Automatically generated confidentiality statements or disclaimers appended to an email do not suffice for this purpose. If you wish you make a confidential submission, you must indicate this by ensuring your submission is clearly marked confidential. Even if a submission is not marked confidential, the department may choose not to publish it, or any part of it, in the department’s discretion (for example where it includes personal information or opinions about a third party).

Access

The department will securely store your personal information and the department’s privacy policy contains information regarding complaint handling processes and how to access and/or seek correction of personal information held by the department. Further information is available at Privacy | Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts.