The Committee is to consider policies for developing the parts of Australia which lie north of the Tropic of Capricorn, spanning Western Australia, Northern Territory and Queensland, and in doing so:

• examine the potential for development of the region’s mineral, energy, agricultural, tourism, defence and other industries;


• provide recommendations to:
  
  • enhance trade and other investment links with the Asia-Pacific;
  • establish a conducive regulatory, taxation and economic environment;
  • address impediments to growth; and
  • set conditions for private investment and innovation;
• identify the critical economic and social infrastructure needed to support the long term growth of the region, and ways to support planning and investment in that infrastructure.

The Committee to also present to the Parliament its recommendation for a white paper which would detail government action needed to be taken to implement the committee’s recommendations, setting out how the recommendations were to be implemented, by which government entity they were to be implemented, a timetable for implementation and how and when any government funding would be sourced.

The Committee is due to present an interim report to Parliament on the activities of the Committee as soon as practicable after 30 May 2014, with particular reference to the outcomes of public hearings held across Northern Australia, and any specialist knowledge emanating from the public submissions process. The Committee is due to deliver its final report and recommendations to the Parliament on or before 6 July 2014.