Now lawFarming & Regions Introduced in the House of Representatives, 04 Mar 2026

Northern Australia lender can now approve loans until 2036

The Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility lends money for big building projects in the north. Infrastructure means things like roads, ports and power lines. It was due to stop making new loan choices on 30 June 2026. This law gives it ten more years. It adds new steps for when it breaks its own lending rules.

Official name: Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility Amendment Bill 2026

Who it affects

• Businesses and projects in northern Australia: They can keep asking the lender for money for big projects for ten more years.
• The lender's board: It must tell ministers when rules are broken and follow their orders to fix things.
• The Northern Australia Minister and the Finance Minister: They now share the job of watching over it, including picking board members and setting their pay.

Lending powers ending in 2026

The Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility is a lender run by the federal government. We will call it the lender. It gives money, including loans, for things like roads, ports, rail and power lines in northern Australia.

It was set up by a law in 2016. It has a $7 billion budget to lend from.

Under that law, the lender could not decide to give new money after 30 June 2026. Deals made before then could keep going.

The law was reviewed in 2024. This bill puts some of the review's ideas into law. Madeleine King, the Minister for Resources and Northern Australia, brought it in.

Ten more years of loans

The bill moves the end date in the law from 30 June 2026 to 30 June 2036. That gives the lender ten more years to say yes to new loans.

Say a company wants to build a new port or power line in the north in 2030. Before this law, the lender could not have said yes. Now it can.

Fixing rule breaches

The lender must follow a set of rules from ministers. The rules say what it should lend for and how. They are called the Investment Mandate. The current set is from 2023. The board already had to take sensible steps to follow it.

The bill adds new steps. Sometimes the board will learn that the lender, or one of its companies, broke these rules. It must then tell the ministers in writing as soon as it can. It must also say how it plans to fix the problem.

The ministers might agree that a rule was broken. They can then order the board to explain it in writing. They can also order it to do certain things by a certain date. The board must do what they say.

Deals stay valid

The bill says a deal still counts even if the lender broke its rules or a minister's order. The 2024 review asked for this. It gives certainty to the companies and banks involved.

This rule also covers deals made before the law started. The government says this does not hurt anyone. It only makes clear that the deals still count.

People can still ask a court to look at the lender's choices for other reasons.

Say a cattle company signed a loan in 2025. Later the lender finds it missed one of its rules in that deal. The loan still stands. The board sorts out the broken rule with the ministers.

Two ministers share the job

The old law gave some tasks to one minister. The bill gives these tasks to two ministers acting together. They are the Minister for Northern Australia and the Finance Minister. The Finance Minister looks after how the government spends money.

The tasks include picking board members, setting their pay and leave, and calling meetings. The government says other government funds that invest money are run the same way.

New reviews

The law must now be reviewed as soon as possible after 30 June 2029. It must be reviewed again after 30 June 2034.

Each review report must be shared with both houses of Parliament within 15 days that Parliament sits.

The 2034 review must look at whether the 2036 deadline should be pushed back again. It must also look at how the lender should be run after that date.

Start date

The bill was brought into the House of Representatives on 4 March 2026. It passed there on 11 March 2026. The Senate, Parliament's second house, passed it on 30 June 2026.

The Governor-General, who stands in for the King, signed it into law the same day. It is Act number 60 of 2026. It started the next day.

How they voted

Its journey through Parliament

Official sources

• Bill page on aph.gov.au
• Text of the bill
• Explanatory memorandum

Open the full interactive page