Darwin’s development towards 2050

Graeme Suckling UDIA (NT)

Who is the Urban Development Institute of Australia?

A national body for over 40 years;

Facilitates cooperation between developers and government authorities;

Operating since 2009 in the NT to advance sustainable and liveable communities;

Activities include representation and advocacy, education, networking.

Snapshot of the NT economy

Currently a “welfare state” with an annual budget of $5-6B;

Economic peaks and troughs over almost 150 years (see “Territory” by Ernestine Hill);

Low population growth, high vacancy rate for rentals and slow housing sales;

We must build our population and our economy

CDU “Is our current interstate population drain unique?”...

Several ‘eras’ of net loss.

This one is different, there is no indication when or how it might end.

Building our population

Requires migrants from overseas;

Could be assisted by self-funded “retirees” seeking “sea change” jobs;

Potential for more overseas students;

Requires more industry to provide more jobs.

Industries which provide NT jobs

Defence (9.5% of Australia’s forces);

Agribusiness;

Tourism;

Mining;

Overseas education;

Building and construction;

Oil and gas.

Some reasons for economic instability

Fluctuations in commodity prices;

Competition from other states/overseas;

Terrorism;

World politics (Brexit) and changing demand patterns;

Challenges of getting fresh produce to market;

Floods and cyclones.

Other problems

Impacts of fuel prices and airline collapses on our air travel costs;

Our small population and buying power;

Value of the Australian dollar relative to other currencies;

NT has little control over most of these.

Can an onshore gas industry help our economy?

Deloitte study indicates strong economic contribution;

Potential for gas to diesel manufacturing assisting fuel self-sufficiency;

Support for the transition to renewable energy sources;

Many decades of supply.

Other gas opportunities

Boosting remote economies through royalty income, employment, better infrastructure;

Potential for processing here instead of overseas;

Cheaper power for remote areas.

Some positives for our economy

$8B Defence spend over the next decade;

$1B per annum infrastructure spending on other projects over next five years;

Potential for overlap with completion of Ichthys second train;

Building and operating the new ship lift facility;

Building and operating the new luxury hotel.

Can we retain our unique Territory lifestyle with a higher population?

Identifying our unique lifestyle;

Compatibility of higher density living with lifestyle;

Better designed suburbs with more green spaces;

Improved amenity.

What will our built environment look like?

Better apartment developments;

Tropical elevated living on smaller blocks (eg Asche duplex);

Smaller frontages with 2 or 3 storey homes (Adelaide examples);

Changes to accommodate electric and driverless cars.

Thank you