Territory leader's challenge: Step up to fix the NT or leave it to us
A Territory leader declares if you're not prepared to tackle the North's biggest challenges, "don't call yourself a Territorian" in a provocative call to action.
The Northern Territory is a land of promise and opportunity - we know this to be true.
At the same time, it is a hard place, often unrelenting and unforgiving.
Exciting in its possibilities, devastating in its realities.
I love every bit of it and every minute of it.
Our population is small, the distances great, and our community is enriched by its diversity. To me, Alice Springs always feels like home; Gove is like paradise; in Tennant Creek I can almost feel the land flex its muscle; Katherine is majestic in its beauty and eternal in its promise; when at Uluru I know the Territory is the beating heart of the nation.
And at Uluru and throughout the length of the Territory our countrymen and women maintain ancient connections, not just for themselves but for everyone.
Holding the land tight with living ceremonies passed down through the millennia, thinking about the future while anchored to a timeless land.
For my family, Territory life comes together around the football grounds, in the company of people you know, watching someone you care about compete on the field.
For others it’s at the rodeo or the showgrounds, the savannah or the escarpment, on the water, under the desert oaks; on a ceremonial ground.
It’s an incredible canvas to work with, and we need to avoid being caught up in negativity and defeatism, which can take our eyes off the challenges we have in front of us.
It’s important to understand the deficits and the issues but not be defeated by them.
Look around and you will find encouragement and strength in the most unlikely places, because leaders in the Territory are special people who give tirelessly of themselves, as the NT News Leaders awards reveal.
The late Yolngu leader Dr G Yunupingu AC knew a lot about leadership.
He always said leadership meant sacrifice for others and of yourself.
Anyone who takes on a position of leadership in the Territory sacrifices much and often what is lost can be close and personal.
But what is gained will be meaningful and exhilarating.
It will mean a life worth living, as you pay forward to generations to come, building for the future.
Those recognised in the NT News Leader of the Year awards are essential to the Territory’s future.
Each has accepted the role of leadership and is recognised for it.
Whether they realise it or not, each has already made the sacrifice described by Mr Yunupingu as they fulfil their duties on behalf of others.
Our elected leaders carry this burden more than anyone, faced as they are with difficult, almost insurmountable challenges.
In 1978, with a Commonwealth act of Self-Government the new Territory administration was given the responsibilities and difficulties of this wild, amazing place.
Our Chief Minister and Cabinet have been elected and have accepted the responsibility of self-government which has been described as a ‘bold and novel experiment’ by one of Australia’s sharpest legal minds, Chief Justice Michael Grant AO.
Raised in Pine Creek, His Honour has noted the “fragility of the grant of self- government” and worried that “the Territory’s future constitutional development (is) far from settled”.
What I think he means is that our place within the Federation is not yet fixed in place; that we are not a State.
He is correct.
There is no mechanism in the Federation to tackle the extraordinary infrastructure deficits we live with, and no simple solutions to the screaming disadvantage that has built up in our society, the origins of which were set long before 1978.
The States have benefited from two centuries of development and unbridled infrastructure expenditure.
They have the best of the first world.
In the Territory, from Darwin to Dhalinybuy hospitals, schools, roads, and municipal facilities can seem stuck in a time warp.
It is like this because the federal grants system in place since 1978 is designed to maintain the status-quo, and indeed financially reward any continued growth of deficit and disadvantage.
The system is back-to-front, and it will not release the Territory from its grip until it is reformed.
Our generation must tackle this challenge, whilst dealing with the day-to-day reality that the situation has produced.
This will involve leadership from every level of Territory society and will require us to support our elected leaders at every turn.
Re-setting the Territory has been beyond us in the past 50 years.
But today we are here, at the ground-floor, with an opportunity to be part of a vibrant, decent, prosperous and sustainable society in the North and the Centre.
As I’ve said before, if you’re not up for this challenge, don’t call yourself a Territorian.
Stay for a short time, enjoy the sunsets, pick up a pay cheque, and leave the hard work to the rest of us.
Leave the challenge of super-charging our social and economic future while levelling the playing field for the most disadvantaged Territorians, to the those of us who are here for the long haul.
Sean Bowden was the inaurgural winner of the NT News Leader of the Year Award in 2024.
Originally published as Territory leader's challenge: Step up to fix the NT or leave it to us
