Liberty Square upgrade sparks questions about priorities

A Territory Labor minister has been forced to defend government spending priorities as a federal counterpart releases photos of a damaged remote road.

The Territory minister responsible for development around Darwin’s Parliament House has been forced to defend the Labor Government’s spending priorities.

Speaking within metres of the Territory Parliament building on Thursday morning, Infrastructure Minister Joel Bowden had to explain why Labor government passion projects in the heart of the capital city were being prioritised over other areas of need.

Mr Bowden was showing off the $3.8m Liberty Square development that the government wants to transform from a lawned public space with a large banyan tree into a community area with elevated decking, pathways, a 9-vehicle car park and a porcellanite-clad retaining wall.

Up to 20 sub-contractors will be employed during the life of the project, which is expected to be concluded by the end of March.

Minister Bowden announcing the Liberty Square upgrades.

When it came to providing detail around the overall cost of the State Square project, which includes a new Indigenous art gallery, Mr Bowden was unclear on the detail.

Asked to explain why Liberty Square, which marked the scene of the 1918 Darwin Rebellion when 1000 protesters burnt an effigy of Administrator John Gilruth, Mr Bowden said it was about cooling the precinct.

“The Top End’s pretty hot, so what we’ve been trying to do is remove some of the hotter areas. What we’re trying to do is reduce some of the pavement and keep the Top End a little cooler for people so they can enjoy it.

The proposed State Square Art Gallery. Picture: Supplied

“Something in the shade they can go out for lunch, sit in the shade and not have that pavement around them that’s radiating the heat up.”

When it was pointed out the Liberty Square development was actually reducing green space and replacing it with a car park and pavements, Mr Bowden said raintrees, milkwoods and yellow flame trees would be planted at the site.

Artists impression of the new State Square Art Gallery in Darwin CBD

Questioned about spending priorities when most of the NT’s roads are unsealed and there is a$200m shortfall in the education budget, Mr Bowden said government outlays should be looked at in their entirety.

Territory Senator Malarndirri McCarthy posted images of flood damage to the Carpentaria Highway within hours of Mr Bowden’s media conference.

Senator McCarthy’s soical media image of Carpentaria Highway.

“You’ve got to take it in it’s totality,” Mr Bowden said.

“The $2.2bn infrastructure fund is not in isolation. Projects are not in isolation and we do it across the board whether that’s a road out bush or a clinic out bush, whether that’s a clinic out bush or whether it’s a revitalising element in the CBD, you’ve got to take it in its totality.”

Originally published as Liberty Square upgrade sparks questions about priorities