Cabinet documents from 1992 shines a light on Northern Territory boom
Until-now secret documents from 1992, when the CLP was riding high after 14 straight years in power, have been released. Read why some remain under lock and key.
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While the rest of Australia was labouring under then Prime Minister Paul Keating’s “recession we had to have” in 1992, the Northern Territory’s economy was soaring with major public construction projects powering jobs.
Under the stewardship of Chief Minister Marshall Perron and deputy Barry Coulter, the Territory had the country’s boom economy.
As the federal government began implementing Defence Minister Kim Beazley’s Armed Presence in the North policy, thousands of Australian Defence Force personnel relocated to Darwin.
This was the beginning of Robertson Barracks in Holtze, which sparked a massive Top End construction boom that sustained the NT economy for the remainder of the decade.
Construction work on the new Parliament House, with the four external columns replicating the Japanese bombs dropped at the site during World War II, also continued in the lead-up to its official opening in 1994.
Under the 30-year Cabinet rule, Attorney-General Chansey Paech has released the 1992 cabinet records for the then incumbent CLP Government.
But the NT government will keep secret documents about its somewhat disastrous foray into venture finance and a major development plan for at least another 15 years.
Records about the sale of the Darwin and Alice Springs Sheraton hotels, deemed exempt from this release, can be considered again for clearance in 2038.
The NT News has reported previously about Spanish international hotel group Grupo Sol being given exclusive negotiating rights to buy the two hotels.
The company won the battle for the NT Sheratons over 11 other groups but the price of the sale and possible loss to the NT were not revealed.
The Territory government 10 years ago confirmed its sale for $23.4m, representing an apparent loss of more than $186m to taxpayers.
The NT News reported government officials and executives of the Spanish hotel group Group Sol signed a sales contract, bringing almost to an end the government’s controversial involvement with the hotels.
This year’s Cabinet document release will also keep the planning and strategy document for ‘Darwin South’ under wraps as well as an information paper on the promotion of an oil refinery in Darwin and consideration of financial support for Darwin International Textiles.
Other cabinet documents from 1992 kept secret include a submission around Aboriginal rights to water, commercial issues surrounding the McArthur River project and defining the relationship between the Territory Insurance Office and the NT government.
Reflecting on 1992, Mr Paech said the documents provided a “unique snapshot of the lay of the land back then”.
“I certainly think that a number of the policy decisions that were made then are still very much relevant and today’s discussion points,” he said.
“When we look at fire management and conservation plans, certainly as we continue and now around our response in tackling climate change, they’re very important issues.
“Anti-discrimination measures are certainly very relevant in today’s age and certainly the landscape then and the landscape now have dramatically changed and that’s why the need to contemporise and build on that is incredibly important.”
In 1992, the nine-member all-bloke cabinet considered the women’s strategy information paper and in September the passage of the Territory’s anti-discrimination bill, which was substantially changed this year under Mr Paech.
Landmark changes in November offered a swag of new rights and protections to vulnerable Territorians after the NT government passed more than 50 new amendments to anti-discrimination laws.
In 1992, the Northern Territory’s population was 168,000 and about half were aged under 30.
Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows almost half the Territory’s population today was not even born in 1992.
Marshall Perron was cementing himself as one of the CLP’s most effective and popular chief ministers and federally Mr Keating, who in late 1991 had deposed Bob Hawke as prime minister, was fighting back against the Coalition and its new leader John Hewson.
Musically, Billy Ray Cyrus topped the year’s music charts with Achy Breaky Heart, Boyz II Men’s End of the Road was third and Richard Marx’ Hazard was 10th. Guns N’ Roses’ 11-minute epic November Rain was second.
Silence of the Lambs, the Hollywood blockbuster that introduced cannibal serial killer Hannibal Lecter to terrified audiences, won five Oscars and was only the fifth film to win best film, director, actor, actress and screenplay.
At the end of the Wet, Category 4 Cyclone Neville lashed Cobourg Peninsula and the Tiwi Islands but the most significant events were not related to the weather.
In Canberra, 4000km south-east of Darwin, the High Court recognised native title in Australia when it overturned the concept of terra nullius in the Mabo versus Queensland case.
The result paved the way for the Keating federal Labor government to deliver national Native Title legislation, which impacted more than a third of the Territory’s population, in 1993.
In May 1992, the federal Labor government began implementing Defence Minister Kim Beazley’s Armed Presence in the North policy.
This resulted in thousands of ADF personnel from Holsworthy in New South Wales moving to the Territory, starting with the relocation of 2nd Cavalry Regiment to Darwin under the leadership of future chief minister Denis Burke.
This was the beginning of Robertson Barracks in Holtze, which sparked a massive Top End construction boom that sustained the NT economy for the remainder of the decade.
The barracks today host about 5000 ADF personnel and a couple of thousand US Marines during the Dry.
Defence then, as it does today, made multiple contributions to NT social and economic life in 1992.
In March of that year, 14,000 Australian and US soldiers descended on Darwin for Exercise Kangaroo ‘92 and on February 19, the 50th anniversary of the Bombing of Darwin was commemorated at the Cenotaph.
In May, construction began on the $120m Cullen Bay marina which was to become the 20th Darwin suburb to share the 0820 postcode.
The Vestey cattle empire, which began with an abattoir at what is now Darwin High School, sold its pastoral holdings, thereby ending a 75-year association with the Northern Territory.
In August, chief magistrate Sally Thomas, who would eventually become administrator, continued her ascent up the judicial chain when she was appointed the first woman Supreme Court justice.
In conjunction with the then-Darwin City Council, Shoal Bay rubbish dump opened.
Lindy Chamberlain received $1.3m compensation for her wrongful conviction in the Northern Territory legal system that led to her spending four years in Berrimah jail for the murder of her daughter Azaria at Uluru in 1980.
Cabinet records released under the 30-year-rule include debate around the implementation of a decade-long Landcare plan, discussion around construction of Woodroffe Primary School in Palmerston, and transferring ownership of the gold stamp battery from the government to Tennant Creek Council.
In December, a wildfire management strategy discussion paper was cleared by Cabinet and in October cabinet supported a plan to amalgamate Sadadeen Secondary College and Alice Springs TAFE.
Each year on January 1, Cabinet records created 30 years ago are made public.
These archives relate to the social, political and economic development of the Northern Territory.
Cabinet records can be viewed at the Library and Archives NT.
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