JULY

Outpointed again

Approved in 2015 without so much as a whimper, the on-again, off-again Lee Point Defence housing project was finally off again after Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek responded to environmental and cultural protests and suspended the project.

Developer, the Defence Housing Australia, announced in August by media release it had “voluntarily stopped work until the end of March”.

In a terse website statement, DHA said it would work on “cultural” issues around the project. “DHA has made the decision to voluntarily stop work at Lee Point until March 31 2024,” the statement said.

“We will be using this time to work with relevant government agencies and respond to the application regarding Aboriginal cultural heritage at the site.”

The announcement came after more than a dozen protesters were arrested as they tried to stop the bulldozers working on the project stage two.

Cool pool

City of Darwin released designs for its upgraded $25m Casuarina swimming pool.

The new centre will include an eight-lane 50m pool, a temperature controlled, six-lane 25m learn-to-swim pool, a resort-style lagoon pool, cafe and BBQ facilities, dry and wet play areas, a basketball half court, large grassed area with a minimum 70 per cent solid shade over the 50m and 25m pools.

When completed, there will also be zero-depth access to all pools as well as relocated and upgraded change rooms and toilets.

Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis said the area would be a dynamic community hub.

“It not only looks fantastic, but it’s also a great reflection of what our community and key stakeholders told us they wanted for the final design,” he said.

Fly with me

The NT government committed $10m towards at a new aviation scheme it hoped would bring more flights and carriers to the Territory.

Under the Territory Aviation Attraction Scheme, Darwin, Alice Springs and Ayers Rock (Uluru) airports could apply for a share of the funding pool, which they must match dollar-for-dollar.

The $20m pool has so far attracted low-cost carrier Bonza, with mixed results, and brought Virgin back to the Territory with additional flights from Melbourne and Brisbane to Uluru beginning in June 2024.

Later in July, Virgin apologised for scrapping the Sydney to Darwin route at the start of 2023.

AUGUST

Lumpy skin scare

Chief Northern Territory vet Rob Williams said there was considerable evidence accumulated over years that the local cattle herd was free of lumpy skin disease.

Speaking after Indonesia banned live exports from four north Australian cattle stations including two in the Territory after traces of LSD were identified in Indonesian stockyards, Dr Williams said Australian biosecurity officials were alert to the threat of the disease long before the virus arrived in Indonesia in 2022.

It is suspected the positive cattle contracted LSD in Indonesia.

Malaysia followed with a total ban on all Australian live beef exports but the all clear was given, and the live trade resumed, in September.

Top tourism appointment

A Territory local with a background in hospitality and tourism was appointed to Top End tourism’s top job. Katherine-born Samantha Bennett as Tourism Top End’s general manager on August 28.

Her family, the Kerrs, had a history of hospitality in Darwin and Alice Springs.

Her appointment came after two years on Tourism Top End’s board of directors, which included implementing the organisation’s strategic plan under the governance of former general manager Glenn Hingley.

She spent the past seven years with the Royal Flying Doctor Service as tourism and operations manager and before that 15 years with Qantas in the Territory.

Here’s cheers

A suburban steakhouse flipped the script on its better-known CBD rivals by winning the Best Steak gong at the prestigious 2023 Gold Plate Awards.

Dolly’s Bar and Restaurant in Leanyer scooped the Best Steak prize, ending three years of category dominance by the Cavenagh Hotel and flying the flag for Darwin’s north-suburban hotels.

A record 550 people flocked to Darwin Festival Park for the Gold Plates, which celebrated the hundreds of businesses and thousands of people employed in the industry.

SEPTEMBER

Char goes

Soaring levels of crime and anti-social behaviour were some of the major factors behind the closure of Darwin’s Char restaurant on September 2.

Intended only to be temporary, the steakhouse hadn’t reopened its doors by New Year’s Eve.

Restaurant owner Hamish Brett said it cost $8000 to repair the front door every time it’s kicked in and a staff member had been assaulted.

“We’ve had enough of it,” Mr Brett said.

Stop talking

The employer of a woman assaulted in a Darwin city laneway called on the NT government to “stop talking” about crime and take action to address ongoing violence.

Stomp Shoes owner Gella Catis, fronted the media in exasperation alongside Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro to call for action to stop the surge in crime and threatening behaviour in the CBD over preceding weeks.

The 55-year-old female employee phoned Ms Catis hysterical after she was attacked by three young girls in Austin Lane in Darwin’s CBD.

The woman had her hair pulled, was pushed to the ground and beaten by the three girls before a good Samaritan came to her and her friend’s assistance and the attackers fled.

Throb closed

An emergency order was issued to popular nightclub Throb after a site inspection the previous month revealed “fire safety hazards, non-compliances and unauthorised building works including the removal of walls”.

The order was issued by Director of Building Control Mark Meldrum and cited section 100(1) of the Building Act 1993.

The building, located at 1 Edmunds Street, includes Throb, the former Meraki restaurant and a cafe space. All three were closed to the public and cannot be occupied.

National Flags moved out of the premises in December and has a new location.

The emergency order was addressed to Solis Real Estate, a subsidiary of the Halikos Group.

Mr Dignan said his company would react “immediately to the required actions” under the order. The building is facing demolition.

Shiplifting starboard

When she was Infrastructure Minister, Eva Lawler was joined by Darwin shiplift joint-venture partners Clough-BMD executives in September to announce final contracts had been signed seven years seven years after the project was first proposed.

Despite promising that day dredging work would begin that month, nothing had been done by late December 2023.

NT Infrastructure Commissioner Louise McCormick was left to explain why the ship lift had taken so long to sail.

“For a project as complex as the shiplift project, assessment is very detailed and we need to undertake our due diligence to make sure that we have the right partner, the right equipment and the right design for this project,” Ms McCormick said.

The CLP said September’s media release was the 37th issued by Labor about the shiplift.

OCTOBER

Cashed their chips

The Top End’s business landscape copped a build-up shake-up with the departure of two popular and influential longtime Territory leaders.

Mindil Beach Casino general manager Avril Baynes and Airport Development Group executive Ross Baynes left Darwin for Adelaide after a collective 47 years in the Territory. The couple’s move south for family reasons sparked a major Top End talent search as well as a reshuffle at the top of the Darwin Major Business Group and Tourism Top End where Mrs Baynes held senior roles.

Mr Baynes ended his 13-year tenure as executive general manager property and terminal with Airport Development Group, but remained with ADG in a non-executive role working remotely from Adelaide.

Experienced interstate and international casino operator Sean Knights was appointed in late October.

GEMCO raids

The site of manganese miner GEMCO had several incursions from late September until November, with a staff member injured when they were forced to lock themselves in a tearoom while intruders armed with axes tried to force their way in.

It’s believed up to five people had illegally entered the premises during the first incursion on September 30, with workers forced to lock themselves in a safe room.

Police flew five additional officers to Groote Eylandt following that incident.

The mine was forced into lockdown again three days later after two men, also allegedly armed with axes, were seen walking towards an external perimeter fence during a weekday afternoon.

Mine owner South32 moved to beef-up security at Groote in the wake of the raids.

$6.23bn and 7640 jobs

The full scope of the Defence Department’s expected contribution to the Northern Territory was outlined in a special report commissioned by Master Builder NT and compiled by consultants ACIL Allen.

Released in October, the report said Defence would spend a massive $6.23bn in the Northern Territory over the next four years and add 7640 direct and indirect jobs at its investment peak.

The report estimated that by next financial year Defence employees will make up 7.4 per cent of the full-time Territory workforce on projects across the Australian Defence Force investments portfolio, United States defence projects and the $3.8bn northern base and facilities upgrades and another billion for base resilience.

Released six months after the Defence Strategic Review which urged Defence to look north, the report concludes the NT construction industry has a track record of delivering for industry with big projects such as Inpex, but workforce and accommodation constraints could impact capacity.

Happy birthday

Developer Warren Anderson, the man who built the Territory’s Parliament – often referred to as the wedding cake – and its non-identical twin, the Supreme Court, broke his long silence to mark their 30th birthday in 2023.

The story of how Mr Anderson secured the land is linked to his purchase of Tipperary Station in the 1980s and the ones associated with construction are well documented in court records from the legal proceedings the government and his company Multiplex fought over many years.

While Mr Anderson won the important fights, he lost control over design of the Parliament — he wanted it to look like Hong Kong’s old parliament building. Instead he got ... a wedding cake.

“I don’t build flat-roofed buildings. I think they look nasty,” he said

“It is a grand building though, I’ll give them credit where it’s due. It turned out to be one of the great buildings and so is the Supreme Court. I reckon it’s the envy of every parliament in the country.”

Territory loses its Queen

One of the Territory’s most renowned tourism attractions and a recognised “Australian icon” shut in October.

Adelaide River Queen Cruises, which operated the original jumping crocodile tours, closed after 38 years of business.

Owner Tony Blums said the decision to close came amid increasingly unsafe practices on the river and, he said, the government’s failure to limit the number of operators on the river to three, and create “well-defined operating zones”.

Change at Inpex

Western Australian mining services provider Monadelphous took control of Inpex’s $75m a year onshore maintenance contract under a deal flagged late October.

About 400 employees at Inpex’s Middle Arm LNG processing plant were impacted ­by the change, with some employees enduring shift and salary changes.

The new agreement followed the termination of Inpex’s contract with Trace, which held the company’s onshore maintenance contract since 2017.

Workers were informed of the change during a town-hall meeting at Inpex’s Bladin Point site.

No change at Port

A 99-year lease on the Port of Darwin held by Chinese company Landbridge Group won’t be scrapped after a federal government review found it was “not necessary” to do so. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet announced it had finalised its review into the circumstances of the lease, eight years after Chinese-owned Landbridge won the bid from the Northern Territory government.

The review found it was not necessary to vary or cancel the lease as monitoring mechanisms were “sufficient” and “robust” regulatory systems existed to manage any risks to critical infrastructure.

NOVEMBER

Santos stymied

The Federal Court extended a ban on Santos laying a key pipeline for its Barossa gas export project after Jikilaruwu clan member Simon Munkara sought an injunction citing irreparable harm to culturally significant sites.

Mr Munkara argued the pipeline would disrupt ancestral burial grounds and traditional songlines, without a proper assessment of the risk to cultural heritage.

Santos had been due to continue works on its multi-billion dollar project earlier this month when the Environmental Defenders Office lodged an emergency injunction on behalf of Mr Munkara.

In her ruling, Justice Natalie Charlesworth said the fossil fuel giant could begin laying gas pipelines elsewhere but must stop near the Tiwi Islands until a final ruling was given, which is expected to be mid-January.

Work on the Barossa gas facility has been suspended since last after the Federal Court found Santos failed to properly consult Traditional Owners.

In January 2024 Santos was given the green light to continue works.

Follow the evidence

Australian Energy Producers called for an objective and evidence-based assessment into the Middle Arm sustainable development precinct development.

In its inquiry submission to the Senate, Australia’s peak gas industry body urged Senators to be “led by the evidence and the considerable body of regulatory and technical work that underpins this nation-building precinct.”

“This inquiry should focus on the engineering, environmental, social and economic merits of the precinct to assure the public interest and to ensure the national interest,” AEP chief executive Samantha McCulloch said.

Fire change needed

Cattle station employees were the unsung heroes of the Territory’s worst bushfire season in a decade, with hundreds of station workers from dozens of properties giving tens-of-thousands of man hours to fighting fires on pastoral and crown land across the Northern Territory.

Thousands of head of cattle were lost on NT stations in the last few months of 2023.

NT Cattlemen’s Association chief executive Will Evans said the dependence on volunteers to tackle serious and potentially life-threatening fires across the Northern Territory wasn’t working.

He called on Australia to develop a new approach to disaster management in line with “international best practice”.

Dud routes

Travellers from Darwin were being slugged eye-watering fares to fly to interstate capital cities by the major airlines – and Defence’s $180m tarmac upgrades were to blame.

Flight search engine webjet.com.au showed one-way, late-booking fares out of Darwin to all capital cities mid-November were at a minimum around the $1000 mark.

The largest single fare was a one-way flight from Darwin to Adelaide on Thursday, November 16, priced at $4333.

Aviation experts said the long-awaited tarmac upgrades at Darwin Airport that reduced passenger capacity had contributed to the huge price surge.

Data starter

Work began in November on Darwin’s $80m NextDC D1 data centre.

The Territory’s first ever data centre, construction is expected to be completed by the middle of next year.

NextDC marketing manager Claire Sangster said the centre, which will have 1500 racks and support an 8MW IT load, would be a significant step towards digitising the NT.

“The data centre is the catalyst that allows other services to come in,” Ms Sangster said.

DECEMBER

Anger at hours

The government introduced new Top End bottleshop opening hours, pushing back the time when booze could be sold.

Controversially flagged earlier in December after a request from NT Police Commissioner Michael Murphy, Ms Fyles signed a Section 88 declaration under the Liquor Act which will change bottleshop opening hours in Greater Darwin, Palmerston and parts of the Rural Area.

Monday to Friday trading hours for the purchase of takeaway alcohol in these districts will change from 10am to midday.

Weekends and public holidays will remain the same.

Bottleshops north of the Arnhem Highway were impacted by the changes, meaning outlets in Humpty Doo and Virginia were excluded but Howard Springs and Coolalinga were in.

The trial will conclude on January 26.

Hospitality NT were furious at the change, with Ms Fyles later admitting she had promised no changes without consultation.

Go bush

The property market is running hot in the Darwin rural area with five of its bush ‘burbs placing in the top six of the Territory’s most sought after suburbs list.

Analysis from PropTrack scrutinised Northern Territory listings on realestate.com.au to find the suburbs attracting the most inquiries.

Howard Springs topped the list with an average of 18 inquiries per listing in the past 12 months.

Coming in at number two was Virginia, with 17 inquiries per listing, followed by Wagaman, with 13 interactions per advertised property.

Girraween, Berry Springs and Humpty Doo came next, all with an average of 11 inquiries per listing.

Cottoning on

The first cotton gin in Northern Australia was officially opened about 30km north of Katherine on December 16.

The estimated $70m WANT (Western Australia-Northern Territory) cotton gin is expected to provide dozens of jobs and stimulate the Katherine regional economy when processing begins next year.

Developed exclusively with private money including venture capital, project principal David Connolly from the Tipperary Group said the gin would deliver a significant economic legacy through the additional jobs it created.

“It will change the face of the Northern Territory,” Mr Connolly said. “We’re looking forward to providing cotton growers in the north with the best ginning services available.”