‘A beaut place to live’: Michael Gunner encourages Southerners to relocate to the NT

Chief Minister Michael Gunner has sent out an open invite to the masses of Southerners fleeing lockdowns to relocate to the NT.

DESPITE more people staying in the Territory than in previous years, it’s the droves of people fleeing Victoria and New South Wales to Queensland that the NT Government has its eye on.

Population data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows thousands of people are leaving the Covid-ravaged southern states for sunnier Queensland shores, but Chief Minister Michael Gunner says it’s actually the NT that those people would rather be in.

However, he was unable to say how the NT would try to change the Covid-fleeing masses Queensland travel routes.

“The Northern Territory is the safest place in Australia,” Mr Gunner said.

“And our economy has some of the nation’s best economic indicators – in short lots of jobs and it’s a beaut place to live.

“Jobs and wages are up and unemployment is down – we are confident in the Territory’s future and more and more people agree.

“We are the comeback capital and our message to those down south is simple – we are where you would rather be.”

Hairdresser and Innsaei Healing business owner Lauren Hutcheson recently returned to the Territory on a working holiday and fell in love with the Top End all over again upon her return.

She spent her years in between Darwin stints in her home town of Adelaide but the lure of Darwin called her back.

“Darwin has just got so many opportunities going on all the time and is a great place for growth personally and for businesses,” Ms Hutcheson said.

Lauren Hutcheson has recently moved back to the Territory. Picture: Glenn Campbell

“I decided to come back up again from Adelaide just on a working holiday and it has just turned into something more than that.

“There’s always an adventure to be had up here, you meet new people all the time and it’s just a place you can always come back to.”

CDU Northern Institute research associate Fiona Shalleyon Thursday said recent survey results showed that younger participants were more inclined to relocate to the NT. “Covid-19 pushed people to reimagine how they wanted to live, and the general freedoms they were seeking.”

Charles Darwin University Northern Institute researcher Dr George Tan stated that the new data encompassed the first full “Covid year” and that Covid had played a major role in Territory citizen retention.

“Melbourne got out of lockdown, Sydney didn’t happen until June so it could be why people started to move around,” he said.

“Covid has single-handedly kept more people here than anything that’s been done in the last five years.”