Business highlights of the first six months of 2020 – a year never to be forgotten
THERE is no arguing the fact 2019 was a terrible year for small business, but the sad fact is 2020 was worse. Over two weeks, NT News business editor GARY SHIPWAY looks at the BIGGEST EVENTS in Territory business
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THERE is no arguing the fact 2019 was a terrible year for small business, but the sad fact is 2020 was worse. Over two weeks, NT News business editor GARY SHIPWAY looks at a year that saw many businesses close and others pushed to the brink, saved only by generous federal and Territory government stimulus schemes.
When 2020 kicked off the Territory faced plenty of economic challenges – 5.6 per cent unemployment, a population in serious decline, an exodus of workers, the worst performing economy in the nation and an NT government deeply on the nose with the business community.
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The $200m revitalisation of the Darwin CBD which is the Darwin City Deal and the $1.1 billion worth of Defence works involving RAAF Base Tindal stage six redevelopment and RAAF Base Tindal US Force Posture Initiatives airfield work, have loomed large.
So too construction projects Manunda House in the Darwin CBD, the government’s remote housing program and the Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility (NAIF).
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on Territory business, small and large. The Territory government, already up to its eyeballs in debt, has extended its line of credit even further to help keep tradies working and people employed in the tourism and hospitality sector in jobs.
Here are the highlights of the first six months of 2020 – a year never to be forgotten.
January
THE peak body representing the Territory business community started 2020 off by asking businesses to judge how the Gunner government was performing.
The Chamber of Commerce NT was keen to see if business sentiment and confidence may have changed since its 2019 survey which attracted an unprecedented 600 responses and an angry backlash against the Gunner government’s economic performance.
The bulk of last year’s 600 respondents said the Gunner government’s economic performance had been either extremely poor or poor.
THE Urban Development Institute of Australia Northern Territory (UDIA NT) pleaded with the NT government and policymakers to work with industry to unlock opportunities to grow the development industry.
THE Northern Territory was announced as the “third force” in Australian LNG taking the nation to the top rung as the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
And the reason for that is Darwin’s Ichthys and Darwin LNG projects
THE head of the Darwin Major Business Group Ian Kew says the Gunner government has achieved little and pleased few with its “old and outdated ideas of progress”, harbouring old and outdated ideas of progress and then trying to please all, but as a consequence achieving little and pleasing few.
FAMILY and friends farewelled popular businessman and former Wanderers football club president Steve “Sluggo” Olsson. Around 200 mourners crammed into the Darwin Resthaven Chapel on Amy Johnson Drive to say goodbye to the 60-year-old proprietor/agent for Elders Insurance in Darwin.
CANADIAN explorer Kirkland Lake Gold has had further exploration success at its Union Reefs project near Pine Creek, saying it was confident it can establish a significant mining centre in the Northern Territory. It said the results continue to advance its Northern Territory strategy to develop multiple mining centres to feed the recently recommissioned central Union Reefs mill.
DRILLING of the first gas well in the Beetaloo Basin, Kyalla 117, suffered a setback with Falcon Oil & Gas encountering stability problems in certain sections of the well’s original horizontal section.
THE Top End’s $1.5 billion Project Sea Dragon prawn farm project continues to edge closer to reality with Seafarms Group signing a key offtake agreement with major European seafood distributor Primstar BV. Under the agreement, products from Seafarms’ Project Sea Dragon in the Northern Territory will be marketed and sold by Primstar in Europe.
PINELANDS businesses may have won the battle to get the Gunner government to abandon its plans to build a juvenile detention facility in their industrial precinct but around 60 businesses were up in arms over traffic changes being proposed.
Spokesman for the group James Noonan said the government’s planned changes represented a risk to the viability of Pinelands businesses.
THE new $20 million underground Parliament House carpark opened.
February
ALL flights from Shenzhen to Darwin were cancelled due to the risk of coronavirus.
FINAL drill results at Emmerson Resources’ (ERM) Mauretania discovery near Tennant Creek support progression to a viable open-cut gold mining operation.
PRIMARY Industry and Resources Minister Paul Kirby said the mining sector presents the single largest opportunity for future employment opportunities to Territorians, especially in regional centres like Alice Springs, Katherine, Tennant Creek and Nhulunbuy.
HINTS of a construction industry decline worsening with Master Builders NT’s latest Fidelity Fund data showing new home starts trending down.
WORRYING signs about the proposed 5-star waterfront hotel proposal. Marriott International confirmed that its luxury Westin Hotel planned for the Darwin Waterfront would not be finished until sometime in 2023 – at least a year later than planned.
JETSTAR and Qantas announced there would be fewer direct flights to and from Darwin on Jetstar and Qantas from March. The bad news came just two weeks after Tiger ended its flights to Darwin.
THE Territory government scrapped the planned $2 billion Noonamah Ridge development in Darwin’s rural area. The proposed development, first raised more than six years ago, would have seen 4200 new residences built over the next 30 years The proponents, Intrapac Property, wanted a town centre with shops, a retirement village, schools, sport facilities, bike tracks and a lake.
LOCAL Holden dealership Kerry’s Automotive Group was blindsided by Holden’s announcement that the iconic car brand will disappear from dealerships by year’s end.
RAAF Base Tindal’s strategic military importance has been reinforced with the federal government now spending $1.6 billion – a boost of $1.1 billion – on further works to the base.
WESFARMERS scored a multimillion-dollar profit on the $11.3 million it paid for the Yarrawonga land where it is building a new Bunnings Warehouse superstore. Interstate property fund manager Charter Hall will pay $41.3 million for the new Palmerston store after construction. Wesfarmers bought the land three years ago.
DARWIN’S cutting-edge 3D printing technology won over the Australian Army, which joined the navy in a world-first metal printing trial.
BUSINESS confidence continues to be challenged in the Territory. The final Chamber of Commerce NT’s 2020 Business Outlook Survey results revealed out of 584 respondents, 61 per cent rated the Gunner government’s economic and business performance as extremely poor – up from 53 per cent in 2019.
THE Territory government offered to help to drought-affected Territory pastoralists with a rent reduction or waiver for their pastoral lease.
THE Gunner government was in the doghouse facing an ugly fight with the Real Estate Institute of the Northern Territory and property investors over changes to residential tenancy laws.
March
DARWIN’S struggling tourism industry was dealt a new blow with cruise ships cancelling scheduled visits because of COVID-19.
CONOCOPHILLIPS Australia, as operator of the Barossa joint venture, awarded three contracts for the engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) of subsea umbilicals, risers, and flowlines (SURF).
THE Northern Territory Environment Protection Authority (NT EPA) has given the green light for Primary Gold Limited’s Toms Gully underground project.
TOURISM NT laid out its plans to fight off the effects of the deadly coronavirus.
NITMILUK National Park was the toast of the Qantas national tourism awards in Canberra. Cicada Lodge restaurant won gold for the Tourism Restaurants and Catering Services category and the Gold Award for Luxury Accommodation category. Nitmiluk Tours won gold in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Tourism category.
JUNIOR miner Empire Energy has received Territory government approvals for the drilling of Carpentaria-1, to be located in EP187 clearing the way for the company to finalise the well design and carry out formal tendering with service providers.
HOSPITALITY NT called on the NT government to follow the Queensland government’s example and give small and medium-sized businesses a payroll tax holiday to help them survive the coronavirus outbreak.
CANADIAN gold producer Kirkland Lake Gold shocked the Territory’s mining sector by sacking 250 workers and announcing the closure of operations at the Cosmo mine and suspending the Union Reefs processing plant operations near Pine Creek.
ALICE Springs’ Centre for Appropriate Technology inked a deal capturing a place in the Territory’s emerging space industry. European space launch company, ArianeGroup announced CfAT will host its GEOTracker® station at its premises.
PEAK NT industry bodies advised the Chief Minister his government’s coronavirus stimulus package needs to spend strongly.
JETSTAR suspended all Darwin services as part of its coronavirus response. Qantas has also announced major cuts to its Territory services.
April
THE Federal Court of Australia has made orders to wind up Melbourne-based Merlin Diamonds Limited (Merlin) on insolvency grounds.
SANTOS has announced it will delay the drilling of two exploration wells in the Northern Territory’s McArthur Basin onshore shale gas province.
THE Northern Territory has became the benchmark around the nation for coronavirus fly-in fly-out mine worker health and safety standards.
REMOTE teachers were paid a $500 school holiday incentive to stay in their communities for the Term 1 break under a new Territory government plan to fight coronavirus.
JACANA did a sneaky backflip and quietly extended the period for companies to get applications for one-for-one feed-in tariff solar panel installations.
THE battle by a luxury boutique cruise ship MS Caledonian Sky to remain in Darwin amid the COVID-19 pandemic was lost in the Federal Court.
THE operators of the Frances Creek mine, near Pine Creek, were buoyed by the overseas interest in its 300,000 tonnes of stockpiled ore.
PITCH Black, the Royal Australian Air Force’s largest international air engagement exercise, has been shot down by COVID-19.
A POSSIBLE eight-week wait on building approvals was waived under temporary changes made to the Planning Act by the Gunner government.
THE Territory’s community clubs, pubs, hotels and casinos have been given some critical life support with the NT government waiving their March gaming machine taxes.
THE Northern Territory government Home Improvement Scheme received more applications on its closing day than it had received in the final 10 days of the scheme’s short life.
A $94.6 million lifeline was thrown out by the federal government to the Territory’s zoos and wildlife sanctuaries facing ruin because of the coronavirus crisis.
A NEW Economic Recovery Commission that would steer and shape all key post-coronavirus lockdown economic strategies and guide the Territory’s economic recovery is the key plank of a six-point plan by the NT construction industry’s peak body.
May
THE Chamber of Commerce NT proposed a four-stage approach to return the Territory to economic health and has included a new three-pillar strategy to build the Territory into a national economic force.
A HIGH -powered taskforce of national experts will map out a blueprint to guide the NT tourism industry’s coronavirus recovery.
NEW Territory laws started in relation to the possession, cultivation, supply, processing and research of industrial hemp.
THE NT government’s Home Improvement Scheme had an unintended consequence – work has either dried up or slowed down to an unsustainable snail’s pace for some trades.
THE Territory’s peak industry bodies have joined forces and warned that the NT is staring at a catastrophe post-coronavirus – and they have no confidence in the Gunner government to deal with it alone.
RELATIONSHIPS between business and the Northern Territory government need to be reset, the Chamber of Commerce NT says.
THE Darwin Major Business Group said it had between $330 million and $500 million worth of projects that, with the right reduction in red tape or incentive, would get the projects over the line, its chair Ian Kew said.
CHIEF Minister Michael Gunner announced a new commission to lead an economic recovery strategy for the Northern Territory post-coronavirus crisis.
HOSPITALITY NT backed the NT News’ call for an NT tourism industry stimulus voucher.
GLOBAL Energy giant ENI announces it plans to sell the Black Tip gas production, which supplies gas to Darwin.
THE industry representatives making up the Team Territory to advise the Chief Minister’s Economic Reconstruction Commission is decided. Business titan Andrew Liveris and former Chief Minister Paul Henderson are named co-chairs.
SUNCABLE announced survey work will begin on its ambitious megaproject to supply solar power from Tennant Creek to Singapore via the world’s longest subsea high voltage cable.
THE group representing many of the Territory’s largest businesses calls on the Gunner government to consider reopening the borders on July 1.
SANTOS revealed plans for Darwin to be one of its key national hubs.
June
SILKS at Darwin Turf Club, built at a cost of $8.8 million opens.
THROB on the Point will not go ahead at East Point.
THE majority of Territory businesses either had their staff work from home, asked them to accept reduced shifts or let staff go in response to COVID-19, a Chamber of Commerce NT survey found.
DARWIN businesses reap big rewards from a joint venture between exports specialist Pak Fresh Handling, local companies Wyuna Cold Stores and GR Wills and Darwin International Airport.
THE family that won a Federal Court class action against the federal government over a former Labor minister’s snap decision to ban live cattle exports to Indonesia in 2011, has paid $3.3 million for Char restaurant on the Darwin Esplanade.
THE election death knell sounded for Territory Alliance when its Ban Fracking policy was canned by business groups.
A $40 MILLION international best practice crocodile farm has been proposed for Humpty Doo.
DARWIN council’s voucher scheme was hailed a winner.
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