The Opposition’s Territory Coordinator Bill will fast track major NT projects

THE major project system in the Territory is broken.In fact, not a single new major project has been completed in the last four-and-half years under the Gunner Government, despite inheriting a long list of ventures with Major Project Status

THE major project system in the Territory is broken.

In fact, not a single new major project has been completed in the last four-and-half years under the Gunner Government, despite inheriting a long list of ventures with Major Project Status.

Since 2016, Labor has put the handbrake on private sector investment. Instead of letting businesses do what they do best: invest, employ and innovate, the Gunner Government has increased red tape and racked up $8.4bn in net debt while conducting countless reviews and summits which have been left to gather dust.

The incompetence of the government was on full display, when the Chief Minister needed the Territory Economic Reconstruction Commission (TERC) and the Langoulant Plan for Budget Repair to tell him how do to his job.

The Langoulant report said the Gunner Government needed to: “Reform the current major projects process to expedite and improve the efficiency of project approvals.”

Meanwhile, the final TERC report, which was handed to Mr Gunner in November last year, highlighted the need for a “single point of coordination for major project investment”.

We’re now three months on and the Chief Minister hasn’t even asked the TERC implementation Team Territory to meet.

Michael Gunner and Andrew LIveris following their meeting about the TERC.

It is clear we can’t rely on the Chief Minister and that’s why the CLP is leading from Opposition with the introduction of the Territory Coordinator Bill 2020.

We need to get the Territory moving and slash unnecessary red tape and fast-track approvals. The Territory Coordinator will be independent of government, operating at arm’s length to get major projects off the ground.

A key function of the Territory Coordinator is to classify projects that are ‘of significance’ to the Territory (large or small) by referral or own initiative, providing businesses with whole-of-project support that speeds up the delivery of the project.

It does this by having broad legislated powers to coordinate agency responses, approvals processes and if necessary, can direct government agencies to comply with fast-tracked decision-making timelines.

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The Territory Coordinator is intended to support a streamlined inter-agency process, but any non-compliance with timelines means the Coordinator can essentially step into the shoes of the decision-maker and order a directive to resolve the delay.

Currently, there are 12 private sector-initiated proposals on the major projects list.

These projects alone could provide thousands of jobs and potentially pump billions of dollars into the Territory economy, including many millions of dollars in tax and royalty revenues.

It’s time to change the way the Territory does business.

The Territory Coordinator represents that first step.

Now, it’s up to the Gunner Government to take the next step and support our Bill.