Tony Smith from NT Link is living the Territory dream

Meet Tony from NT Link. His business builds skills and opportunities for Territorians when it builds demountables for the mining industry.

Tony Smith from NT Link. Picture: Supplied

Tony Smith came to the Territory for five weeks 50 years ago … and he is still here.

As one of the directors of NT Link — an Alice Springs-based business that distributes and manufactures transportable buildings — Tony understands the importance of investing back into the local community.

And that includes creating jobs and opportunities for local people in Darwin and Alice Springs.

“We have been involved in nearly every major project in the Northern Territory,” Tony said.

“It’s a dynamic industry to be in and we’ve been very fortunate that the NT is still a great frontier town and Alice Springs still continues to amaze me with the opportunities.

Tony Smith has been a Territorian for more than 50 years. Picture: Supplied

“We have nearly 100 people working for us, of which 30-plus are in Alice Springs and the rest are in Darwin where we have a factory.”

Tony said NT Link had a longstanding position of employing locals to keep them connected to the region and giving back to the local community.

“NT Link has always had a DNA within it’s company of employing locals and in particular local indigenous kids so that they become a fabric to the town,” he said.

“About 20 per cent of our employment is indigenous and we also do ‘sentence to a job’ which is guys coming out of jail looking for a new pathway and that’s very important to us as a company.”

Tony said NT Link was selected by mining company Arafura Rare Earths to put together a proposal for their construction camp, about 135km north of Alice Springs.

NT Link has built the accommodation for the Arafura camp. Picture: Supplied

“We were selected by Arafura to put together a proposal for their construction camp. We’ve now got 200 rooms on site and we’re pretty keen to start the next 300,” he said.

“We’ve spent in the Arafura project alone just under $3 million in local supply.

“My wife and I have been of the belief that if you utilise the local businesses they will utilise you. We do that across the board - and yes we could buy things cheaper - but I don’t believe that’s the secret and it’s certainly not the secret to any growth in the Northern Territory.

“I love the Territory. The opportunities are still fantastic, and we have opportunities like we’ve never had before.”

Find out more at northernterritoryresources.com.au.