NT’s 120 Most Powerful people for 2022
China and controversial crop cotton have made the Most Powerful list for 2022. Both made waves in 2022 and are set to be controversial topics in 2023. Follow the countdown from 60-41.
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We’re officially halfway through the NT’s 120 Most Powerful list for 2022 and the latest instalment includes some surprising additions.
Cotton and China are making their Most Powerful debuts.
Both wield considerable power and influence and are unlikely to wither away in 2023.
There are also some stalwarts from Territory and local governments who are among those who each year face a challenge to keep their position – or move up while others fall.
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– NT’s top 10 most powerful business people revealed for 2022
Follow the countdown from 60-41
60. Cotton
Much more than a fibre most of us are clothed in each day, cotton has been at the centre of a few recent political spats.
Claims are circulating of unauthorised land clearing around Katherine for cotton production, leading federal senators to call for an inquiry.
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek says the federal government is investigating, along with the Territory government but Mining and Industry Minister Nicole Manison remains one of the NT’s biggest advocates for the industry.
There are currently about 10 cotton farmers in the Territory, all of them located within about a 300km radius of Katherine.
Despite growing in one of the hottest parts of the country, many have mistaken tufts of the fluffy white fibre lining the Stuart Hwy as snow.
We tend to think sheep’s wool is a more plausible guess.
59. Matt Paterson
Paterson has completed his first full year as Alice Springs mayor and his biggest battles remain the same; crime, crime and crime.
It’s the ongoing issue that has plagued the region for some time and one the mayor has taken seriously from the word go.
Under his leadership the town council has implemented CCTV monitoring in an attempt to replicate the reduced crime experienced in Ipswich, in southeast Queensland.
Other solutions have also been suggested, including curfews and a radical idea to move kids off the streets to safe homes with Traditional Owners.
It’s not all crime in Alice Springs, as plenty of big projects are on the way including the revitalisation of the Alice Springs CBD.
That will include the possibility of opening of Todd Mall to traffic, a skate park and the development of the Alice Springs Aquatic and Leisure Centre.
There’s another big year ahead for the mayor and his township, but his focus on making Alice the best it can be will remain the same.
58. Kon Vatskalis
The Darwin Lord Mayor has become a mainstay in the local council and his voice is one many Territorians know well.
A former Labor pollie, Vatskalis is in his second term as Lord Mayor and has no issues being a loud voice fighting for Darwin regardless of what anyone else thinks.
Darwin ratepayers had a rate increase of 4.5 per cent in 2022 as council drives projects not only in the Darwin CBD but in the surrounding suburbs as well.
Darwin Council is spending money on a range of projects such as $25m on the Casuarina Aquatic and Leisure Centre, which is poised to be the biggest suburb project.
A further $18m will go towards ongoing improvements at the Shoal Bay Waste Management Facility.
Vatskalis has his own pet projects as well that he will hope to push further in 2023 so expect to hear plenty more from him throughout 2023.
57. Ngaree Ah Kit
Traditionally, being granted the Speaker’s role is a polite way for a leader to thank burnt-out MLAs in a mostly harmless, well-paid job — but Ah Kit has managed to shuffle her way into the front bench.
Following the Natasha Fyles coup, Ah Kit moved from her “apprenticeship” in the chair to the Disabilities, International Education, Multicultural Affairs and Digital Development portfolios.
Ah Kit has set targets to lure in 10,000 international students to the Territory, restart digital innovation and bring in future-focused skilled workers, boost signals from the bush and oversee a major update to the health record system.
As Disability Minister, Ah Kit has fought to bring the unique struggles for people with a disability in remote and very remote communities, challenging the federal NDIS Minister Bill Shorten to visit the Territory.
The Karama representative comfortably held her safe seat in 2020 but Labor’s highly criticised crime response could has been flagged a challenge to a smooth third term.
56. Yingiya Guyula
Free from the chains of party politics, the independent member for Mulka has been a vocal advocate for his community.
The Yolngu leader has peppered the parliament with questions ranging from health care, interpreters, courts to ocean rubbish.
Guyula’s advocacy shines brightest when speaking up children, pushing for the government to go further on raising the age of criminal responsibility, address the crisis of attendance rates and funding for remote schools and the treatment of children in youth detention.
He was a lead voice condemning the NT government on a lack of consultation and “silence” over Intervention-era alcohol bans ending, allowing booze to legally flow in 400 previously dry communities.
Over his two terms, Guyula appears to have won more support as an the independent voice, going from securing his seat by just eight votes in 2016 to winning 55 per cent of the vote in 2020.
55. Josh Burgoyne
As the most senior opposition member south of the Berrimah Line, Burgoyne has become somewhat of an ambassador for Alice Springs in the parliament.
With crime the main — sometimes only issue — on the Opposition’s agenda, Burgoyne has stolen the spotlight from his leader Lia Finocchiaro speaking about the crisis in Central Australia.
And while Labor’s worked to remove mandatory sentencing, Burgoyne proposed introducing more of the punishments.
Burgoyne has also been a lead voice in the contentious youth justice debate, suggesting a roll back of the implemented recommendations from the 2017 Royal Commission.
The youth justice opposition spokesman has previously suggested moving the detention centres back to Corrections and was a lead voice opposing raising the age of criminal responsibility.
Instead he has called for greater investment in diversion, skilled work and rehabilitation programs.
The Braitling representative will continue juggling his eight shadow portfolios while keeping his own party in line as the CLP whip.
54. Selena Uibo
The Territory’s energy future, Treaty framework and housing crises all sit on the shoulders of one woman, Uibo.
But 18 months out from an election, the Arnhem MLA will have to battle to secure her own future in her marginal electorate following a nailbiter contest with independents in 2020.
After being shuffled from Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Uibo has juggled five portfolios as the Energy, Essential Services, Housing, and Treaty and Local Decision Making Minister — critical departments for her bush electorate.
Under these roles she’s been able to announce updates to major renewable energy projects, hand over keys for new houses to hundreds of Territorians, unlocked development for social housing, offered rental discounts to essential workers and announced millions in construction contracts for public and social housing.
Uibo has made strides in remote and urban housing but her portfolio is battling against the grim reality of a decade-long public housing waitlist, overcrowding and backlog of repairs and rebuilds.
As Treaty Minister, Uibo also had to announce the government would be shelving a key 2016 Labor platform.
In December — while most Territorians were on holiday — Uibo announced she would be shelving development of a Aboriginal Treaty in favour of establishing a Treaty Unit.
Uibo said the treaty process was “complex and require more work”, giving no clear statements on time-frame or rollout commitments.
After slipping 29 spots on the NT’s most powerful index, the next 12 months will determine if the 2021 Most Powerful Woman will have a hope of remaining on our list.
53. Richard Coates
The cocktail of laws overseeing alcohol policies in the Territory have gone through a huge shake-up over the past 12 months, and Coates is the man charged with keeping order.
The Liquor Commission chairman has a huge role to play in approving new venues to sell booze and dishing out the punishment for those that fall foul of the rules.
But with the passing of new liquor laws lifting restrictions on more than 400 formerly dry communities and a three-year review into Liquor Act changes in the works, the Commission may be in for a busy year.
In 2018, Coates was appointed as the booze tsar, following the Riley Review, and his tenure has featured intense debates over grog laws, including the rejected Darwin Dan Murphy’s megastore.
Last year, Coates oversaw major commission decisions including shutting down the popular Electric Storm music festival at the Darwin Ski Club over the loud “doof doof” music, imposing a two-week grog ban on the Jabiru Golf Club after a fatal crash and ruling that boozy dancers at the Darwin’s Tap Bar were a licence breach.
Outside being the Commission chairman, the former magistrate and Director of Public Prosecutions has been a mandatory sentencing reform advocate, saying it was a “failed experiment which has run too long and filled our prisons at enormous cost, without any benefit to community safety”.
52. Charlie King OAM, AM
Known for his gentle nature, broadcaster King is a familiar voice on the ABC’s Grandstand.
However, it is the Gurindji man’s thoughtful conversations that shine a light on domestic and family violence that earn him the number nine spot.
A member of the Aboriginal Justice Agreement Board, King was present for the bipartisan signing of the agreement in 2022.
He has also fronted media to speak out about raising rates of violence in community, sport and families.
He speaks with authority, as a legacy of the Stolen Generation, about the continued impacts of alcohol and government policy on First Nations’ people
51. Erina Early
Fierce advocate and United Workers Union NT secretary, Early has been the forefront of several major industrial actions against the NT government this year.
While initially losing the four-year pay freeze battle — with public servants initially accepting a cash bonus in lieu of a raise — Early ended up winning the war after Chief Minister Natasha Fyles agreed to a 2 per cent pay rise in October.
And since stepping down as ALP party branch president, Early seems to have become even more outspoken.
Only in the Territory would the unions be at war with Labor.
Yet in this battle Early appears to have the power of NT’s teachers, nurses, health workers, firefighters, paramedics, corrections officers and public servants behind her
50. Avril Baynes
Baynes is the general manager of Mindil Beach Casino Resort.
Baynes took over the casino during the Covid pandemic and faced an enormous challenge to steer the multimillion-dollar business out of the bleakness of coronavirus.
The casino’s return to business as usual is testament to Baynes’ ability to lead that recovery on the back of the forced closure of Territory venues with gaming machines during the pandemic.
Not to be put off by the possibility of coronavirus halting business, Baynes oversaw an upgrade of hotel rooms at the casino, while her continued commitment to move forward following the pandemic has no doubt contributed to her rise nine places up the Most Powerful list.
Her next challenge will be recouping the loss of staff after the pandemic to have the casino firing on all cylinders.
49. Galarrwuy Yunupingu
Yunupingu has long been renowned for his Land Rights activism and fighting for Aboriginal rights and last year was no exception.
In 2022, the Gumajt clan leader and former Australian of the Year launched a compensation claim in the Federal Court on behalf of his clan over the commonwealth’s decision to allow Nabalco to mine their Country in Northeast Arnhem Land in 1968.
Yunupingu also featured prominently at last year’s Garma Festival.
Leader of the Gumajt clan since 1979, Yunupingu has been widely recognised for his activism, being previously made a Member of the Order of Australia and named one of Australia’s National Living Treasures.
Already, an influential Territorian, the outcome of Yunupingu’s Federal Court action could see him make his way up next year’s Most Powerful list.
48. Mick Burns
Former number one on the NT News’ Most Powerful list winner and perennial top-20 entrant, Burns has been thrust into the spotlight in 2022 more than he’d ever want and it is likely he will remain there throughout 2023.
The multi-discipline millionaire is involved in numerous enterprises but at the moment much of the focus is on his alleged presence at the site of a chopper crash that killed Outback Wrangler favourite Chris Wilson, near the King River in West Arnhem Land.
Burns has lived in Darwin since 1981 and was a police officer before venturing into the private sector in a big way.
He has owned and operated hotels since 1985 and invested in the Territory during a quiet time economically when he established Crocosaurus Cove in Mitchell St in 2009, which became a hit with interstate and international visitors.
The country’s largest captive crocodile owner, it’s believed there are in excess of 100,000 crocodiles at his farms.
Burns’ contract with Hermes fashion house had him buying hundreds of hectares in the Territory to develop a fully-sustainable crocodile farm.
He sold the Casuarina Club to Sentinal’s Warren Ebert for $17m earlier this year.
47. Eva Lawler
It was a big year for Lawler, with the Drysdale MLA becoming the Territory’s newest number cruncher after the change of chief ministers and a cabinet reshuffle.
While she is grappling with the massive task of turning around a forecast debt nearing $10bn, the economy has come under fire with the fallouts from the shiplift and Sun Cable solar projects, while a decision to scrap the wage freeze is expected to cost the Territory $245m over four years.
Meanwhile, the Territory government is striving towards a $40bn economy by 2030.
Lawler also holds the education portfolio, as well as infrastructure, planning and logistics and Territory development.
The former teacher and Jingili Primary School principal has made some massive changes to education recently, with mobile phones to be banned in all state schools this year alongside a shake-up to the way the government funds schools on attendance and enrolment figures.
46. Jape family
While Indonesia’s 1975 invasion of East Timor bought an extended period of occupancy to our nearest neighbour, the Northern Territory benefited from the wave of immigration that followed the forced takeover.
Jape Kong Su was one of dozens of Chinese-East Timorese who fled for their lives after Indonesia’s crackdown and before long he started Jape, which has become one of the Territory’s most recognisable brands.
Jape Homemaker Village is about the closest Darwin has to a southern-style shopping mall with a broad range of retail outlets servicing the Territory from footwear to futons.
It all began in 1977 when the family purchased Hotel Singapore in Fannie Bay and the retail business began as a homegrown entity selling locally made timber furniture in Cavenagh St. Since East Timor’s won back its independence in 2002, the Japes have opened the country’s largest shopping centre and have contributed to its post-Indonesian reconstruction.
45. Randazzo family
Only a handful of Territorians were in business when the Randazzos made their entry into the commercial world in the early 1950s – and it’s doubtful many have outlasted them.
Father Tony got the ball rolling in 1954 and has passed the business onto sons Carlo and Paolo, who have steadily grown the company’s business and commercial profile ever since. Their Territory portfolio reads like a phone book.
They own 66 Smith St in Darwin, Highway House in Palmerston, the Randazzo Centre in Katherine, Palmerston Plus in Palmerston and 9 Cavenagh St.
Many Territorians would recall the early 2000s when the NT economy was in the middle of a dramatic economic slump and the Randazzos built the Mitchell Centre on the corner of Mitchell and Bennett streets in Darwin’s CBD, at the same time providing much-needed stimulus for the ailing economy.
44. Michael Grant
Presiding over the Territory’s Supreme Court, Chief Justice Grant’s influence on the legal system is undisputed.
Appointed to the role from his previous role of Solicitor-General in 2016, Chief Justice Grant has overseen a tumultuous few years of justice in the Territory.
In March 2020, Chief Justice Grant made the bold decision to suspend all jury trials as the coronavirus pandemic worsened before they recommenced in June of that year.
The following year, he presided over one of the highest profile trials in recent Territory history in that of now-convicted mass murderer Ben Hoffman.
If that wasn’t enough for the man colloquially known as “CJ” within the legal fraternity, he was also appointed as chairman of the Judicial Commission, a body responsible for investigating complaints about the behaviour and physical and mental capacity of judicial officers.
Entering his sixth year as Chief Justice Grant will no doubt be faced with as many challenges as the first five.
43. Richard Fejo
As chairman of the Darwin Waterfront Corporation and former chairman of the Larrakia Nation Aboriginal Corporation, Fejo’s influence throughout Darwin extends far beyond his extensive cultural insight.
The Larrakia and Warramangu man has held various roles educating in the Top End, including co-chairman of the Australian National Cultural Educator/Cultural Mentor Network between 2013 and 2018.
His most public claim to fame was his Welcome to Country performed before the Essendon and Richmond Dreamtime game at TIO stadium in front of a national audience, mesmerising onlookers with his ceremony.
Though those familiar with Fejo’s work know his impact in the NT and the country stretches far beyond the accolades he received for his performance.
42. Dennis Tipakalippa
Tipakalippa has had a big year, earning him a spot among this year’s Most Powerful.
The Munupi Senior Lawman successfully sued the federal gas regulator National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority in August.
As a result, the $4.7bn gas offshore Barossa Gas fields project license was revoked in September after Justice Mordecai Bromberg found it was legally invalid due to a failure to consult with Tiwi Islands people.
Energy giant Santos has learned a lesson from Tipakalippa’s victory and is set to hold three consecutive days of consultation on the Tiwi Islands in February.
41. China
Despite the best efforts of the former federal coalition government to portray Labor as too close to China, Australians didn’t fall for it and booted Scott Morrison and his cronies out of office anyway.
That China – after several years of talking Australia down, billions of dollars in trade sanctions and threats – capitulated last year and held out an olive branch to Australia says a lot about the importance of the relationship to both parties.
The Chinese Communist Party are recognised as great economic managers, having dragged more than half a billion people out of poverty in the past 20 years but their human rights record is abysmal.
More recently, they’ve been posturing and positioning in the South China Sea, which prompted the United States to step-up its Indo-Pacific involvement, with Australia in lock-step behind them.
Thanks to China, Defence spending in the Territory has skyrocketed and is largely responsible for the buoyant NT economy.
That will all change if China tries to reclaim Taiwan or goes on a bellicose rampage in the region.
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