Ashley Manicaros: Attitude key to unlocking Darwin potential

DARWIN will never become the true capital of Northern Australia without changing its attitude, its empty bowl mindset and the building regulations strangling it

Darwin has plenty of challenges to overcome before it can reach its full potential. PICTURE: Tauri Minogue Photography/Darwin Port

DARWIN will never become the true capital of Northern Australia without changing its attitude, its empty bowl mindset and the building regulations strangling it.

It took three years of personal, vitriolic, outright obstructionism to build a coffee shop overlooking the Nightcliff cliffs and suddenly we will transform into Australia’s equivalent of Singapore.

If we do it, then it is straight to the pool room with chests puffed out, otherwise “tell ’em they’re dreaming”.

Leader after Territory leader has floated the prospect of realising the NT’s capital potential, some so serious they even produced glossy brochures.

But the truth is none of it has eventuated and unless the real problems behind why we have never got very far are tackled, then, rather than spend money on the cost of a trip to Singapore with a gaggle of nodding heads and media, Chief Minister Michael Gunner could have spent the equivalent on brochures.

I’m not cynical, I’m annoyed. Really bloody annoyed.

I was at one of the first public meetings about the coffee shop at Nightcliff Pool – the Foreshore – and listened to the stupidity and downright nastiness which pervaded that day.

Here we are more than three years on and you can’t get a table on a Saturday morning in an area which is Labor voting heartland.

Coupled with the NIMBY (not in my backyard) attitude is an empty bowl mindset in the public and private sector equal to welfare.

Master Builders Association executive director Dave Malone described it as “Oliver Twist”. It is not a good look when the Chief Minister and his Treasurer stand in the Smith St Mall following the federal Budget bemoaning “we got no money” – OK when you are the Opposition Leader. Not good as THE leader.

The same can be said of the business community, specifically the property owners who, following the City of Darwin’s budget, complained about there being no money for city redevelopment revitalisation.

These are the same property owners who have done pretty much bugger all to rejuvenate their own properties.

In the past 12 months only a small retail site in Knuckey St has been redeveloped. The last Mall redevelopment housing Cotton On is now more than 12 months old.

There is an office block being transformed into a hotel, however, this progress seems to have slowed.

I’ll defend why some property owners haven’t spent any money in a moment but before I do let me make something clear.

There is a growing business welfare mentality among some business who will not do anything without concessions.

When I see shops untouched since my childhood and Palm Court owned by a multi-millionaire refusing to water lipstick palms, it engenders zero sympathy.

Buildings paid off time and time again, some with extended government leases, with hardly a touch of paint, create questions relating to commitment to the city they make their fortune in.

The saga surrounding the Nightcliff Foreshore Cafe is an example of the issues holding Darwin back. PICTURE: Elise Derwin

Addressing heat issues in the city is now a priority. But it hasn’t been considered when we’ve cut down large mahoganies for safety reasons or made the construction of awnings so hard business won’t do it. Apparently the owners of the Cavenagh Hotel withdrew an awning application because of all the mucking around.

By coincidence a series of “temporary” shade trials will start in the city this month, pushed along by the Property Council.

Hands up who knew shade can assist with cooling in the tropics? We need a trial to prove the theory. See what I mean about attitude. We know it does, just go and bloody do it.

Then there are the regulations and the building code itself which are contributing to the state of our city.

Some of these are related directly to attitude. When the City of Darwin brought down its Budget one of the items discussed was removing the fees associated to alfresco dining.

The Council only collects around $250,000 a year – not a vast amount. Suggestions to scrap it were rejected because even though we are in an economic downturn and assistance like that is low-hanging and simple it wasn’t the main reason businesses were struggling.

No it isn’t. But how does it encourage alfresco dining which some bright spark either on their way to Singapore or just returned from says we should have more of?

What it is, is an impediment to maximising our potential. And those Alderman who voted against its removal, of which there was a slim majority, ought to be voted off Council for not recognising the bigger picture.

We can never be Singapore with a building code like ours. Due to our positioning and propensity to cyclones and tidal surges our code requires us to be extra vigilant.

For example, wind ratings on our buildings are roughly four times our southern counterparts. There are any number of Evolution-style buildings in Singapore with outdoor running tracks halfway up offering architectural brilliance.

We have the same architectural brilliance here but they are limited by what can and can’t be included. Tragic.

But the real thorn in city redevelopment has to be the off-street carparking levy. This has simply spiralled out of control and no one wants to address it.

It is a major reason why no one is redeveloping buildings.

At a time when capital cities are refusing to approve buildings with carparking we are insisting on them and making developers pay $25,000 per bay for every one they don’t deliver. If a building has a shortfall of 100 bays a developer has to pay Council $2.5 million before anything comes out of the ground. The cost has gone from around $7000 per bay in 2008 to $25,000, although some Budget for $28,000.

At the end of this financial year there will be $24 million in the reserve managed by Council. When it gets to $36 million it will be used to build an 800-bay carpark at the GPO site in Cavenagh St. In the current climate this demand will not eventuate for years, maybe even decades. And this levy hits everyone.

The retail development of Attitude for Men faced a $50,000 bill for two carparks, not even for the public, as part of its redevelopment in Knuckey St. Luckily Council has the ability to waiver and they graciously and sensibly did.

If you want to transform Darwin, Chief Minister, then unravel the regulations strangling it. A few trees and graffiti art won’t.

• Ashley Manicaros is the business reporter for the NT News and Sunday Territorian