Independent third party a good sign Dan’s is serious about doing the right thing

A MOVE made by the parent company of Dan Murphy’s has made it takes seriously the feedback of the community

NOW that Dan Murphy’s has been given the tick of approval to set up shop in Darwin by the Director of Licensing, its parent company Endeavour Drinks has gone the extra mile and selected a mostly Indigenous-owned company to do another review before going ahead.

Even though it’s been five years in the making, Endeavour Drinks – which is owned by Woolworths Group – won’t be rushing straight into construction just yet.

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It has selected an independent third party, RREDD (Risk, Response, Engage, Design, Deliver), to review the company’s handling of the Dan Murphy’s proposal and stakeholder consultation on the project.

Endeavour says it won’t commence work on the proposed site until the review is complete.

This will be an important opportunity to ensure the concerns Indigenous communities and health groups have about the store are heard.

Even though Endeavour didn’t need to take this extra step before construction, it did, and it shows it cares about what the community feels on this.

It’s been a five-year wait after all, and the majority of Territorians seem to be on board with the project.

An NT News online poll shows about 83 per cent of people were in favour of having a Dan Murphy’s set up in Darwin. The poll has attracted more than 5800 voters, and we’ve also seen the majority of our stories had a much higher ratio of positive comments for the store than negative.

It’s so important to have a proper consultation with big projects like this, but the burden shouldn’t fall on Dan Murphy’s shoulders alone.

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It takes more than one side to have a meaningful dialogue about something.

This new review shows the folks at Endeavour sincerely want community input.

All parties need to come to the table and take part in discussions if they want their say to be heard.

That’s how we can ensure people are happy with the final outcome, and the store can hurry up and get built.