Matt Cunningham: It’s clear the current Federal Government doesn’t see the need for a strong and prosperous NT

IT’S clear the current Federal Government doesn’t see the need for a strong and prosperous NT, writes MATT CUNNINGHAM

The US Marine presence in the Top End is growing. Why isn’t the ADF presence?

IN the wake of the Second World War the Chifley Government commissioned a report into Australia’s defence capabilities.

Australia had been rocked by the Japanese bombing Darwin, and the report stressed the need for us to boost our population, in part to strengthen our defence capabilities.

Chifley also recognised the need to populate Northern Australia given the vulnerability that had been exposed in 1942.

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His Government even introduced the zone rebate that sees us all get that little (some have argued too little) bonus come tax time.

If the rebate had been indexed we’d be an average $25,000 a year better off, but it wasn’t, and the few hundred dollars given today for the zone tax rebate is hardly enough to encourage someone to move to Darwin.

Southern politicians love to talk about Northern Australia’s potential, but recent events would suggest the Commonwealth in more interested in a Top End withdrawal than a real plan to develop the north.

Staff from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet have been shifted south and there is talk that the Department of Home Affairs is in the process of following suit.

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Of more concern, the Australian Electoral Commission’s NT office was gutted, with most of the staff shifted to Queensland.

No-one should have been surprised then, when just 68 per cent of Aboriginal Territorians were enrolled to vote at the May election, and that just 73 per cent of those enrolled in the seat of Lingiari actually cast a ballot.

A best-case scenario would suggest barely 50 per cent of eligible Aboriginal people actually voted at the federal election.

Out at Kakadu, a place managed by the Federal Government department Parks Australia, things are also looking crook.

Kakadu had its heyday in the mid 1980s on the back of Crocodile Dundee. Today it feels like it’s still stuck in the 80s, and while money has been promised it will be a long time before it is delivered.

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But perhaps the most alarming withdrawal we are seeing in the Top End is in Defence.

Dr John Coyne from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute says the number of Defence personnel based in the NT is at an 11-year low.

NT Treasury Department figures show Defence numbers have dropped from 6868 in 2018 to just 5015 last year.

Over the same period Army numbers dropped from 4912 to 3321.

That reduction on our Northern Defence presence has come at the some time tensions have been growing in the Asia-Pacific region.

As China attempts to assert its authority, the United States has responded, growing its Marine contingent in the Top End this year to a record 2500, and indicating it intends to grow those numbers further.

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It therefore seems bizarre that at the same time Australian troop numbers in the NT are heading in the opposite direction, particularly when millions has been promised in Top End infrastructure upgrades.

Defence says its personnel numbers fluctuate in all parts of the country depending on “operational tempo, capability imperatives and training needs”.

But this would seem an odd time to be fluctuating away from the NT.

The 1 Armoured regiment has been shifted south to Adelaide and the 7RAR has gone too.

No-one has really been able to explain why.

Coyne has raised concerns the Tiger helicopters are also taking flight to Townsville.

The Northern Territory Government loves to blame Canberra for its woes.

It could even be accused of crying wolf on this issue.

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But it has a legitimate gripe about the withdrawal of Commonwealth services from the NT.

The strategic importance of Darwin is as strong now as it was when Chifley warned of the need to populate or perish.

The Commonwealth should get serious about developing the north, instead it appears to be running away.