City of Palmerston: Developers rebel, ask Local Government Minister to suspend council

Developers have rebelled against the leadership of the Territory’s second city, requesting Chansey Paech appoint an administrator amid declining faith Palmerston is a place they want to do business.

Urbex's Zuccoli Village, one of a trio of mega housing developments in the Palmerston region that developers claim are being put at risk by alleged mismanagement at the City of Palmerston. Picture: Zuccoli Village

Developers say they have lost confidence in a Top End council, accusing it of constantly shifting the goalposts amid a chronic inability to retain staff, with one source claiming he has dealt with up to 30 planning officers in less than three years.

So fraught has the relationship become between City of Palmerston and local developers, their peak body, the Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA) Northern Territory, has written to Local Government Minister Chansey Paech requesting he appoint an administrator.

According to the letter, written by CEO Drew Wagner on February 21 and obtained by the NT News, the sector believes the issues are so intractable that “it is now quickly approaching the point where currently planned developments may not go ahead or [be] finalised”.

Mr Wagner called on Mr Paech to take the drastic step of appointing an administrator while an investigation took place into the council’s “systemic failures”.

Drew Wagner, CEO of the UDIA NT. Picture: Supplied

“This is not a request that is being taken lightly by this organisation,” Mr Wagner wrote.

In his letter, the chief executive identified 13 areas in which developers believed the council was failing in its duty to referee a fair game for all players.

The council’s failure to maintain a stable workforce – the NT News recently reported vacancies were pushing 25 per cent, far higher than Darwin, Litchfield, or Alice Springs – had resulted in “repetitive reviews of masterplans and redundant changes”.

The “constant turnover” has resulted in a “sharp decline of skills and knowledge within the council … [which] compromises the quality and consistency of decision-making processes”.

Other charges levelled against the council by the UDIA NT include a “failure to properly file emails/documents,” requesting changes post-design approval or completion, an attitude of “indifference” towards building consensus with developers, and a lack of delegated authority, resulting in “only one person being able to make decisions”.

Many of these alleged practices went directly to a developer’s ability to bring in a project on time and under budget, Mr Wagner wrote.

“There is an exponential increase in contract pricing and consultant fees due to council delays,” he said.

CEO of Palmerston Luccio Cercarelli. Picture: Keri Megelus

“The process of obtaining approvals and delivering developments in Palmerston has more than doubled in time of the past five years.”

In a statement, Mr Paech said the City of Palmerston retained his confidence, and that officers from the Local Government Unit and the Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics were working with UDIA NT and the council “to assist them to resolve any issues”.

City of Palmerston chief executive Luccio Cercarelli said his council was “always looking to improve its processes” and urged Mr Wagner to reach out to provide feedback directly.

“Our primary interest in city growth is always the Palmerston community, so along with supporting expedited developments we must also consider their suitability and future sustainability,” he said.

Mr Cercarelli said the council engaged regularly with UDIA NT representatives via “established meetings and as stakeholders represented on the Land Development Committee and associated working groups”.

Industry sources spoken to by the NT News – who requested anonymity in order to speak freely – affirmed the position taken by the UDIA.

Local Government Minister Chansey Paech. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

“The staff vacancy and general incompetence of this organisation is killing the development industry in the NT,” said one.

“Palmerston is the place for urban development in the greater Darwin region as Dawin City doesn’t have the room to expand into and Litchfield is considered to be too rural.”

The source said UDIA figures showing just 75 sales of new titled land occurred in Palmerston in 2023 – compared to a 10-year average of 231 lots, and a peak of 451 lots in 2014, illustrated the boa constrictor effect.

“The reductions in these numbers are not a result of industry slowing; rather, they are a result of a council regime who have taken an anti-development stance,” he said.

“All three of the major developers in the Palmerston region are experiencing the same issues in bringing land to the market.”

According to figure collated by the UDIA NT, fewer new titled lots were sold in Palmerston than Darwin in 2023, the first time in more than a decade this has occurred. Picture: UDIA NT

Another source claimed he had been forced to deal with up to 30 different City of Palmerston infrastructure staff in the space of two-and-a-half years.

“Other authorities are taking a month [to make a decision] – this one takes four, five, six months,” he said.

“There are no people to approve it, no people to speak to.

“Every time they leave, I say it’s a shame you’re leaving, tell me why you’ve left, and they say the same thing; it’s a very toxic culture.”

Earlier this year, the NT News spoke to a recently separated City of Palmerston employee who claimed the swingeing vacancy rate was making life hell for those that remained.

“Myself and others were expected to perform multiple different roles in different fields at high levels,” she said.

“And if we did not perform at the highest of levels for any of these multiple jobs, or meet what were often impossible deadlines, [the fear] of performance management and termination would become very frequent.