Coronavirus: Territory urged to get a jump on the rest of the country by restarting its economy early

Top End business groups are urging the Northern Territory to lift restrictions and give the north a head start in the recovery.

‘Do it once, and do it right,’ says Chief Minister Michael Gunner of a restart. Picture: Che Chorley

Top End business and industry groups are urging the Northern Territory to exploit its advantage by moving early to lift the costly coronavirus restrictions and give northern Australia a head start in the economic recovery.

The groups, which represent a broad range of sectors from agriculture to construction, see the need for a swift post-coronavirus bounce back as an opportunity to restart northern development and sweep away obstacles that have previously hindered growth.

The Territory has detected no new COVID-19 infections for more than two weeks and has found no evidence of community transmission. Chief Minister ­Michael Gunner has flagged a ­nation-leading rebound beginning next month, pledging to “do it once, and do it right”.

Chamber of Commerce NT interim chief executive Greg Ireland said the Territory had lost 10,000 jobs in three weeks and urged an end to the “fast-accumulating” damage. He pointed to a “great ­opportunity to rethink (northern) development” at the same time.

“The vision to date generally has aimed low, and delivery and execution have been disappointing,” he said.

“We still have gross infrastructure deficits that, among other things, prevent tens of thousands (of people) from engaging economically in the north.”

The chamber favours allowing service businesses and community events to restart first.

NT Farmers chief executive Paul Burke called for a relaxation of intrastate movement restrictions that were preventing agri­cultural workers from travelling between farms.

The shutdown of the hospitality industry was also tricky because hotels, cafes and restaurants constituted about 40 per cent of the producers’ market.

“The opportunity for an agriculture and resources-led economic recovery is quite strong,” he said. “We need to look at increasing the availability of water (for agriculture) … we need to be able to break up pastoral leases and move the best land into higher-value production.”

Master Builders NT chief executive David Malone said the pandemic was a chance to “draw a line in the sand and think hard about how to do better across every aspect of economic management”, adding that the Territory had been in a deep trough for some time and “more of the same (management) will deliver exactly that”.

NT Cattlemen’s Association chief executive Ashley Manicaros said: “We need to look seriously at slashing red tape.”