Future NT 2025: CLP sets population targets as it steers the Territory on a growth and lifestyle agenda
Last August’s election was the beginning of a new era of change in the Territory. As the NT News’ fourth annual Future NT economic forum looms, read what’s ahead.
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Paul Keating famously said that if you change the government, you change the country.
The 2024 election of a Country Liberal Party government after 20 years of progressive Labor administrations provides a chance for Keating’s theory to be tested in a smaller, jurisdictional context.
In its previous three outings, the NT News’ Future Northern Territory economic advoacy campaign was driven by the previous Labor administration’s plan to grow the Territory economy to $40 billion – from its previous $28 billion mark – by the start of the next decade.
The promise came out of John Langoulant’s report into NT budget repair which the previous Labor Government commissioned to set the economic direction for the remainder of its term.
When the CLP swept to power last August, it immediately dispensed with a number of the previous government’s targets including the vision to grow the annual economy to $40 billion economy by 2030.
Its focus would be on restoring the Northern Territory lifestyle by slashing crime, growing population and rebuilding the economy to improve liveability.
In his budget speech in May, Treasurer Bill Yan drew a line under eight years of the Labor administration by contrasting the previous government’s ambition with its actual delivery output.
“When we came to government, we inherited an infrastructure program in complete disarray – riddled with stalled projects, unrealistic timelines and ballooning costs,” he began.
“Labor had shamefully announced a record number of projects – but didn’t provide enough cash allocations to deliver many of them. Despite record announcements, Labor budgeted to reduce capital works cash allocations, again only providing time-limited funding, with a reduction of $250 million planned for 2025-26 in Labor’s final 2024 Budget.
“Labor was so desperate to make headlines, it tricked Territorians into believing projects were coming – knowing full well it had no plan to pay for them. It’s like heading to the checkout with a full trolley, knowing you only have cash for a basket – and hoping no one notices as you quietly start putting items back.
“The former Labor Government was good at announcing big ticket infrastructure, but they were terrible at managing costs or providing the cash to match their splash. Territorians were sold a dream and handed the invoice. Labor didn’t govern with a strategy – they governed by press release.”
In place of Labor’s $40 billion growth plan, the CLP has released its own 16-page economic blueprint ‘Rebuilding the Economy’, which locks in its first-term economic strategy around energy, defence, agriculture, mining, and tourism at the core of its economic plan.
In place of Labor’s $40 billion target, the CLP’s plan includes exceeding national economic growth, population growth to exceed baseline forecasts and improvements in the Territory’s investment outlook.
Within this frame, the government wants the NT population to increase by at least 4000 people per annum including net migration of at least 1300 people each year.
As well, it wants to lift the NT above its current fourth place in the Business Council of Australia red-tape rumble and lift from 22nd on the Fraser Institute’s policy perception index.
The CLP will try and grow the Territory economy around five key strategies beginning with making it the best place to do business; building a bigger, better workforce; delivering for Australia; unlocking regional growth and connecting the Territory.
The strategies “are supported by initiatives that focus on where the Territory has, or could develop, a competitive advantage, or where Government focus is required to address challenges and barriers to growth. They include reinvigorating private and community sector investment and establishing productive partnerships with the Australian Government.”
The Commonwealth is central to all Territory economic development plans given its out-sized role in the maintenance of Land Rights legislation and its need to underpin the fraught economic model, that means the Territory receives GST payments five times greater than its population entitlement.
Jurisdictions like Western Australia and Queensland that are free of Commonwealth control have thriving economies.
As a measure, Western Australia currently has about 130 functioning mines and Queensland almost 60 coal mines, compared to just eight mines currently operational in the NT.
Among other things, royalties from those Western Australian mines subsidise discount regional air services throughout the state, while Territorians still pay full-tote-odds to catch the milk-run between Darwin, Katherine, Tennant Creek and Alice Springs.
The key economic measure in this government’s plank is crime reduction, with hundreds-of-millions of dollars invested in prison infrastructure and hundreds more in policing and corrections personnel.
The government believes crime reduction will have a self-fulfilling capacity with a strong economy “crucial to addressing the root causes of crime by increasing economic participation”, according to their strategy.
But the Commonwealth will be pivotal towards maximising the NT’s advantages, particularly when it comes to unlocking the regions to economic growth.
Two of the CLP’s regional targets, to establish a whole-of-government strategic relationship with Land Councils to progress economic development and to improve certainty and clarity around land tenure processes for communities and investors, will be challenging to achieve without Commonwealth backing.
While last August’s election of a new Northern Territory government signalled a mood for change, the CLP’s future challenge will be learning from the mistakes of their predecessors to deliver meaningful economic and social change in the out years.
The NT News’ Future NT forum returns to Mindil Beach Casino Resort, which is a supporting partner, on Friday, July 18 and is supported by major partners Tivan Limited, Charles Darwin University, Tamboran Resources, Santos, Darwin Port and NT Government, and minor partners Sitzler and Airport Development Group.
Content themes for the 2025 Future NT campaign include defence, energy, education, tourism, sport and workforce growth, which will be explored each day in the lead-up to the forum.
Tickets are on sale now at events.humanitix.com/future-northern-territory-2025.
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Originally published as Future NT 2025: CLP sets population targets as it steers the Territory on a growth and lifestyle agenda
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