NT government defends axing Darwin underground power project amid cyclone blackout frustration
The Northern Territory government has defended scrapping ‘billion dollar’ underground power plans as dozens of homes remain without electricity nine days after Cyclone Fina.
The Northern Territory government has doubled down on its decision to halt “billion dollar” plans to underground power in Darwin, amid criticism it is leaving Territorians in the dark.
More than two dozen premises were still not reconnected on Monday, nine days after Cyclone Fina caused blackouts for almost 19,900 Top End homes and businesses.
The storm has whipped up the long-running debate over consecutive governments’ failure to deliver more weatherproof infrastructure.
NT Labor first promised to lay underground power in Darwin’s suburbs in 2001.
The program rolled out in Nightcliff, Millner, Rapid Creek and part of Coconut Grove before going into remission in the final years of Labor and being formally scrapped by the Country Liberal Party in 2012.
After Cyclone Marcus in 2018 the Gunner Labor government recommenced the program, estimating the total cost to underground 13 suburbs would be $290m.
Progress stalled, with nine schools undergrounded but none of the promised suburb-wide works carried out.
In 2023 then Chief Minister Natasha Fyles committed $60m to remove overhead lines from Nakara, Wagaman and Alawa, before other suburbs would follow including Larrakeyah, The Narrows, Fannie Bay, Moil, Jingili, Stuart Park, Coconut Grove, Ludmilla, Parap and The Gardens.
That was axed by the CLP last year due to budget pressures – a decision that has been savaged by the opposition and crossbench as thousands of Territorians sweltered through days without power last week.
“It is not good enough for the government to throw up their hands and say it is too expensive,” Greens MLA Kat McNamara told parliament.
“While families across the Territory sat in darkness with their food spoiling, medical equipment unusable and their lives disrupted, the CLP continues to hide behind the excuse that protecting our power’s infrastructure is too expensive.
“Let us be clear about what is actually expensive: emergency response. Every time we deploy emergency crews to restore downed power lines, compensate businesses for lost income, support households through extensive outages, we are paying far more than we would have spent on prevention.”
Opposition Leader Selena Uibo said it was time to end “the same cycle of commentary” after every cyclone.
“We are well and truly now past the point of debating whether underground power is necessary. It is necessary, objectively and unquestionably,” she said.
Ms Uibo said planning work and procurement had already been completed for the first few suburbs before the CLP walked back from the project.
“The CLP should remember that investing in Territorian’s safety should be the long-term plan of any government, not a headline grabbing stunt,” she said.
Treasurer Bill Yan shot back to accuse Labor of reaching for “the easiest headline available with no updated costings, delivery plan or explanation of why they failed to implement the same program when they were in government for the last eight years”.
“To be clear, the CLP did not cancel a working underground program, Labor never delivered one,” he said.
“Sounding plausible is not the same as being deliverable, affordable and grounded in fact.”
Mr Yan said PowerWater estimated a billion dollar price tag to underground power in the 13 suburbs, which would have to be added to the NT’s $11.7bn debt.
“To cover that, Territorians, including small businesses which Labor claims to represent, would face about $450 extra per household per year just to service the interest bill,” he said.
“If undergrounding the entire network was financially viable and deliverable, and provided the best value for Territorians, this government would do it.”
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Originally published as NT government defends axing Darwin underground power project amid cyclone blackout frustration
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