Darwin councillor Julie Fraser votes against her own motion in Lee Point development battle
A Darwin councillor’s motion backfired when an amendment forced her to cast the sole vote against her own proposal at last Tuesday’s council meeting. Read the details.
Darwin councillor Julie Fraser last Tuesday voted against a motion she herself introduced, unconfirmed council minutes show, marking yet another escalation in the battle over the controversial Lee Point development.
Ms Fraser initially proposed inviting the advocacy group Save Lee Point to present its concerns to the council, but after the motion was amended to include a presentation from Defence Housing Australia, she withdrew her support.
She attempted to block the amendment but was outvoted eight votes to five.
When the amended motion was put to a final vote, the motion passed 12 to one, with the original author casting the solitary “no” vote against her own, altered proposal.
The controversial 800-home development has long incensed Ms Fraser, who was found to have trespassed on the development site in 2023 and was ordered to pay a $200 fine and $100 victims levy.
She said in 2023 the development “is going to be a tragedy for the Northern Territory, for First Nations people, for us here in Darwin and for Australia” and vowed to continue protesting until it was scrapped or relocated.
In the decade since the Lee Point Area Plan was developed by the NT government, no homes have been built on the site, with DHA originally claiming the 800-home project would be completed by 2033.
DHA earlier this year was fined almost $19,000 by the federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water following illegal clearing at Lee Point in May 2024.
While Ms Fraser lost the skirmish over the presentation, she did get the council to open a new front in the war against the development: financial and legal liability.
The council unanimously passed a motion to prepare a preliminary report on the estimated costs of obtaining advice from two independent legal firms regarding the council’s powers to decline acceptance of municipal infrastructure.
The preliminary report would outline whether the council could refuse to take responsibility for the development’s roads and stormwater systems if they conflicted with future “climate-adaptation” expectations.
The council also passed a motion, by a vote of eight to five, to prepare a preliminary report on a “cost benefit analysis” of the Lee Point project.
The preliminary analysis would calculate whole-of-life costs over 40 years, factoring in “sea-level rise,” “coastal-hazard mapping,” and “erosion vulnerability”.
According to the administration’s comment, a full detailed business case and comprehensive written report for either motion would cost between $500,000 and $1 million — about $750,000 would equal a 1 per cent rate rise for ratepayers — and require at least six months to complete.
There is currently no budget available for such reports.
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Originally published as Darwin councillor Julie Fraser votes against her own motion in Lee Point development battle
