In The Spotlight: NT Chief Minister Adam Giles 

The Property Council sat down with the Chief Minister Adam Giles about the property Council’s upcoming event, State of the Territory. We discussed how he got into politics, what he loves about the Territory and what we can expect to hear from him at our event.

What do you love about the Territory?

I love the fact that there is a big community feel and you can walk down the street and still say g ‘day to people. When you walk down the streets in the other capital cities, there is no community feel – some people want to send you off to an asylum if you want to talk to them in the main street. It’s quite good being able to talk to someone in the shopping centre, at a bus stop, at the movies or just down at the pub – one of the good things about being in the Territory is that it’s a great sense of community.

 

What made you get into Politics?

I’ve always been interested in Politics, always been involved, but never initially wanted to get involved in Politics in the Northern Territory. But I was sick and tired of seeing lack of economic development and progression, particularly for Aboriginal people in regional or remote parts of the Northern Territory. I think we need a paradigm shift in the transition from welfare into work, so I got involved in politics and have been pursuing the same agenda ever since.

While I’ve got a very strong social, environment and cultural agenda about me, the reason I got into politics was for economic development reasons, because I want to create jobs for people, in regional, remote and all parts of the Northern Territory, and make the Territory a proud place where we lead the nation in economic advancement. I continue to do that today. It’s not just about the electorate of Braitling which I represent; as a Chief Minister, it is now across the whole of the Northern Territory.

 

Where do you see the Territory going over the next three years?

It’s not going to have the big trough after Inpex construction; it will more have corrugation as we segment into new industries on a larger basis, particularly agribusiness, horticulture, mining, tourism, defence and international education. We will be balancing that with off-shore gas and the supply service industry. Certainly we will be strengthening our economic position as we get more on-shore gas development and more education places for Territorians, making us a smarter Territory, but having a different economic environment in which we operate. Particularly we will see the march of Asia come to the Territory, like the rest of Australia has seen in the past, but we have never been able to achieve – that’s what we’ll start to see in the next few years.

 

What can we expect from you at the State of the Territory?

You are going to see a real plan about how we are going to grow the Territory into the future, particularly the strong economic approach, but that is going to be underpinned by strong education, investments, particularly on the back end of royalties coming towards the Territory from the on-shore gas industry. The State of the Territory is about the plan for our future for 3, 5, 10 and 25 years in advance. You’re not going to see me talk about driverless cars like Labor did.