NT Advocacy update 

Last week we had our regular meeting with the CE, Andrew Kirkman from the Department of Infrastructure, Logistics and Transport

This meeting gave us the opportunity to discuss generally the NTG’s New Planning Initiatives; Darwin Central Area Plan – Planning for a Vibrant Future – Planning System Reform (Review, Reframe, Renew)

Darwin Central Area Plan

The Department advised us that the Northern Territory Planning Commission has started work to create an Area Plan for Darwin city and surrounding areas. AKA the Central Darwin Area Plan. The area plan is designed to examine land use, population growth, and incorporating aspects of the Darwin City Centre Master Plan. It will be a guide to long term land use and development that strengthens Central Darwin as the heart of a vibrant, functional, and attractive capital. We reinforced our major concern being decentralisation and defragmentation of the existing CBD functions.

Planning for a Vibrant Future

The Department informed us that this document was to set out a vision to bring together land use planning across the Northern Territory with the Government’s overall strategy for developing the Northern Territory. It is will be a guide future planning and development that is underpinned by sound planning principles and the Northern Territory Planning Scheme.

This is an initiative that was generally discussed previously with the Chief Minister. We had raised concerns with respect to the previous Health Department Office Accommodation EOI could potentially be located in Palmerston. A major decentralization / defragmentation of a core function of Darwin CBD.

We had previously advocated that NT cities need to be defined / characterized so that we don’t cannibalize / compete against each other to the detriment of growing the overall industry and compromise future infrastructure outlays.

Planning System Reform (Review, Reframe, Renew)

The Department advised that due to community feedback, there was a desire to examine the planning and development system on issues such as transparency and accountability. The community wanted a more confidence that the right planning decisions are being made. In response to this feedback, the Department of Infrastructure, Transport and Logistics will consult with the community to review, reframe and renew our current NT planning system.

This initiative will examine the following areas:
• provides certainty
• balances competing interests
• ensures transparency
• reduces complexity
• incorporates meaningful community participation and consultation
• expands opportunities for decisions to be reviewed.
As an industry we need to ensure that regulatory reforms do not overburden and stymie development. The potential of third party gaining access to a review of planning decisions could be a major issue for the industry.