Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro recently spoke at the NT Chamber of Commerce AGM and called on attendees to have their say on the Territory Coordinator Bill. Photos: Facebook.
The Northern Territory Government has opened consultation on a highly controversial bill that detractors claim puts “too much power in the hands of the Territory Coordinator (TC) and with the Chief Minister”.
After reports in October that the new government intended to secretly consult with selected stakeholders on the proposal, it has announced a series of public forums (except in Darwin) and a consultation process that will be open until 17 January, 2025.
Depending on who you ask, the bill’s proposal offers a wide range of complications for the NT’s future.
The NT Government and Chamber of Commerce assert the bill will drive economic growth, and accelerate private sector jobs and opportunities for all. However, environmentalists, Indigenous groups and the Opposition fear it will give the Chief Minister and Office of the Territory Coordinator a final say on development approvals that overrides independent government agencies.
Last month, the government announced that Stuart Knowles, former NT general manager at Japanese oil company INPEX, would be acting in the TC role.
In response, mining and gas strategist at the Environment Centre NT, Naish Gawen, said this was “an unprecedented, frankly staggering attempt to centralise power with the Chief Minister and an unelected former gas industry executive”.
“One has to question how genuine this consultation process will be, given that the government has announced a consultation period on the same day that it has confirmed the appointment of an interim TC,” he said.
On the other hand, chairman at Darwin Major Business Group and managing director at Sitzler, Steve Margetic, said the establishment of the Territory Coordinator would be “a key enabler for large-scale projects that drive investment and opportunity across the Territory”.
According to the recently released 2024-25 Mid-Year Report, the NT general government sector’s net operating balance is projected to be a deficit of $360 million in 2024-25, remaining in deficit until 2026-27 and then in surplus from 2027-28.
For the non-financial public sector, the fiscal balance deficit is estimated to peak in 2024-25 at $2 billion, reducing each subsequent year over the forward estimates to a deficit of $194 million in 2027-28.
A large group of protesters gathered outside NT Parliament in Darwin late last month to speak against the Territory Coordinator Bill.
The Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) listed a raft of its concerns regarding the bill, namely that it “would give the TC powers to take over existing operations of government and decisions made across 32 acts and the regulations made under them”.
Australia’s largest environmental legal centre also said the bill lacked appropriate checks and balances, noting that:
- The Chief Minister is the only person with oversight of the TC
- The TC can exercise all their powers under the bill without facing genuine scrutiny
- The TC only needs to consult with public bodies or public entities when the TC intends to interfere with their statutory processes or statutory decision making
- Once the TC exercises their powers they only have to report on the use of the powers to the Chief Minister
- The Chief Minister is the only person publicly held to account for these decisions, through reporting on the TC’s use of powers to the NT Parliament.
Yet another chief concern was that if the TC or Chief Minister stepped in to make a ruling in place of an original decision-maker, then the bill would cancel any appeal or review rights that would usually be available.
“If the decision would usually be reviewable at the NT Civil and Administrative Tribunal, this is no longer the case,” the EDO said. “The only review available would be judicial review in the NT Supreme Court.”
The NT Chamber of Commerce encouraged all its members to review the draft laws and submit their feedback directly to the government, but also share it with their newly appointed CEO Katherine Winchester.
In this notification, the chamber listed key features of the bill, which included its powers to:
- Request a public entity to prioritise a specific statutory process (prioritisation request)
- Request a public entity to start or complete a specific statutory process within a specified period, or to pause or continue to undertake a statutory process for a specified period (progression request)
- Request a public entity to make a statutory decision within a specified period (decision request).
The group also noted how the Minister for TC will have the power to:
- Issue a step-in notice to a public entity, advising that the Territory Coordinator will step in to undertake a statutory process or make a statutory decision in the place of that entity
- Issue an exemption notice to a public entity, on the recommendation of the Territory Coordinator.
