Category: Blog & Opinion

There are clear limits to public scrutiny in the Northern Territory planning system. Despite Minister Burgoyne’s claim that the Planning Act 1999 contains “robust provisions for public consultation and input”, recent experience suggests that this is not how the system operates in practice. Key risks and objections can be raised by the community, yet still…

Submission on Kulaluk–Minmarama Assessment Report: Development in Primary Storm Surge Zones Hello Gemma, Ann-Marie Thank you for your emails. There are still many concerned residents, and it can be expected that a piecemeal approach to development in the area will lead to more community upset. The use of “rolling approvals” is now more obvious than…

A Staged Development Framework? The Kulaluk–Minmarama Land Assessment Report (Byrne Consultants, August 2023) identifies 11 staged development areas within the Kulaluk (Lot 5182) and Minmarama (Lot 5183) Aboriginal lease lands. Bundling and Staging The report maps commercial sub-leases together with Aboriginal lease areas in its development stages, treating them within a single planning and infrastructure…

A Legacy of Dumping Parts of the Minmarama lease were used as Darwin’s municipal dump, expanded after Cyclone Tracy in 1974. Byrne Consultants (2023) confirm that uncontrolled waste and fill were placed across the lands, leaving a legacy of contamination that still requires assessment before development can safely proceed. In 2021, the NT Environment Department…

Ludmilla Creek: Darwin’s Last Living Creek System Most of Darwin’s mid-suburb waterways have been channelised and degraded into stormwater drains, but Ludmilla Creek is different — it is still a living tidal system. Mangroves line its banks, fish and birdlife depend on it, and people still fish and crab here. Ludmilla creek is last remaining…

Darwin once had a thriving Chinatown, centred on Cavenagh and Bennett Streets, stretching across to what is now Civic Park and the Harry Chan site. From the late 19th century, Chinese migrants ran stores, boarding houses, herbalists’ shops, cafés, and gardens here. Chinatown was both an economic hub and a cultural heart for Darwin’s Chinese…

From NT News 22/8/25 Candidates can no longer be fined for “reasonably canvassing” during early voting, following a legal stoush with the City of Darwin and the Northern Territory Electoral Commission. The breakthrough came during a Supreme Court hearing on Wednesday, after legal action was launched by lord mayoral hopeful Leah Potter. It was backed…