Larrakia Traditional Owners make rival bids for crown land surrounding Lee Point following Defence Housing Australia environmental offset plan
Rival applications have been launched by both Territory Traditional Owners and developers over patches of crown land. Read why these blocks could be one of the final barriers to the controversial 800-home development.
From NT News Paywall
July 7, 2026 – 11:49AM
Aerial imagery view of Lee Point Darwin. Picture: Pema T Pakhrin
A bidding war between Traditional Owners and developers has broken out over a number of crown land patches next to a controversial housing development at Lee Point.
On Wednesday the Department of Planning and Environment announced that Defence Housing Australia had applied for a 39 hectare block of crown land, for an environmental requirement currently holding up for their 800-home development.
The next day, Protect Larrakia Country announced it would also lodge an application to secure similar Crown land blocks around the contested estate to establish a Larrakia-owned eco-sanctuary.
The battle over the crown land has erupted over an unusual character — a 1kg, fruit feasting native rodent known as the Black-footed Tree-rat.
Lee Point is the habitat for the Black-footed Tree-rat, an endangered large native rodent. Picture: Sam Banks
The rat is listed as endangered by both the Commonwealth and Territory governments, with the NT Government saying their population largely threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation due to urban and industrial development, alongside inappropriate fire regimes, feral cats and cane toads.
The DHA Black Footed Tree Rat plan said despite the native being endangered by two governments there was “no recovery plan” for the species.
The document said the “gregarious” and surprisingly social large native rats were highly mobile and could travel over 18ha over a three-month period, and as such needed a habitat corridor and protection of habitats on land that was a minimum of 20ha.
On Monday DHA said if approved the crown land purchase would see the native rat habitat “preserved for conservation in perpetuity”.
“Once secured, the 39 hectare offset is expected to contribute to the conservation of the species, alongside supporting management and monitoring programs,” a spokesman said.
“This land was selected for its habitat appropriateness and provides a continuous patch of vegetation in proximity to the development site improving connectivity within the region.”
The Environment Centre of the NT launched a snap action protest outside a 39ha patch of crown land that Defence Housing Australia has applied to use as an offset site for the endangered Black-footed Tree-rat. Picture: Supplied.
It is understood the crown land application is a bid by the contentious DHA project to gain its final approvals to restart development, after years of stalled works due to illegal clearing investigations, environmental and Traditional Owner legal challenges.
In February, Defence Housing Authority representative Brendan O’Brien told City of Darwin that work on the Lee Point development would resume in 2026 for the first time since 2024.
Binybara Camp protesters have been attempting to delay and block land clearing at the Lee Point Defence Housing Australia site for three days. Picture: Uprising of the People/ Instagram
On Monday, organiser Laniyuk confirmed Protect Larrakia Country had made bids for two crown land blocks next to the proposed 39ha DHA offset plan to “directly counter” the developer’s expansion, raising $2000 needed for crown land application fees within hours.
“Lee Point is not empty Crown land, it is sacred Larrakia Country,” Laniyuk said.
“We all have special places we care for. For Larrakia people, these are the places that hold our Creation Stories, where our Ancestors are buried, and our sites of Healing and Ceremony.
“Lee Point is central to Larrakia Dreaming and history.
Protect Larrakia Country organiser Laniyuk. Picture: Fia Walsh.
“To enact our responsibility as guardians based on thousands of years of knowledge, we need our Country returned to our care.”
She said the application was not for the same 39ha block, but for two parcels of Crown land next to the potential DHA offset area.
Laniyuk said the aim was to restore and return “stewardship of this sacred place to Larrakia people” by retaining it as a native ecosystem to encourage birdwatching, cultural education, and environmental research.
Amanda Lilleyman attended the local court for the Lee Point defence housing development. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin
It is understood that the two Protect Larrakia Country applications are not seeking to outbid DHA in an open auction, but rather secure it through a community land grant.
Environment Centre of the NT employee and shorebird researcher Amanda Lilleyman said the offset plan was merely a “paperwork exercise” rather than a true creation of endangered species habitat.
Dr Lilleyman said the proposal would only change the ownership of the 39ha from the NT Government to DHA and would not provide any ‘additional’ habitat.
“This is a classic case of death by a thousand cuts for our wildlife,” Dr Lilleyman said.
“Let’s be clear: offsetting doesn’t create ‘new’ habitat, and this will do nothing to halt the decline of Darwin’s iconic black- footed tree-rats – offsetting just ticks a box sending them closer to the brink of extinction.”
“We can’t reduce the risk of extinction for our beloved wildlife while these losses keep stacking up. Tree hollows take centuries to form, they are irreplaceable, and so are the cultural values of Lee Point, Binybara.”
“Let’s call it what it is: a ‘pay to destroy’ scheme.”
Save Lee Point demonstrators staged a protest calling for Defence Housing Australia to lose its development permits for Binybara outside the NT Parliament on Wednesday July 31. Picture: Zizi Averill
However DHA said the purchase of land for environmental offsets was a common process under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
It comes as NT Labor has backflipped on its previous eight years of support for Lee Point in April, calling for a moratorium while the Planning Commission prepared an area plan.
The Environment and Planning Department will accept community feedback on the DHA proposal for two weeks, with submissions closing on Wednesday July 15