Around Oz the First Time - Chapter 28 - Third Week Down

Essay of Darwin

This week we had mainly spent in Darwin. Yes we started in Kakadu and we ended in Lake Argyle but ostensibly we were in the capital of the Northern Territory for the week. In that time, we were able to conduct a straw poll of 4, three residents and one trying to get contract work in the Territory. Of the three residents, one who had been an immigrant from NSW would not think of returning, one a resident all his life couldn’t wait for an opportunity to leave the third was ambivalent.

The city itself looks very new. Everywhere you look there is newness, but underneath there are lots of issues burbling discontent.

According to all our unwitting participants, the Territory is crying poor. One might suggest with a change from conservative to Labor and back again in successive elections, the population is in turmoil. All participants were dismayed at what they termed the waste government continued to subject the electorate to.

The contractor was looking for the winning of a tender which he had priced at $250,000, he lost to a tender for $750,000. Is enquiries as to why noted he did not have any provision for aboriginal or local employment. He suggested to the public servant, if he employed an assistant (to hold his equipment while he did his work) and another to ensure no dangers from wildlife etc occurred he would have been in with a chance, the public servant without committing in words gestured in the positive. Ok there are social responsibilities of government but employing indigenous or out of work individuals for the sake of it still shouldn’t mean a tripling of the cost.

Next we have the government idea to boost tourism by building a $12M grandstand at the racecourse. Our participant suggested, there are only three race meetings per year and what element are you looking to attract. Every second shop in the CBD seems to be up for lease. There are satellite shopping centres springing up in the suburbs offering the generality of the shopping experience in air-conditioned comfort, meaning a trip to the city is only going to be for the special item now and again. But everything looks good.

As we were travelling back from our fishing tour, we past what was a very large bus terminus and site fo the accommodation of fly in fly out workers who have been assisting in construction of new mines in the region. The mines are now operational, and the busses have stopped. This facility could be refurbished for the planned new university but the government are convinced a new facility is required. Here not only do you have accommodations but transport infrastructure you could simply turn back on.

So let’s have a look at the issues from what say a Dale Beaumont from the Business Blueprint program, a program dedicated to helping businesses grow.

First and foremost the government needs to understand its “why”. The straw poll revealed a confusion, which has manifest itself in continual change of government, probably because the government tend to listen to is those who speak the loudest ie the squeaky wheel gets the most attention, and don’t get me started on bleeding heart lefties.

Have a look at where your market is, grey nomads, back packers and families on holidays are everywhere here searching for that top end experience, does really mean congregating or coinciding a trip with a day at the races – I think not. Birdsville and Finke and the like have these and they are iconic, a normal TAB meeting has nothing like the magnetism.

The Thursday Night Mindil Beach Markets were swarming with revellers. The food outlets here provided every type of cuisine imaginable. Are these the same revellers that require a $12M grandstand at the races three times a year, I suspect not. They want to be entertained at a grass roots level, they are here to see the real NT.

The outdoor cinema, although we did not participate seemed to be well patronised if our trying to find a car park in the city on a Wednesday night was concerned. The bay precinct although littered with vacant establishments needs something to attract people to the city. Unless we were ignorant of the parking facilities, we struggled to get a parking spot on a night (other than the outdoor cinema was on) there were no huge crowds at the eateries.

Secondly the marketing of the Territory seems to have been ambushed marketed by the CU (in the) NT slogan. Now I am not a prude by any measure, but I know my wife is made feel uncomfortable with this promotion. The government needs to win back some “brownie points” with the unpopular lease of the harbour facilities to the Chinese is the pursuit of money (which now fritted away) is now being returned to Territory hands. There is a large US military base here as well.

The state has huge debt, which one of our straw poll noted requires the repayment of multitudes of interest, which grows on a daily basis.

Thirdly, forward thinking seems to be a term no one in government has any grasp according to all those polled. The mines and their infrastructure could and should have been seen, and a plan in place to utilise the facilities in another way ie the planned university. Here you had accommodation in place already, an infrastructure of public transport.

Further don’t think it is only the government that need to have a good hard look at themselves. There are 2 seasons here, the wet and the dry, the wet creates all the prosperity and the dry sucks it out, yet all the marketing we see on the roads (and it seems to be the majority is focussed on roads out of town and not in) has that new condition to it suggesting it has been put there as a means to increase, not maintain the rage. In marketing we should always commence marketing at our strongest point rather than at our weakest and I do not understand the mentality that looks to capture your attention on the way out of town. Surely that is too late if the majority of their people travelling the roads are the nomads and holiday travellers.

At the moment the Australian economy is tight, the country people are feeling it most. Drought is everywhere, devastatingly so in some areas. Ensuring programs that create employment are feel good to a constituency loudly trying to lessen the guilt of our treatment of the indigenous, but they need a hand up not a handout.

Making sure they get a job for the sake of having a job is not the way to give them the hand up they need. In some cases money is not the answer, but a government seeking to look like they are addressing the issues, rather than actually getting their hands dirty and actually listening to the real aboriginal will fail and the NT government is not the only failure on this matter. Having said that we have seen at Katherine Gorge where the entire park and tours is run by and for the indigenous owners of the land seemingly working.

The “why” is the key. Until the NT government (or any government for that matter) can properly visualise what they want how can they ever think they have the answers. Simply throwing money at “it”, making things seem all nice and new will not work.