Mr LUGG - 1998-10-07
As one walks down the Darwin City Mall to the central business district, you can’t help but notice the many large-scale construction projects planned all over the city. Does the minister have any figures on the value of construction occurring in the CBD, and what does it say about investor confidence in our property market?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, as pointed out in Budget Paper No 5 in this year’s budget, the construction sector contributes greater than 9% to our gross state product, and that sector directly employs at least 6000 Territorians. The government has always been aware of its role of stimulating activity in the construction sector. In times gone by, it has used its capital works program to stimulate such activity when times have been a bit harder or construction activity has been slower.
It is true that Darwin is undergoing a very buoyant period of high quality construction, and that is evidence by constructions such as the Holiday Inn, Darwin Central and the Cullen Bay Apartment Towers which are injecting many millions of dollars into this economy. That activity shows no sign of slowing.
The private sector currently has at least $55m worth of high quality projects just underway or about to commence in Darwin. They include a 10 storey tower next to the Top End Hotel worth $12m, a $15m office tower on the corner of Bennett and Cavenagh Streets, a 9 storey apartment building worth $10m on the Daly and Esplanade corner, a 13 storey $8m apartment tower on Harry Chan Avenue, and $5m worth of shops and commercial infrastructure in Bayview Haven, not taking into account the residential construction that will occur there. There is also a $4m nightclub in Mitchell Street further emphasising the centralisation of Darwin’s night life and night clubbing activity into Mitchell Street. There is a $1.3m redevelopment of the Top End Hotel. As I said, those developments complement the continued and strong performance of the housing sector.
For the year ended June 1998 the value of housing approvals grew by more than 30% compared to the same period last year. That growth does not happen by accident. It happens because this government has the vision and has the capacity and ability to keep the Territory economy strong and growing. As Minister for Lands, Planning and Environment I fulfil an integral role in maintaining that growth and maintaining the availability of the land resource upon which that growth depends.
I recently approved the release of 3 blocks. One being the dock land site adjacent to Stokes Hill, one being the old Stokes Hill power station, and one being on the corner of Bennett Street and the Esplanade, the old Admiralty House site.
Ms Martin: You charged $500 for those documents – what a shocker!
Mr PALMER: Madam Speaker, I will pick up the interjection, because this is very interesting. The member for Fannie Bay, Clare Martin, complained publicly in the media that she was not allowed to have a copy of the expressions of interest document on the old Admiralty House site. I invited Ms Martin to ring me, and I said quite publicly, as a member of Parliament, that I was happy for her to have them. I handed them over to her and she put the caveat on them that she was going to copy them and distribute them publicly, and I would wear the results. She was mortified! That is the last I have heard from her. Not a peep! Not a peep about this travesty of heritage planning that we were going through. Not a peep which would indicate to me that the member for Fannie Bay, Clare Martin, has nothing but support for the release of that land. And let me say about that, those 3 blocks of land will contribute a further ,what I estimate to be, $180m to the construction activity in Darwin.
Those 3 blocks alone have the capacity to sustain the construction sector in Darwin well into the next century. They are high quality, high class blocks that demand high quality and high class construction activity.
This government is committed to continuing its strong performance in promoting the construction sector and it is obvious that the private sector and the investors have a commitment to Darwin and have faith in this government, as evidenced by the continued construction of quality buildings and quality developments in the Darwin CBD.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, as pointed out in Budget Paper No 5 in this year’s budget, the construction sector contributes greater than 9% to our gross state product, and that sector directly employs at least 6000 Territorians. The government has always been aware of its role of stimulating activity in the construction sector. In times gone by, it has used its capital works program to stimulate such activity when times have been a bit harder or construction activity has been slower.
It is true that Darwin is undergoing a very buoyant period of high quality construction, and that is evidence by constructions such as the Holiday Inn, Darwin Central and the Cullen Bay Apartment Towers which are injecting many millions of dollars into this economy. That activity shows no sign of slowing.
The private sector currently has at least $55m worth of high quality projects just underway or about to commence in Darwin. They include a 10 storey tower next to the Top End Hotel worth $12m, a $15m office tower on the corner of Bennett and Cavenagh Streets, a 9 storey apartment building worth $10m on the Daly and Esplanade corner, a 13 storey $8m apartment tower on Harry Chan Avenue, and $5m worth of shops and commercial infrastructure in Bayview Haven, not taking into account the residential construction that will occur there. There is also a $4m nightclub in Mitchell Street further emphasising the centralisation of Darwin’s night life and night clubbing activity into Mitchell Street. There is a $1.3m redevelopment of the Top End Hotel. As I said, those developments complement the continued and strong performance of the housing sector.
For the year ended June 1998 the value of housing approvals grew by more than 30% compared to the same period last year. That growth does not happen by accident. It happens because this government has the vision and has the capacity and ability to keep the Territory economy strong and growing. As Minister for Lands, Planning and Environment I fulfil an integral role in maintaining that growth and maintaining the availability of the land resource upon which that growth depends.
I recently approved the release of 3 blocks. One being the dock land site adjacent to Stokes Hill, one being the old Stokes Hill power station, and one being on the corner of Bennett Street and the Esplanade, the old Admiralty House site.
Ms Martin: You charged $500 for those documents – what a shocker!
Mr PALMER: Madam Speaker, I will pick up the interjection, because this is very interesting. The member for Fannie Bay, Clare Martin, complained publicly in the media that she was not allowed to have a copy of the expressions of interest document on the old Admiralty House site. I invited Ms Martin to ring me, and I said quite publicly, as a member of Parliament, that I was happy for her to have them. I handed them over to her and she put the caveat on them that she was going to copy them and distribute them publicly, and I would wear the results. She was mortified! That is the last I have heard from her. Not a peep! Not a peep about this travesty of heritage planning that we were going through. Not a peep which would indicate to me that the member for Fannie Bay, Clare Martin, has nothing but support for the release of that land. And let me say about that, those 3 blocks of land will contribute a further ,what I estimate to be, $180m to the construction activity in Darwin.
Those 3 blocks alone have the capacity to sustain the construction sector in Darwin well into the next century. They are high quality, high class blocks that demand high quality and high class construction activity.
This government is committed to continuing its strong performance in promoting the construction sector and it is obvious that the private sector and the investors have a commitment to Darwin and have faith in this government, as evidenced by the continued construction of quality buildings and quality developments in the Darwin CBD.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016