A small outback community in the Barkly region now has Australia’s first fully First Nations-owned 100 kW grid-connected solar microgrid, provided by technology partner 5B, with 136 kWh battery storage, which proponents say could be a model for other remote communities across the Territory.
Several Australian Ford dealers still have a video of self-confessed dog rapist and killer Dr Adam Britton promoting the company’s Ranger ute on their Facebook pages, while Ford Malaysia have today removed the video from its Facebook page.
This week’s highlights include the Chief Minister Lawler raising concerns about the lack of local workers putting the NT’s economy at risk, PropTrack reporting that cheap rentals are on the rise in Darwin, JD Sports opening shop in Casuarina Square, and Richard Finch being appointed as general manager of Inpex’s NT interests, plus mining news.
The Lawler Government has given a special reserve status to the Jabiluka area in Kakadu National Park which would disallow uranium mining but it will likely not come into effect as Energy Resources Australia has said it had applied to renew its Jabiluka mineral lease which would void the protection.
Work on the $63 million Mandorah jetty project has finally started five years after the NT government declared it a priority project, the Lawler Government has said, but the cost has more than doubled since 2017, however the upgrade will make the facility compliant with changes to national disability legislation that came into effect 18 months ago following a 20-year lead-in time.
Charles Darwin University has been given free land by the NT Government for a new student accommodation facility in the Darwin CBD, which it says will take two years to build, without any explanation as to why the government or university did not start on it two years ago amid a shortage of rental properties and as the new city campus nears completion.
The Territory’s peak construction industry body is calling on the NT Government to immediately introduce “substantial grants” to boost demand for new housing construction after figures show private dwellings in the NT dropped to only 25 approvals in April.
The mix of extraordinarily high rents and cut-rate homes for sale could spell disaster for the Top End property market if not immediately dealt with, real estate market experts have said.
The NT Government awarded 40 contracts in the last week to a total of $45.5 million with the largest being awarded to Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia Central Operations for Lease – Supply and Delivery of Two PC-12 Aircraft for a Period of 60 Months in Alice Springs, Darwin.
The latest highlights include PropTrack’s report showing Darwin’s vacancy rates going down; Novotel Darwin CBD being awarded NT’s first Sustainable Tourism Certified urban business; and Halikos Group changing its name to DCOH, revealing a giant new contract.
NT-based low-cost carrier Airnorth has put more than a dozen routes between the Top End, the West Coast, and the East Coast on sale, starting from just $216, one-way, until the end of this month.
The Lawler Government has said a review into St John Ambulance will be made public and was not ordered because of any failings by the organisation, but the union representing paramedics said there are serious issues with the ambulance service that have been covered-up and ignored.
