Consultants sought to convince companies to relocate headquarters from Hong Kong to Darwin | NT Independent

Consultants sought to convince companies to relocate headquarters from Hong Kong to Darwin

by | Mar 8, 2022 | Business | 0 comments

The Gunner Government is looking for a company to create a direct sales pitch to convince digital and technology companies to move their regional headquarters from Hong Kong to Darwin, as part of a broader campaign to get companies to relocate their Indo Pacific regional headquarters to the NT.

The Chief Minister and Cabinet Department released a requisition for a quotation for a consultant with “extensive network in the digital/technology sectors”, and “direct experience securing business and talent relocation decisions”, to “plan and execute a tactical, direct sales, pitch campaign designed to motivate digital/tech companies to relocate their regional headquarters from Hong Kong to Darwin”.

The government prefers the consultant is based in Hong Kong and they are required to have an extensive business network in Hong Kong with “access to decision makers”, and be able to conduct business in both English and Cantonese.

It asks the company to compile a list of “at least 20 high value digital / tech companies” which will be whittled down to an agreed target list of at least eight companies including insights into the specific motivating factors regarding relocation for each company.

Then they would have to produce a one to three page report on each company, with an assessment of interest in relocation to Darwin, and insights learned during the engagements, and Power Point documents used in the pitch by the consultants.

Territory Investment Commissioner Andy Cowan is listed as a member of the steering committee the consultants would report to but Mr Cowan did not respond to questions.

In April last year, Mr Cowan was promoted into the role after being the deputy chief executive of the Department of Chief Minister and Cabinet,

The summary document said the tactical pitch campaign would support a handover of interested companies to senior department figures to “nurture and facilitate to final decision and physical relocation”, with support from the federal government.

It states the department is developing a campaign to attract companies to relocate their Indo Pacific regional headquarters to Darwin, and this ‘tactical pitch campaign’ would form an introductory element of the broader regional campaign.

“The campaign aims to leverage Darwin’s strategic location, livability, sovereign rule of law, improved digital connectivity and a growing base of renewable power assets that are enabling digital and technology industry growth in the Northern Territory,” the document states.

“Increased business risks from the changing geo-political landscape in Asia, and increased potential to use renewable energy to support green data storage infrastructure.

“Specifically, new Chinese national security laws are causing companies to reconsider their presence in Hong Kong and explore new locations for their regional HQs,” it said.

“While Singapore is a popular consideration for companies looking to move from Hong Kong, recently announced stringent restrictions on new data centres means that companies requiring data security and scale look elsewhere in the region for supporting infrastructure.”

Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro said while it was always important to be innovative and pursue new economic opportunities, the Territory already has fundamental key strengths that the Gunner Government has hampered and ignored.

“We’d like to see more energy put into the onshore gas, mining, and agriculture sectors which are drowning in indecision and red tape,” she said.

In his new role Mr Cowan was set to oversee a $5 million fund to “partner with industry” to find “new investment opportunities” in target sectors including advanced manufacturing, digital industries and renewable energy. It was not immediately clear where that money was coming from or how precisely it would be spent.

The NT Independent revealed in July 2020, Mr Cowan had charged taxpayers for flights and accommodation for a side trip to Epcot Centre at Disney World in Florida while on an official NT Government trip to the United States in late 2019 to explore private investment interest in an undersea fibre-optic cable connecting Darwin to Singapore.

Mr Cowan had claimed the $1,000 costs for the Disney World jaunt were “reimbursed” by a private business group with a commercial interest in redeveloping Jabiru – a company that would lobby Mr Cowan for government funding in his role on the “Jabiru Kakadu Taskforce” and as deputy chief executive.

He claimed he needed to go to Epcot Centre, which offers exciting rides “around the globe, under the sea and into outer space”, to support a director of the company who was “researching” virtual reality displays.

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