The Territory Labor Government hasreleased a progress report a year on from the launch of its 2018 2028Northern Territory Population Growth Strategy to boost population andcreate jobs.
The 10-year strategy includes five focus areas:
Attractinginvestment and creating jobs
Attracting private investment to the Territory that creates jobs and makespeople want to relocate. The NT has $24B in significant and major projects inthe pipeline including Project Sea Dragon; the Arnhem Space Centre; Sun Cablessolar farm; mining of titanim, lithium and vanadium; the Westin luxury hoteland Australias largest Ship Lift. An estimated 11,000 jobs will be created preand post-construction.
These investments bring certainty, confidence and employmentopportunities that are good for Territory families and those considering movinghere.
Telling the modernstory the Boundless Possible campaign
More than 2000 people are registered with the strategys onlinedatabase. Theyre made up of those who want to move to the Territory, want tovisit, are interested in the Territory or used to live here.
A comprehensive suite of engagement programs is in place includingsending regular emails with targeted content including events, lifestyleopportunities, real estate data, job vacancies and successful business storiesto help make the decision to move.
Based on their usage and algorithms, messages pop up on their socialmedia feeds when the weather is poor in their area, to say: if you were inDarwin now, its 32C and gloriously sunny. Similar messages pop up when thesepeople are stuck in traffic, telling them that if they lived in Darwin, theydbe home by now.
The target is to reach 2.1m Australians with the Boundless Possible campaign. After only 10 months, research shows that 10% of a sample target audience saw Boundless Possible ads. Those who saw the ads doubled their desire to live, study or invest in the NT.
Attracting andretaining migrants and those from interstate
More than 450 people have relocated or are in the process of relocatingto the NT through the Welcome to the Territory incentives and since the secondNT Designated Area Migration Agreement (DAMA II) for skilled overseas workers wassigned late last year.
Enhancingliveability
A key focus of the strategy is to ensure we keep Territorians here andwe meet expectations for those considering a move. The Territory LaborGovernment has invested $4.95m to improve the lifestyle of Palmerston families;the $200m Cities Deal which will cool, green and revitalise the CBD; investingin festivals and turbocharging tourism for locals and visitors.
Understanding thedrivers for change
Charles Darwin University is hosting an online survey, The Territory and Me, which involvescollecting information over two years about what people like about living inthe NT, what they dont like, what encourages them to stay and how connectedthey feel to the Territory.
Focus groups will also be held with people about their relocationdecisions.
The Territory andMe survey is thefollow on from the original CDU research undertaken to inform the 2018 2028 Northern Territory PopulationGrowth Strategy.
Further work will be done to measurethe level of conversion and how peoples perceptions of the Territory havechanged.
As stated by the NT Chief Minister, Michael Gunner:
More people means more jobs – thats why we need to increase our population.
We know that increasing private sectorinvestment creates strong economic growth and more local jobs – especially morepermanent jobs.
Last year the Territory Labor Governmentreleased the NTs first ever population strategy to help us attract and retainpeople, and a year in we have more than 450 people who have, or are in theprocess of, relocating to the region.
These are small but significant inroadsinto boosting our population. Its a big decision to relocate a family toanother state or country and one that isnt made quickly.
Im confident the focus we have on attractingprivate investment, creating jobs, improving infrastructure and telling thestory about why the Territory is a good option, will lead to more and morepeople moving here over the next decade.
