Budget Paper 1994-95 No.6 Northern Territory Economy
Tabled Paper 2156
Tabled Papers for 6th Assembly 1990 - 1994; Tabled Papers; ParliamentNT
1994-05-12
Tabled by Barry Coulter
Made available by the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory under Standing Order 240. Where copyright subsists with a third party it remains with the original owner and permission may be required to reuse the material.
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https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2021C00044
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/292876
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/398240
Transport and Communications Total interstate road freight movem ents originating from or destined to the Territory am ounted to 136 423 tonnes fo rth e twelve m onths ending Septem ber 1993. Freight to and from Adelaide and B risbane accounted for 76.7% o f this trade. Transport Outlook Increased freight tonnage through the Port o f D arw in will depend prim arily on continued grow th in live cattle exports and other prim ary produce com bined w ith the realisa tion o f projected increases in exploration activity in the Tim or Sea oil fields. As well, increased freight tonnage attributable to the com m encem ent o f proposed projects, such as Flydrom et C orporation Pty.s reprocessing facility for sm elter stream residue, w ill contribute to higher levels o f freight in the m edium term . M icro-econom ic reform s at the Port o f D arwin have assisted in creating a cost efficient arrival and departure point for traded goods. C om bined w ith operational efficiency is the Port o f D arw in s proxim ity to the high grow th A sian m arkets m aking it a com petitive and valuable corridor for the shipm ent o f A ustralian goods to in ternational m arkets. The construction o f a new port at East Arm in Darwin is likely to com m ence in 1994/95, providing m odern w harf facilities for the handling and transporta tion o f cargo. The absence o f rail connections linking D arw in w ith the m ajor trad ing centres in southern A ustralia continues to penalise both the Territory and A u stra lia s trading perform ance. Communications To m eet the com m unication requirem ents o f relatively dispersed and isolated com m unities, as well as the business and educational sectors, the N orthern Territory G overnm ent, Telecom and m ore recently Optus operate one o f the m ost advanced com m unications netw orks in A ustralia. C hildren in rem ote com m unities are able to be v isually present in the classroom through satellite link-ups and businesses can use cost efficien t video conferencing facilities to partic ipate in m eetings nationally or in ternationally having incurred none o f the costs o f long distance travel. Telecom service connections as at D ecem ber 1993 to talled 66 694 representing an increase o f 7.5% over the level o f connections in D ecem ber 1992. C onnections for the private sector and business sector were 57.6% and 38.7% respectively, w ith the rem ainder used in ternally by Telecom. 7 9