I think that a long hard look at the effectiveness of such institutional input would be a good idea before setting it up.

All we might end up with if we are not careful is a combination of NSW Council ethics and public sector lightning speed for development approvals.

BTW I thought that major projects in the NT had to use Commonwealth procedures for environmental approval anyway.

I looked into the political, fiscal and logistic practicality of shifting Darwin Airport when I was in politics in the 1990s and getting deluged by resident complaints about the bi-annual Pitch Black air exercises which were driving people crazy. It just isn’t going to happen. I even raised it directly with Robert Ray who was the Defence Minister at the time and got a flat, unequivocal, non-negotiable no. If they can’t justify moving Sydney Airport from the middle of a city of 4 million people, they’re not going to do it with a city of 120,000. It would cost mega-billions of dollars. The combination of civil passenger terminal, private general aviation facilities, defence base infrastructure and one of the most heavily engineered main runways in the southern hemisphere can’t realisitically be moved (sadly).

My own view is that we can accommodate Darwin population growth at least for the next 20-30 years or so through a mix of urban infill/consolidation strategies and allowing subdivision of 5 acre rural residential blocks in Howard Springs, Virginia and Humpty Doo into 1 acre blocks. The latter would potentially quadruple the population of those areas (presently around 10,000-15,000) with a reasonably modest infrastructure cost to upgrade roads, power, water etc., while urban consolidation within Darwin City Council boundaries could add at least 25,000 to the current population. Of course, you’d have to construct a light rail system linking Humpty Doo and Darwin CBD via Virginia/Coolalinga, Howard Springs, Palmerston, Berrimah and Winnellie, but we really need to do that anyway in the fairly near future.

Respectful advice from a former resident. Bountiful suburbs within 20 minutes of the CBD instead of spreading in strands out into the bush.

Huge project, needs bigger minds that have tackled the issue to date. And some long term strategic lobbying of the feds, if they still control it…

We dont have an independent Environment Protection Authority, local council involvement in planning approvals is merely token, and long term planning instruments like the Darwin Harbour Regional Plan of Management are treated by government as little more than window-dressing.

If institutional lacunae are aggravating all these problems, what moves are afoot to fill them? And if the Territory politicians are all too short-sighted to change anything, would you like to see something imposed from Canberra?

P.S. The map is too small to locate all the places you mentioned (at least on my browser), which is a pity.