Territory benefit policy and planning

The Territory benefit policy encourages private sector projects to maximise local benefits.

Project operators demonstrate these benefits by developing a Territory benefit plan, which is mandatory for any project:

awarded major project status under the NT major project status policy framework
receiving support (financial or in-kind) from the NT Government (NTG) valued at or greater than $500,000
where a Territory benefit plan is specified as a condition of a NTG agreement.

The policy can also be adopted voluntarily by any other private sector project.

To find out more, read the Territory benefit policy.

Objectives

The policy encourages projects to adopt strategies that support:

local workforce development and employment
workforce diversity
Aboriginal employment and Aboriginal suppliers of goods and services
regional and community development
local business participation and small to medium enterprise capability development
economic, industry and social infrastructure investment
improving social outcomes in the local community.

This will help projects gain the local community’s acceptance, which is their social licence to operate.

Your Territory benefit plan must include:

If your Territory benefit plan is mandatory, you must submit your plan to the NTG for consideration and approval.

You must also publicly share agreed commitments and provide regular updates on progress achieving them.

The Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade has finalised the first review of the policy, since the policy was established in 2019.

The aims of the review were to:

Several key stakeholders were consulted with many offering their time to discuss emerging issues and findings.

The department extends its gratitude to everyone who contributed to the review.

Stakeholders supported the policy, noting it’s reasonable to expect NTG-funded projects to maximise local benefits.

The review also identified improvements to enhance:

The recommendations summarised below aim to address the review's findings. They will be implemented in 2024.

The policy will be amended to:

require the project operator to:
- produce the Territory benefit plan before the final investment decision is reached
- publish updates (at least annually) on achieving the commitments
- annually review the commitments to identify and rectify issues that may impact implementation
exclude NTG grant funding
clarify responsibilities of stakeholders.

The Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade will:

establish and maintain a dedicated web portal that will host project documents and other resources including guidelines, templates, support and advice, to:
- streamline the process of developing a Territory benefit plan
- provide transparency on projects requiring a Territory benefit plan
develop a suite of templates, including a:
- customisable Territory benefit plan template to clarify what must be included
- monitoring template to report compliance with agreed commitments
- reporting template to inform annual reports to NTG executives
- online reporting template for projects to meet their public reporting obligations on agreed commitments
report annually to NTG executives on projects that require a Territory benefit plan, including agreed commitments and progress in achieving them.

An online training module will be developed for NTG project managers to:
- strengthen understanding of role and responsibilities
- support new employees.
A whole-of-government campaign will be developed and rolled out to ensure NTG project managers are aware of the policy and how and when it applies.

Industry Development
Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade
Phone: 08 8999 6888
Industry.Strategy@nt.gov.au

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