Former Dow Chemical CEO Andrew Liveris and former Chief Minister Paul Henderson have been tasked with setting up the Northern Territory as a gas manufacturing hub.
The globally recognised Darwin-born businessman who ran Dow Chemical and advised two U.S. presidents has been appointed chair of a commission to restart the Northern Territory’s economy after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Andrew Liveris will be co-chair of a Territory Economic Reconstruction Commission packed with industry heavyweights.
NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner says the NT can achieve five percent economic growth and turn a “once-in-a-century crisis into a once-in-a-century opportunity to become a manufacturing capital and energy superpower.”
Natural gas will be a major component of this recovery, given the territory has large offshore reserves already being exploited, and onshore gas soon to be drilled through fracking.
Solar power would also play a key role, with the Singapore Sun Cable consortium planning a $20 billion project to export Australia’s sunshine to South East Asia. It would be the world’s largest solar storage.
Solar power could also play a role in data storage becoming a lucrative industry in the Top End, Gunner said.
“We are the safest place in Australia and fastest to crush the coronavirus and first to start the comeback,” Gunner told reporters.
“I think we have got a very easy pitch ... the NT puts a compelling case of being the best place in this country to live and that’s what we will be pushing after the coronavirus crisis.
“The global economy will be different after this, supply chains will be transformed, our country will need to be more self-reliant in the future ... National shortcomings have been exposed by this crisis and there is massive potential for the Territory.”
Liveris, a pro-gas advocate previously lead U.S. President Donald Trump’s American Manufacturing Council and is already a “special adviser” to Australia’s National COVID-19 Coordination Commission.
The commission will be co-chaired by former Chief Minister Paul Henderson and includes Martin Parkinson, former secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Infrastructure Australia CEO Romilly Madew and former Westpac CEO Gail Kelly.
The commission and its plans are backed by industry groups such as the NT Minerals Council and NT Chamber of Commerce, who said a first step should be speeding up the approvals process for “shovel ready” projects.
The appointment of pro-gas advocates Liveris and Henderson was criticised by the Protect Country Alliance group which opposes plans for an onshore gas fracking industry in the NT.
The commission will provide an interim report by late-July, and a final report with plans for implementation in November after the August NT election has been held.
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