Industry Sectors

Arts, Entertainment and Film

The Northern Territory is home to a vibrant and extensive arts, entertainment and film industry. Indigenous arts and culture is a dominant feature in Northern Territory society, which is also heavily influenced by our close Asian and Pacific neighbours.

Festivals and large community events also form a major part of the artistic calendar each year with events such as the Darwin Festival (August), Barunga Festival (June), Garma Festival (August), and Beanie Festival in Alice Springs (June).

Government

The Northern Territory Government is the Territory’s largest single employer and offers an extensive and diverse range of employment opportunities across the Territory. The NT Government offers very competitive employment conditions such as six weeks annual leave, paid maternity leave options, and flexible working arrangements to foster a healthy work-life balance, which help to make it an employer of choice in the NT.

NT Government jobs are uploaded every Friday on the NT Government Employment Opportunities website located at www.nt.gov.au/jobs, and in Saturday’s edition of the NT News.

Services

The retail, hospitality and business services sectors offer an enormous range of employment opportunities in the Territory. The hospitality industry is the second-largest employer in the NT and opportunities are always available in cafes, restaurants, clubs, bars and nightclubs.

General services such as hairdressing, mechanics, hardware stores and supermarkets are well-represented in all urban and regional centres, as well as a multitude of online services. Large national retail chains have a presence in the NT, along with many small-to-medium local retailers.

Education

There are approximately 151 government and 35 private schools in the Northern Territory from pre-school through to Year 12. Charles Darwin University is the main provider of Higher Education in the Northern Territory, along with Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education.

Apprenticeships and traineeships are also widely available in the Northern Territory. Registered training organisations offer training in nationally accredited qualifications across nearly 200 disciplines as diverse as automotive trades, conservation and land management, children’s services, and business administration.

Transport

Road, rail and air transport to and within the Northern Territory forms a critical connection for Australia to the rest of the world. The NT has some of the nation’s safest and well-constructed roads and highways. The Ghan links Darwin to Alice Springs and Adelaide by rail, with Darwin’s East Arm Port being a transport and logistics hub of significance in the south-east Asian region. Airports are located in all the major urban and regional centres in the Territory, linking remote centres and outback stations by air via the Royal Flying Doctor Service, Australia Post contractors, and private charter companies.

Tourism

The Northern Territory is tourism heaven! Visitors and locals are spoilt for choice when it comes to unique activities and experiences, whether it be adventure, eco, luxury or budget, there are myriad options in all corners of the Territory. World-renowned destinations such as Kings Canyon, Uluru-Kata Tjuta and Kakadu National Parks need no further introduction. Camping and reef or river fishing are enormously popular and needless to say, the tourism industry is one of the largest employers in the Territory.

Primary Industries

This sector comprises plant industries such as mangoes, melons, citrus and cucumbers, along with smaller crops of tropical fruits like bananas, dragonfruit, rambutan, and asian vegetables. The agricultural sector includes broad-acre cropping, pasture seed and hay production.

Animal industries comprise cattle and buffalo production mainly for the live export trade. The Top End is home to seven commercial crocodile farms, which predominantly farm the salt-water crocodile producing premium skins and meat primarily for the international export market.

Oil and Gas

Just north of the Northern Territory vast gas resources are under development in the Bonaparte Basin. The Timor Sea is regarded as a highly prospective petroleum region and contains world scale oil and gas fields under various stages of operation, construction and consideration. With its abundant petroleum resources, central location to Asian markets and an increasing number of major resource projects in the Timor Sea and beyond, the Northern Territory is ideally positioned to be an energy centre of global significance.

Mining

Mining is the engine room of the Territory economy. It is our economy’s strongest sector, worth $4.3 billion in 2008-09. The Territory has some of the nation’s biggest sites, including Ranger, the world’s second largest uranium mine; GEMCO, the country’s largest manganese project; McArthur River, Australia’s third-largest zinc producer; Rio Tinto Alcan, Australia’s fourth-largest producer of bauxite and alumina; and Callie, Australia’s sixth-largest goldmine, in the Tanami Desert.

Manufacturing

Manufacturing is an important sector in the Northern Territory economy, having strong interactions with other production sectors, especially through the provision of inputs to the construction and mining sectors. Due to its proximity to the massive consumer market in Asia, the Northern Territory is well placed to service this demand in the development of a true manufacturing sector using down-stream technologies and by-products from the enormous oil and gas reserves on our door-step.

ICT

The ICT sector is well-established in the NT and a number of large multi-national corporations such as Telstra, Fujitsu and Optus have a presence in the NT. There are also many small-to-medium size enterprises that cater for operational and end-user requirements such as software development, multimedia technology and systems support and maintenance.

Fisheries and Aquaculture

The Territory’s seafood industry comprises wild-caught, aquaculture and trade/processor sectors, and is a major contributor to employment and investment in the Northern Territory. Seafood is one of our most prized resources and with over 650 businesses involved in the industry, in areas such as boatyards, marine engineering and fabrication, chandlery, and supplies; fishing and aquaculture in the NT is an exciting industry right now and into the future.

Defence

The large Defence presence in the Northern Territory creates opportunities for development of Darwin as a regional supply, service and distribution centre, with an increase in Territory companies providing services to Defence prime contractors. The Australian Defence Force is continually recruiting personnel in all facets of the service from Defence reserves, cadets, non-uniform Departmental jobs, and of course, Navy, Army and Air Force employment.

Construction, Engineering and Property

The Territory is undergoing an unprecedented level of expansion as a major international gas hub and key trade gateway to Asia. In addition to this, the Territory’s commercial, industrial and residential construction industry is in overdrive, as population growth drives up demand for quality housing. Impressive new developments such as the Waterfront and Darwin Convention Centre, new suburbs in Darwin and Palmerston, and the Desert Knowledge Precinct in Alice Springs, are fuelling a construction boom which shows no sign of abating.

Health

There are 5 public hospitals in the Territory located in Darwin, Katherine, Gove (Nhulunbuy), Tennant Creek and Alice Springs. Darwin Private Hospital is the only private hospital in the NT and is co-located with the Royal Darwin Hospital in Darwin. The NT’s rural, regional and remote population has access to health and welfare services through more than 60 remote health clinics, community care centres and family health clinics.

The main population centres are also home to a range of health professionals, including GPs, medical specialists, dentists, physiotherapists, optometrists, pharmacists, chiropractors, naturopaths and health funds.