A healthy economy in which everyone meaningfully participates increases our quality of life.
It increases job opportunities, population, standards of living, consumer choices and liveability; supports more social and cultural activities; and enhances services valued by the community, such as health care and education.
It is a strong private sector that delivers the development and growth that a healthy economy needs. Governments fund services primarily through taxes. It is private sector investment, not government investment, which grows business and industry to provide jobs and generate wealth.
In modern economies, governments enable and support economic activity through policies, laws and regulations. And in regional, growing economies, such as our Northern Territory, smart government investment can help catalyse private sector investment to accelerate development.
As a small, export-oriented economy, the Northern Territory relies on identifying and meeting export demand to maintain and grow living standards. The Northern Territory industry sectors expected to experience strong demand growth include energy and minerals, tourism, agribusiness, and international education and training.
The Economic Development Framework was developed through an Economic Summits process in partnership with Deloitte and involving the private and not-for-profit sectors, land councils and Aboriginal representative groups, unions and the community.
The structure of the Northern Territory economy is unique. It is this uniqueness that provides our competitive advantage and massive potential.