*This article was originally published in the NT News on Monday 8 September 2025

The Northern Territory sits at the frontline of Australia’s strategic future. Our ports, airfields, military bases and infrastructure are not just local assets; they are national assets, vital to the security of the Indo-Pacific and to the resilience of our economy.

That is why the Northern Territory government’s presence at the (Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) Indo-Pacific Regional Summit near Pearl Harbour is so essential – not as a symbolic gesture, but as a practical step to strengthen the partnerships that underpin both our construction industry and our national security.

The SAME Indo-Pacific Regional Summit is an unparalleled opportunity to connect the Northern Territory directly into global defence and infrastructure networks, where decisions are made, partnerships formed and investment priorities shaped.

If we want the Territory to capture more of the significant benefits from Australia’s defence spend, we need to be in the room where it happens.

The construction sector in the Northern Territory has long been the quiet achiever of our national defence posture. From delivering housing for defence families to upgrading strategic bases at Tindal and Robertson and building the roads and essential infrastructure that make defence force projection possible, our industry is critical to making policy on paperwork in the real world.

Every defence agreement, whether through AUKUS, force posture initiatives, or joint exercises such as Talisman Sabre, ultimately relies on construction capacity in the Top End.

The skills, supply chains and capabilities we develop in our industry are what turn words into hard infrastructure.

Presence at the summit ensures that the Northern Territory’s voice – our needs, our opportunities, our capabilities – is heard at the highest levels.

It’s how we secure investment in local supply chains, how we showcase NT construction talent and how we position our region as not just a beneficiary of defence policy, but a critical partner in delivering it. Defence construction is not just about bases and runways.

It’s about housing to attract and retain defence families. It’s about energy systems that make us less reliant on vulnerable supply lines. It’s about digital infrastructure that underpins modern operations and supports communities alike.

Every dollar spent on construction here multiplies – creating jobs, training apprentices, sustaining local businesses and building long-term resilience.

In a territory where economic opportunity and national security intersect so clearly, the case for aligning construction and defence policy has never been stronger.

The Indo-Pacific is where Australia’s future will be secured, and the Northern Territory is where that future takes shape.

By engaging with allies, industry leaders and decision-makers at the SAME Summit, the NT government can champion our construction industry as a strategic partner in national security, while opening new doors for local businesses, workers, and communities.

For more than a decade, Master Builders NT has led a sustained program of advocacy around defence projects in the North, ensuring the voice of Territory industry is heard in Canberra and beyond.

Our focus is crystal clear – to secure more opportunities for local businesses by demonstrating the proven capability and capacity of NT construction firms, contractors and our skilled workforce. We have consistently demonstrated that Territory companies can deliver the highest national and international standards.

This advocacy has not only opened doors for Territory businesses, but also strengthened the long-term case for embedding defence investment directly into the NT economy, supporting jobs, apprenticeships, and the communities that underpin Australia’s northern strategic presence.

In short, the NT’s construction industry is not just about bricks and mortar. It is about sovereignty, security, and harnessing our place in the region.

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) report Northern Australia: Securing a developing economy to secure a developed nation (August 2025) reinforces this point, framing the NT not as a peripheral region, but as central to both Australia’s security and economic resilience. That’s why being present at the Indo-Pacific table is not optional. It’s absolutely vital.

Sallyann Innes, CEO Master Builders NT