The epic North

An extract from Rise’s Telstra Best of Business Award National pitch that I wrote and delivered.

“In the Northern Territory our lives and work are shaped by our epic landscapes, wild weather and brutal isolation.

We embrace innovation because the Territory both inspires us and forces us to; it is both muse and master.

We embrace innovation because our ordinary day-to-day lives, are in fact…extraordinary.

 In the tropical north it’s hot all year round - either hot and dry or even hotter and humid – we don’t really suit, suits; and cyclones and storms – blow and wash away anything not nailed down.

The extreme weather destroys equipment, degrades infrastructure, and frays our tempers twice as fast as down south.

A staggering 75% of the Territory’s roads are unsealed, red, dusty, dangerous corrugations which are often washed away by the wet season rains.

Supply chains and whole communities are often cut off for months with the only alternative being a barge or small plane, and our supply chains are the most vulnerable in Australia.

We are digitally isolated with vast swathes of our population living and working without mobile or internet connection.

And while the Territory is often imagined as a vast empty landscape with no population…it isn’t.  

Australian’s live right across the Territory – just not in enough numbers to interest demographers…airlines.”