Published: Thursday 1 August 2024

Social Ventures Australia (SVA) recently completed a strategic review of DEAL on behalf of our Members, the Northern Territory Government and Rio Tinto, aimed at ensuring DEAL’s role and priorities are meeting the challenges and opportunities for the future of the region.

All businesses in the region were invited to participate in an online survey and focus group, while almost 40 organisations were invited to participate in an interview. 

The strategic review found that DEAL continues to play a critically important role in the region and that our current key activities remain relevant, with investment attraction and business development the most important focus areas.  Whilst the review did not recommend significant changes to DEAL’s role, opportunities were identified to amend our priorities (and key focus areas) and to improve our effectiveness so we might better assist the region.

The key outcomes from the review included:

• Increased focus on the Gove Peninsula, whilst continuing to work across key strategic parts of the broader region
• Working closer with Traditional Owners to support them to:
  • explore industry development opportunities (e.g. agriculture)
  • progress specific investment opportunities (e.g. we are currently exploring opportunities to deploy DEAL secondees to assist in the management of specific projects)
• A continued role in leading the development of the East Arnhem tourism industry
• Increased focus on promoting and marketing the opportunities of East Arnhem and acting as the “front door” to investing in the region
• Business development and growth:
  • Gove Peninsula – Increased focus on supporting the development and growth of existing businesses on the Gove Peninsula (e.g. exploring ways to better leverage and deploy DEAL’s Economic Development Fund)
  • Region – Continued support for the development and growth of Yolŋu businesses across East Arnhem
• Continued role in managing and maintaining DEAL’s housing portfolio on the Gove Peninsula to support the development of growth of the region.
• Continued role in supporting the progression of critical infrastructure investments across the region (e.g. Central Arnhem Road), and improved economic settings (e.g. workforce development, land tenure processes for investors).

Below, you will find our 2025 – 2030 Strategic Plan which outlines our key focus areas, as well as a short document that summarises who DEAL is and what DEAL does. We hope you find these documents useful in better understanding our role and focus areas over the coming years. We would greatly appreciate questions or comments you might have on either document. We are already progressing several important initiatives identified in the review and we hope to be able to share these with you shortly.

Click here to download our 2025-2030 Strategic Plan
Click here to download our two-page 2025-2030 Strategic Summary

Should you have any questions or comments regarding the outcomes of the review or either document please feel free to contact the DEAL team or our Chair, Michael Morley at chair@developingeastarnhem.com.au.

Finally, we thank again all those who were able to participate in the consultations. We greatly appreciate your input.

Should you need to contact our team at any time, please send us an email to ea@developingeastarnhem.com.au.