Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory — Local services in Northern Territory

We spent a pleasant two hours meandering through this cavernous edifice, a monumental exercise in waste and extravagance.

Just take a look at the size of this building by the pictures, if you haven’t visited it in person, then consider that it’s meant to accommodate just 25 MPs in a single chamber parliament, plus their staff and hangers on. The cost of running this joint - think water, electricity, maintenance, salaries etc etc must be ginormous. But I digress. As a visitor I found this an interesting, informal and relaxed place to visit. There are no fees, no formalities and no organised tours; just a lonesome, bored sec guard who will put your belongings through a scanner and make you walk through a metal detector. But it’s all very low key and non-threatening and you’ll be inside, in minutes.

There was hardly a soul about anyway in this huge, empty place. It's beautifully maintained and it shines; every surface looks like it's been cleaned with a toothbrush. I walked up the stairs and into the visitors gallery, where you can view the chamber below, although it was not in session.

On the walls upstairs are pics of all the various Chief Ministers and Speakers over the decades, but not much else to see. On the ground floor is the N.T. Library, another beautiful, large and airy space - with about four people using it. There is currently a display there called “A Territory Story”, showcasing Territory life, with various artefacts, newspaper cuttings, stories and a reconstructed bus showing short historical movies about Darwin and the Territory. I especially like the short 10 minute one, made in 1963, entitled “Darwin the Friendly City”. Unfortunately it’s not so friendly anymore.

The building looks out onto the bay, with a little water feature at the front and behind that, the requisite flagpoles, with the poor old flags looking a bit worse for wear, which isn’t surprising given the heat and humidity.

This is an interesting place to visit on your next trip to Darwin, just to see for yourself, if you’re an Aussie, how your taxes are spent. It truly is a monument to waste and...

This is a really impressive building with really beautiful views from theSpeakers Green out over the Darwin Harbour. Actually, the fountain in the speaker’s green is a memorial for two workers who were killed as a result of a crane accident during the construction of the building. We did not need a guided tour as it is pretty well self-explanatory with photos all around the walls and you can get into an alcove which allows you to see the actual parliament floor. Well worth a visit as is surrounding area which has the...

I took a 1.5hour guided tour named Sara and she was great. She introduced the history, the portraits of the speakers, architecture (look out for the bomb-shaped pillars and water foundation) and pointed out where the bomb dropped and unfortunately killed 10 people in 1942. I also had a look at the parliamentary seats where there is a huge croc skin in the center...