''I believe in the Territory, I love the Territory,'' he said, after noting that it was not on a level playing field with the rest of the country. The Prime Minister said his plan was based on three pillars. This first would be to create a special economic zone focused on the Nothern Territory. Mr Rudd said this would see a reduction in the tax rate for companies in the area within five years, although it is not yet clear which companies this would apply to. He said that the company tax cut had not yet been costed. The Prime Minister told reporters that his preference was to see a tax rate in the NT of about a third off the current rate of 30 per cent, but he said that this would be discussed with the NT government after the election.

The second pillar would be an expansion of the Ord River irrigation scheme stage three. This would involve an extra $10 million to deal with native title negotiations to secure the land required. He said that the expansion of the Ord would increase the economic output of northern Australia by an estimated $150 million year, mostly through expanded sugar production and agricultural crops. The third pillar would be 20-year growth plans for Darwin and north Queensland (Cairns, Townsville and Mackay) with oversight by Infrastructure Australia. Mr Rudd said that anyone who lived in the NT who thought they were on a level playing field with the rest of Australia ''has got rocks in their head''. ''It costs more to be up here,'' he said.

Mr Rudd said that the creation of the economic zone would attract Australian and foreign investment by simplifying investment rules and streamlining regulation. When asked if the northern plan was a bid to gain preferences from Katter's Australian Party, Mr Rudd answered, ''No''. Mr Rudd's northern plan came as Mr Abbott announced plans to boost the Tasmanian economy on Thursday. ''We've just seen an extraordinary press conference from Mr Rudd in Darwin where first of all he said he wanted to deliver an entirely uncosted tax cut for all the businesses in the Northern Territory,'' Mr Abbott said. ''Then it suddenly became all businesses in Darwin, then it became businesses in the Northern Territory but only businesses that were actually based in the Northern Territory as opposed to operating in the Northern Territory.

''It's just another thought bubble from a prime minister who had a plan to tear down his predecessor but he doesn't have a plan to develop our country; he doesn’t have a plan to grow our economy.'' Asked whether he would match the company tax rate cut, Mr Abbott said he would carefully look at the details but the plan appeared to lack costings. Mr Abbott said the Coalition's own plan for northern Australia was based on ''appropriate incentives for appropriate development''. Mr Rudd dismissed claims he was copying Mr Abbott, saying he wanted to make ''concrete steps to bring about northern Australia's development''. ''I understand Mr Abbott has talked about a white paper,'' Mr Rudd said.

Mr Rudd's northern plan will also target several Coalition-held marginal seats in the top end. This includes Solomon in the NT (held on a margin of 1.8 per cent) and in Queensland, Dawson (2.4 per cent), Herbert (2.2 per cent) and Leichhardt (4.6 per cent). It will also involve the NT's Lingiari, which Labor frontbencher Warren Snowdon holds on a margin of 3.7 per cent. Good money after bad The Wilderness Society criticised Mr Rudd's Ord plan as throwing good money after bad.

“It is perplexing that the Rudd government would place more stress on the federal budget by throwing yet more money at the failed Ord scheme to seduce Chinese investment into sugar cane,” campaigner Gavan McFadzean said. Loading “More than $1.3 billion has already been ploughed into the Ord River scheme, yet all attempts at large scale cropping have failed, including sugar, rice and cotton." Mr McFadzean said that money for food bowl development would be better spent on assisting the agricultural sector with research and development, finding new markets and improving supply chains.