The Northern Territory is the odd one out. It runs the Construction Contracts (Security of Payments) Act 2004 (NT) — the old Western-Australian-style "payment dispute" model, not the East-Coast payment-schedule system used in NSW, VIC, QLD, SA, TAS and ACT. If you assume it works like the eastern states, you will run the wrong process.
New to how this works? Start with Security of Payment explained.
How the NT model is different
- It implies payment and dispute terms into your contract only where the contract is silent, rather than triggering off a payment claim and schedule.
- There is no NSW-style "serve a claim, get a schedule, or win by default" mechanism. Instead, when a payment dispute arises, a party applies to have it adjudicated.
- It applies to construction contracts entered into in the NT after 1 July 2005.
Adjudication
- When a payment dispute arises, you prepare a written application and serve it on the other party and a registered adjudicator or prescribed appointer.
- You must apply within 65 working days after the payment dispute arises (or within 20 working days after a previous application was dismissed). The appointer then has 5 working days to appoint an adjudicator (Construction Contracts (Security of Payments) Act 2004 (NT), ss 28 and 33). Older sources still quote "90 days" — that figure pre-dates the 2019 amendments; 65 working days is the current window.
- A determination binds the parties even if other proceedings are already on foot.
Common mistakes
- Treating the NT like NSW — there is no payment-schedule "default win" here.
- Assuming a contract term overrides the Act — the implied terms apply where the contract is silent.
- Letting the dispute-based application window lapse.
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