Wednesday's horrific crash on the Stuart Highway near the Marrakai Road turn-off, in which police have confirmed at least four people died, is a tragic reminder of the dangers of this road, particularly between Darwin and Katherine. Our thoughts are with the families and with the emergency crews who attended. But Territorians have known for years how dangerous this stretch of road is, with the evidence sitting in front of us the whole time.
For a highway of such national importance, its safety record is simply unacceptable.
AANT’s analysis of ten years of NT Government crash data* shows that between 2016 and 2025 there were 2,140 crashes on the Darwin-to-Katherine corridor. Forty-nine fatal crashes claimed 60 lives, while a further 515 people were seriously injured and admitted to hospital. That is one death roughly every two months and one serious injury every week for a decade.
Those figures end at 2025. Yesterday’s crash appears in none of them.
The numbers should stop every Territorian in their tracks.
This 317-kilometre corridor represents less than one per cent of the Territory’s road network, yet it accounts for around one in six road deaths across the NT. In Australia’s jurisdiction with the highest road fatality rate, our busiest and most strategically important highway remains largely a single, undivided strip of bitumen.
Most deaths occur south of Coolalinga, where motorists, tourists, caravans and road trains share the same carriageway at speeds up to 130km/h. The crash patterns are not mysterious. Run-off-road crashes, rollovers, head-on collisions, intersection crashes and pedestrian strikes account for most fatalities and serious injuries.
But these are exactly the types of crashes that modern highway design is proven to reduce.
Median barriers prevent head-on collisions. Wider shoulders and clearer roadsides make run-off-road crashes survivable rather than fatal and improved intersections reduce serious turning crashes.
In other words, better roads save lives.
The case for investment should stop at road safety, but it goes well beyond it.
Darwin Port managed approximately 447,000 exported cattle in 2025, with almost every animal arriving by road. The Stuart Highway is the spine of the Territory’s freight network. Every delay, closure and crash increases costs for businesses and consumers.
It is also critical national infrastructure.
Darwin and Katherine sit at the centre of Australia’s expanding northern defence posture. Billions of dollars are being invested in Defence facilities, including major upgrades at RAAF Base Tindal. The Stuart Highway is the primary connection between those assets.
Australia already has a blueprint for action.
In January 2025, the Commonwealth committed an additional $7.2 billion to improve Queensland’s Bruce Highway, funding 80 per cent of a broader program designed to bring the entire corridor up to a much safer standard. The decision recognised that the Bruce Highway was both nationally significant and carrying an unacceptable safety burden.
The Stuart Highway deserves the same treatment.
The Commonwealth's commitment of approximately $200 million for selected duplication works between Darwin and Katherine is welcome, but it is only the first step. Whether that funding is fully Commonwealth-funded or requires a Territory contribution misses the bigger issue.
Even if every dollar is spent, it will improve only selected sections of a 317-kilometre corridor. What Territorians need is a decade-long, jointly funded commitment from the Commonwealth and Northern Territory Government to progressively upgrade the entire route just as governments are doing on the Bruce Highway.
The alternative is to keep accepting a death toll that would be intolerable anywhere else in Australia.
Every politician agrees the Stuart Highway is important. Every government acknowledges the Territory’s road safety challenge. The evidence was already overwhelming, even before Wednesday’s tragic event.
The question is no longer whether this road needs a major upgrade. The question is how many more Territorians must be killed or seriously injured before we decide to fix it.
It is time for the Commonwealth and the Northern Territory Government to show the same ambition for the Stuart Highway that Queensland secured for the Bruce.
Territorians have waited long enough. Too many have died. Too many have been seriously injured.
Let's fix the Stuart Highway.
*Source: Crash datasets provided by the NTG Department of Logistics and Infrastructure.
