The common thread is discipline. None of these measures promise rapid price growth. None rely on taxpayer guarantees. All focus on reducing downside risk. That is the only language banks understand. The Northern Territory does not need optimism. It needs predictability. When risk falls, credit follows. And when credit follows, transaction volumes recover, not because they were engineered, but because they were earned. 

So, banks responded rationally. They reduced loan-to-value ratios, tightened serviceability, limited investor exposure, and avoided apartment and remote stock. Instead of absorbing risk to maintain lending volumes, they rationed credit. This is what market discipline looks like in practice. This explains clearly why the cranes disappeared, it wasn’t rocket science.