SMU Associate Professor of Economics Tan Kim Song commented on the suggestion of using tax concessions and special economic zones to attract businesses and workers to Northern Australia, which was raised during the ADC Northern Development Summit. He said that special rules for business were common in South-East Asia. “If you believe that Northern Australia needs to catch up and market forces don’t quite work then you should be thinking about (creating a special economic zone),” he said. He added that there were often questions raised about whether such concessions were bribes or normal government assistance.