tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/terry-mills-3675/articlesTerry Mills – The Conversation2020-08-23T07:24:29Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1446702020-08-23T07:24:29Z2020-08-23T07:24:29ZLabor likely to hold office in the Territory, but may find itself inheriting a terrible mess<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354228/original/file-20200823-18-v0i2h7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Charlie Bliss</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In February this year, the resignation of a member of the Legislative Assembly prompted a <a href="https://ntec.nt.gov.au/elections/NT-Legislative-Assembly-elections/Past-elections/results-general-elections/2020-LA-by-election-Division-of-Johnston/results">byelection in Johnston</a>, a seat located in the Darwin-Palmerston conurbation.</p>
<p>The Gunner ALP government ran Joel Bowden, an ex-Richmond AFL star. Surprisingly, Labor only got about <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-02/nt-johnston-by-election-wash-up-labor-clp-territory-alliance/12014852">30% of the primary vote</a>, a drop of about 12% on its primary vote in the 2016 general election. Labor eventually won the seat, by 52-48% of the two candidate-preferred.</p>
<p>There were two features of this byelection that portended a sea change in Territory politics. Firstly, the diminution of its primary vote indicated the Labor government was in electoral trouble. The second was the byelection had been shaped by a new party, the Territory Alliance. The alliance had come second, with 22% of the primary vote, and was only denied victory because the Country Liberal Party (CLP) had officially delivered its preferences to Labor.</p>
<p>The alliance was a new party, formed by Terry Mills, who as leader had surprisingly <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-26/terry-mills-celebrates-nt-election-win/4223400?nw=0">delivered government for the CLP</a> at the 2012 election.</p>
<p>After seven months in office, <a href="https://theconversation.com/darwinian-politics-its-survival-of-the-fittest-for-the-top-job-in-the-territory-12810">Mills had been deposed</a> by Adam Giles and Dave Tolner, of the CLP and subsequently left parliament. Mills returned to politics as an independent in the 2016 election. In September 2019, he formed a new party, the Territory Alliance. His former Deputy Chief Minister, Robyn Lambley, who also had left the CLP, joined him in the avowedly centrist party.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/was-the-nt-election-outcome-a-shockwave-or-a-regional-ripple-9138">Was the NT election outcome a shockwave or a regional ripple?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In the Johnston byelection, perhaps driven by personal animosities, the CLP preferenced its historic enemies, the ALP, ahead of the alliance. Possibly as a consequence, the CLP vote collapsed to about 18% of the primary vote.</p>
<p>However, the CLP’s preferences gave Labor the Johnston victory. It appeared NT politics had become a three-horse race, with all contenders for office dependent on preferences. The major issue was the recession into which Darwin had slipped following the completion of the huge <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2019-11-15/inpex-celebrates-100-lng-shipments-from-darwin/11707372">Inpex LNG plant</a>. Less prominent was the issue of the NT public deficit.</p>
<p>Then came the COVID-19 pandemic.</p>
<p>Chief Minister Michael Gunner became part of the National Cabinet and implemented a <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-11/coronavirus-border-controls-to-stay-in-the-nt/12544546">strict border closures policy</a>. He presented himself as the harried protector of Territorians’ lives, a stance Labor took into the election. The recession receded into the background of public consciousness.</p>
<p>In March, the CLP leader, Gary Higgins, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-20/gary-higgins-resigns-as-clp-leader-ahead-of-2020-nt-election/11882108">resigned</a> and indicated he would not recontest. Lia Finocchiaro, the only other CLP member of the Legislative Assembly, became leader by default. All this meant a three-horse contest for office and the certainty of either minority government or a coalition of some sort.</p>
<p>Labor admitted the budget deficit would <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-29/nt-government-releases-budget-update-after-coronavirus/12501148">exceed $8.2 billion</a> by the end of this fiscal year, and did not make any serious campaign promises beyond Gunner-the-saviour and a steady-hand-on-the tiller tropes. </p>
<p>The CLP had a plan – to reduce <a href="https://ntindependent.com.au/clp-announces-red-tape-razor-gang-again/">red (and green) tape</a> to stimulate business growth. Finocchiaro, despite early stumbles, morphed into a very formidable campaigner and the CLP had hopes of restoring their numbers to being a credible opposition, if not a surprise winner of the election.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="CLP leader Lia Finocchiaro" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354229/original/file-20200823-24-63g3r5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354229/original/file-20200823-24-63g3r5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354229/original/file-20200823-24-63g3r5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354229/original/file-20200823-24-63g3r5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354229/original/file-20200823-24-63g3r5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354229/original/file-20200823-24-63g3r5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354229/original/file-20200823-24-63g3r5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The CLP’s Lia Finocchiaro became a formidable campaigner.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Charlie Bliss</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Territory Alliance made a slew of unfunded promises and Mills presented as an alternative Chief Minister. However, its castle was built on sand. TA supporters comprised former CLP voters disaffected with the shenanigans of the 2012-16 period, as well as idealists of the “let’s-get-rid-of-parties-and-all-have-a-nice-chat-about-what-is-needed” type. As Finocchiaro improved, the alliance began to bleed votes back to the CLP.</p>
<p>On election day, Labor did <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/nt/2020/results">about as well</a> as I expected. It had won 12 seats and will probably end up with at least 13, and thus the majority required to take government in its own right.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/labor-likely-to-win-nt-election-federal-labor-trails-by-59-41-in-queensland-144571">Labor likely to win NT election; federal Labor trails by 59-41 in Queensland</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Labor did best in greater Darwin, presumably because of its “no cuts” policy towards the Territory’s badly-structured and oversized public service. Public servants and their dependents probably constitute about 20% of the electorate in Darwin. Labor is now the public servants’ party.</p>
<p>The CLP regained almost all of its historic primary vote and will likely win six to eight seats as counting progresses over this week. Two independents were elected. One, Yingiya Guyula, who had <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-17/nt-election-mulka-guyula-walker-face-heat-as-tight-contest-looms/12562408">won the seat of Mulka</a> (Nhulunbuy) in 2016, unseating Labor’s then deputy leader in the process. Despite Labor’s best efforts (including <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-02/rio-tinro-funded-miner-training-centre-in-arnhem-land-nt/5643240">a deal</a> with leading Gumatj clan leaders) Guyula will probably be reelected.</p>
<p>Having clearly lost two of its three seats (including that of its leader, Mills), Territory Alliance is going to have at best only one seat in the next assembly. By this week’s end, when the votes are all counted and recounted, I expect Labor to have 13 (possibly 14) seats, the CLP seven or eight. TA will have one and two Independents will make up the rest of the House.</p>
<p>This election was memorable for the disappearance of a third-party challenge to the historic ALP-CLP duopoly. It was also notable for the historically <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-21/poor-indigenous-voter-turnout-at-nt-election/12580688">low rate of Indigenous voting</a>. This was down from above 70% historically to below 50% of potential voters in some places this time. The NT’s Aboriginal citizens, having <a href="https://theconversation.com/lingiari-unique-but-still-a-mirror-of-the-broader-contest-15518">tried the CLP in 2012</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-moving-trainwreck-why-the-clp-will-be-swept-from-office-in-the-northern-territory-63345">returning to Labor in 2016</a>, have increasingly decided it’s a waste of time voting for anybody in the NT’s “whitefella” politics.</p>
<p>In the aftermath of this year’s election, it becomes apparent the Territory’s fundamental problem – a ballooning, structurally-created financial deficit – has not gone away but will get worse both while the pandemic continues, and after. </p>
<p>Labor might find that by winning this election, it has seized an intractable problem.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144670/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rolf Gerritsen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>With Labor set to return to office, possibly even with a majority, the Gunner government will have to confront the problem of a ballooning deficit exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.Rolf Gerritsen, Professorial Research Fellow, Northern Institute, Charles Darwin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/633452016-08-17T03:54:40Z2016-08-17T03:54:40ZA moving trainwreck? Why the CLP will be swept from office in the Northern Territory<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133890/original/image-20160812-20932-14zcjmz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Adam Giles' Country Liberal Party expected at least two terms in government in the Northern Territory when it won office in 2012.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Dean Lewins</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For the political voyeur, the inevitable defeat of a government is full of interest. Once they have lost the mandate of heaven, declining governments seem also to lose their luck. Stumbles become crises and bureaucratic failures scandals. There is much that is politically salacious to discuss.</p>
<p>This is the case for the Country Liberal Party (CLP) government in the Northern Territory. The CLP faces <a href="http://blogs.abc.net.au/antonygreen/2016/08/2016-northern-territory-election.html">near-certain defeat</a> at the polls on August 27.</p>
<h2>A series of disasters</h2>
<p>To general amazement the CLP <a href="https://theconversation.com/was-the-nt-election-outcome-a-shockwave-or-a-regional-ripple-9138">captured office</a> in 2012 on the back of winning the Aboriginal “bush” vote for the first time since NT self-government in 1978.</p>
<p>In 2012, the CLP swept the “bush” seats and won government. That was because of the leadership of Terry Mills and his partnership with Alison Anderson, initially elected as a Labor MLA in 2005 and the most formidable Aboriginal politician in NT history. </p>
<p>The CLP expected at least two terms in government. That dream is about to turn to dust.</p>
<p>Shortly after securing government, Adam Giles overthrew Mills as CLP leader and chief minister. This was interpreted “down south” as a panic reaction to the unexpected overthrow of Ted Baillieu in Victoria. But it had more to do with some “good old boys” in the parliamentary party seizing upon the inevitable stumbles of a new government and an opportunistic reaction to public hostility to the government <a href="http://www.ntnews.com.au/business/nt-power-prices-tipped-to-fall-by-5-per-cent-from-january-1/news-story/25a336afac083135b4de6e65a85ce3f8">setting electricity prices</a> at a level that would maintain an efficient power generation system. </p>
<p>Giles was now chief minister and electricity price increases were reduced. So far so good for the CLP. But it was not to last.</p>
<p>A wave of misadventures rolled over the government. Dave Tollner was <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-22/nt-deputy-leader-dave-tollner-resigns-over-gay-slur-comments/5690686">forced to resign</a> as treasurer over homophobic comments; he was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/feb/10/controversial-mp-dave-tollner-big-winner-in-northern-territory-reshuffle">later reinstated</a>. </p>
<p>The CLP’s Aboriginal women MPs were subject to racist and sexist slurs in the partyroom. Two (including Anderson) of the three <a href="https://theconversation.com/pups-recruits-cause-a-stir-and-ripples-may-spread-beyond-nt-26001">left the government</a> and eventually became independents. </p>
<p>The government began to lose public support and goodwill. It privatised government assets, like the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-24/nt-government-confirms-$424m-tio-sale/5912838">Territory Insurance Office</a>. But NT voters were in no mood for economic rationalism.</p>
<p>The government’s support further eroded, particularly when Labor rid itself of an unpopular leader (Delia Lawrie) and <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-23/nt-labor-unveils-new-look-front-bench-resignation-delia-lawrie/6415136">replaced her</a> with an electable one (Michael Gunner). Then Mills’ former deputy chief minister, Robyn Lambley, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-17/robyn-lambley-quits-clp-to-sit-as-independent/6554140">left the government</a> and became an independent. Suddenly, the government had lost its comfortable majority and faced a more contested parliamentary environment. </p>
<p>Its speaker and former deputy leader, Kezia Purick, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-20/kezia-purick-quits-country-liberals-nt-government-loses-majority/6632916">also left the CLP</a> and became an independent, mostly over planning issues but also irked by the sexism/homophobia of her male colleagues. The government tried to replace her as speaker <a href="http://www.ntnews.com.au/news/northern-territory/nt-speaker-kezia-purick-holds-government-ministers-in-contempt-of-parliament-over-misleading-ads/news-story/172d320529058c855b7bd195938c3d79">but failed</a>. This was a portent.</p>
<p>Defections from the CLP’s organisational wing started; a <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-17/new-proposed-political-party-opposed-to-fracking/6627904">new party</a>, <a href="http://1territory.party/">1 Territory</a>, is contesting this election as a result. </p>
<p>The pace of problems picked up. Sports Minister Nathan Barrett <a href="http://www.mamamia.com.au/nathan-barrett-resigns/">resigned from cabinet</a> in June after sending videos of himself performing a sex act to a constituent. And, in recent weeks, the Young CLP president, Ben Dawson, <a href="http://www.ntnews.com.au/news/northern-territory/young-country-liberals-party-president-ben-dawson-leaves-to-work-for-independent-candidate-terry-mills/news-story/f51811ae1e44439d43ba2ec3b02b8017">resigned from the party</a>. </p>
<h2>The 2016 campaign</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/don-dale-royal-commission">Don Dale Detention Centre</a> imbroglio has dominated the election campaign. An <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2016/07/25/4504895.htm">ABC Four Corners program</a> revealed systemic abuse of children in the NT’s juvenile justice system under both Labor and CLP administrations. </p>
<p>Instant national outrage led to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull initiating a royal commission to investigate the abuse.</p>
<p>Ironically, apart from embarrassing progressive/liberal Territorians, this scandal did not damage the Giles government, which is <a href="http://www.ntnews.com.au/news/northern-territory/nt-leader-adam-giles-tells-politicians-to-play-nice/news-story/c1318f96b9dd2ed94db6dbb7449b280d">now campaigning</a> on law-and-order issues – a reliable vote-winner for the CLP. Giles has even had the gall to claim that the program was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/jul/29/adam-giles-suggests-lawyers-who-spoke-to-four-corners-had-political-motives">politically motivated</a>.</p>
<p>To a degree, all these problems were part of an existential conflict within the CLP. The Giles government is of the traditional “good old boys” developmentalist-style of the CLP: a cross between Hansonite hostility to the “other” and Bjelke-Petersen-style state subsidy of the “mates”. But Darwin has changed; the latte drinkers’ population ratio is now similar to that in southern capitals.</p>
<p>Greens voters <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/federal-election-2016/results/">now exist</a> in the same proportion as in other Australian cities. A new conservative party is required to adjust to these realities. This sociopolitical conflict will play out after the election.</p>
<p>Both parties have campaigned in good pork-barrelling style and have made promises that will be fiscally unaffordable. Ratings agency Moody’s recently <a href="http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/nts-credit-rating-downgraded/news-story/6574a7c19a9d4c3e9cf409dd373f2720">downgraded the NT’s credit rating</a>. But the eventual budgetary reckoning can wait. </p>
<h2>What to expect</h2>
<p>In any case, it seems the content of the policies released is of little consequence; the electors have made up their minds. They are not exactly <a href="http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/wayne-goss-a-shy-premier-who-brought-forth-the-sunshine-20141110-11jsdr.html">waiting with baseball bats</a> on their porches but enough of them have made up their minds to sweep the CLP from office.</p>
<p>The CLP’s vote in the urban areas will decline, though not by anywhere near the 20% <a href="https://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollbludger/2016/08/01/mediareach-64-36-labor-northern-territory/">some polls predict</a>. It will probably lose only one urban seat. The CLP will lose government in the bush. Is this Alison Anderson’s final political impact?</p>
<p>I expect Labor to win back all the bush electorates – <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/nt-election-2016/guide/daly/">Daly</a>, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/nt-election-2016/guide/arnh/">Arnhem</a>, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/nt-election-2016/guide/araf/">Arafura</a>, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/nt-election-2016/guide/nama/">Namatjira</a> and <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/nt-election-2016/guide/stua/">Stuart</a> – that it lost at the 2012 election. It will also gain <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/nt-election-2016/guide/blai/">Blain</a> in Palmerston, notwithstanding that Mills is running as an independent. It will form government with 17 seats.</p>
<p>The CLP will retain three seats in Darwin/Palmerston, plus <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/nt-election-2016/guide/kath/">Katherine</a> and <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/nt-election-2016/guide/brai/">Braitling</a> in Alice Springs. So it will be the opposition, with five seats.</p>
<p>There will be three independents: Gerry Wood and Purick in the Darwin rural area and Lambley in Alice Springs.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/63345/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>In the past two years Rolf Gerritsen has received commissioned research funding from the Northern Territory departments of Education and Local Government.</span></em></p>The Country Liberal Party government in the Northern Territory faces near-certain defeat on August 27.Rolf Gerritsen, Professorial Research Fellow, Northern Institute, Charles Darwin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/128462013-03-15T04:03:09Z2013-03-15T04:03:09ZWho’s the Premier? Who cares?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/21298/original/p6b6th42-1363308575.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Does anyone care that Denis Napthine is Victoria's new premier?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Julian Smith</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last Thursday, Victorians awoke to the news that they had a new Premier. Ted Baillieu did not survive four days of rolling scandal which began with the release by the Herald Sun of four hours of taped conversations between key Liberal and National Party players and ended with the resignation from the Liberal Party of Geoff Shaw, Member for Frankston, leaving the government one short of an absolute majority of the lower House.</p>
<p>Most Victorians reacted to the news by shrugging their shoulders and getting on with things. There was none of the anger and panic which accompanied Kevin Rudd’s replacement by prime minister Julia Gillard. Very quickly, the news was displaced in Victoria by coverage of the trial of Jill Meagher’s alleged killer and by the election of a new Catholic Pope. </p>
<p>Victorians don’t really know why Baillieu “resigned”, but nor are they clamouring for answers. What Julia Gillard would have given for that kind of apathy in 2010.</p>
<p>Then on Wednesday this week, the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, Terry Mills, was rolled in a good old fashioned coup. Like the leadership spills of old, this was a while coming. </p>
<p>In February the Attorney-General, John Elferink, had signalled his intention to challenge for the leadership, but in the end couldn’t muster the numbers. Weeks later, Health and Housing Minister Dave Tollner did force a spill, but ended up being forced out of Cabinet himself. Barely a week after that, Tollner and Adam Giles conspired to organise a coup while Mills was in Japan on a trade mission. </p>
<p>Mills was chief minister for barely six and a half months.</p>
<h2>Catch Labor’s disease</h2>
<p>Obviously, each leadership change had its own trajectory, and the fact that they occurred within a week of each other is largely coincidence. But there are wider implications. One is that the so-called “New South Wales disease” – a shorthand reference to the factional infighting that saw New South Wales Labor cycle through four Premiers (Bob Carr, Morris Iemma, Nathan Rees and Kristina Keneally) before finally losing office in March 2011 – is not limited to the Labor party.</p>
<p>History tells us that governing parties of both persuasions have swapped leaders quite often, especially when in power for extended periods of time, and so the identification of leadership coups with the Labor brand is a distortion. </p>
<p>The association of government leadership coups to Labor in recent times is due, in large part, to the fact that Labor has dominated the government benches in the states and territories during the past fifteen years. </p>
<p>In the decade from 2001 the party so dominated state and territory politics that, outside Western Australia, only in 2001 in South Australia and in 2010 in Victoria was Labor not in government. By definition, any changes of premier or chief minister between elections were changes of Labor premiers or chief ministers.</p>
<h2>Market-driven politics</h2>
<p>George Megalogenis makes a deeper analysis. He suggests that political leadership changes in Australia since about 1992 have been functions of two trends: the domination of political polling; and a general malaise in Australian political leadership. </p>
<p>It was in 1992 that Newspoll went fortnightly instead of monthly. Megalogenis argues that since then, politics is driven more and more by the practices of marketing than by more traditional methods of policy and persuasion. The prime example he gives was Rudd’s decision to drop his emissions trading scheme – his proposed solution to “the greatest moral challenge of our time” – after he was told of bad reactions to it in focus groups dominated by politically disengaged voters. </p>
<p>The recent trend for first-term leaders to be torn down by their party rooms is something we haven’t seen since the 1920s and 1930s in Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia.</p>
<p>Related to this kind of market-driven politics is what Megalogenis identifies as the generally sub-standard level of political leadership across Australia. Unprepared politically or philosophically to pursue long-term reform in this era of poll-driven 24-hour news cycles, he argues, leaders seek election on short-term populist rhetoric and then opt out when the going gets too tough. Leaders who adhere themselves publicly to political philosophies which go beyond vague statements (like Gillard’s proclaimed belief in the importance of “education”) are, it seems, relics of the past, so when the polls go south they have no substance to ground themselves in.</p>
<h2>States in play</h2>
<p>A third important factor is at play in state and territory politics – the perception of the relevance (or otherwise) of state politics. The prime minister <a href="http://www.lgnews.com.au/the-thoughts-pm-gillard/#.UUJopTzlzB8">said in January</a> that if the Constitution were being drafted today, the states would be left out. </p>
<p>That tier of government is indeed in a curious malaise. A century of High Court decisions and the GST have centralised taxation powers in the Commonwealth government and left the states increasingly reliant on dubious means of raising their own revenue, such as taxes on gambling and cigarettes, and on tied grants from the Commonwealth. </p>
<p>State governments seem unable to cope effectively with those service areas the Constitutional drafters assigned to them, such as education and health, and too often the state governments seem little more than the facilitators of miners’ and developers’ aspirations. More and more, state and territory governments imagine their role as mere managers, and political leaders as Chief Executive Officers who sink or swim on the share price and the profit-and-loss statement. The tenure of managerialist “leaders” is necessarily short and they are rarely missed.</p>
<p>Megalogenis says he’s waiting for someone to come along and change the whole conversation, perhaps by injecting some philosophical passion into the motherhood managerialism of the current crop of political leaders. </p>
<p>But it’s unlikely that this person will come through state politics. It may be that the lack of public concern about the replacements of sitting government leaders by their parties is a sign of a better acceptance of Westminster traditions than was observed during the Rudd-Gillard swap. But perhaps the most significant message from the twin coups in Victoria and the Northern Territory is that for voters, state and territory politics matter less than ever.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/12846/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Russell Marks does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Last Thursday, Victorians awoke to the news that they had a new Premier. Ted Baillieu did not survive four days of rolling scandal which began with the release by the Herald Sun of four hours of taped…Russell Marks, Honorary Research Associate, School of Social Sciences, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/128102013-03-14T01:49:53Z2013-03-14T01:49:53ZDarwinian politics: it’s survival of the fittest for the top job in the Territory<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/21247/original/n9srzn9c-1363218656.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Terry Mills has been ousted as Chief Minister of the Northern Territory by Adam Giles.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s a fact up north that our governments habitually overthrow their Chief Ministers. By my estimation, five of the nine (now 10) Chief Ministers have been ousted by their party colleagues rather than the electorate since 1978. So the dramatic overthrow of Terry Mills, <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/state-politics/nt-chief-minister-terry-mills-dumped-as-leader-by-phone-report/story-e6frgczx-1226596593915">who was in Japan</a> (trying fruitlessly to get gas from Inpex to replace the gas he had given away to Rio Tinto) should have come as no surprise. </p>
<p>Yet of course it did. The successful coup was <a href="http://blogs.crikey.com.au/northern/2013/03/14/how-adam-giles-and-his-mates-seized-power-in-the-nt/">leaked prematurely</a>, making the event seem more dramatic. This was no <a href="http://blogs.abc.net.au/victoria/2013/03/ted-baillieu-resigns-denis-napthine-is-victorias-new-premier.html">Baillieu giving way to Napthine</a>; in true Territory style this was conspiratorial and brutally effective.</p>
<p>And the new Chief Minister is a surprise. Adam Giles is the youngest Chief Minister since Paul Everingham in 1978. Southern observers and news outlets will celebrate Giles as the first Indigenous First Minister of any Australian jurisdiction. Yet he is not Chief Minister because he is Indigenous. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/21248/original/w6xwgcsk-1363218869.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/21248/original/w6xwgcsk-1363218869.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=678&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/21248/original/w6xwgcsk-1363218869.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=678&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/21248/original/w6xwgcsk-1363218869.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=678&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/21248/original/w6xwgcsk-1363218869.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/21248/original/w6xwgcsk-1363218869.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/21248/original/w6xwgcsk-1363218869.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Adam Giles has taken over leadership of the CLP.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/NT Government</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>With his four Indigenous colleagues in the NT Government his indigeneity cuts no ice, because Giles is a Koori immigrant to the NT. Giles is Chief Minister because his parliamentary colleagues, including the Indigenous ones, ultimately agreed that he was the only person that could rescue the floundering new CLP government, elected barely <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/clp-makes-inroads-in-early-count-in-northern-territory-election/story-fn59niix-1226458055375">seven months ago</a>.</p>
<p>Importantly, representing an Alice Springs electorate, Giles is the first Chief Minister from outside Darwin. Territorians will be more aware of that than of his indigeneity.</p>
<p>Terry Mills’ troubles began almost as soon as he became Chief Minister last August. He discovered that the <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/state-politics/labor-blamed-as-territory-faces-debt-burden-of-62bn/story-e6frgczx-1226508721716">NT level of public debt</a> (including contingent liabilities) was much higher than he anticipated. This was not the usual “shock- horror, budget black hole” manoeuvre, pioneered by the inimitable Neville Wran in 1976 and faithfully copied by almost every in-coming election winner since. </p>
<p>It was a fact, a fact that had been created by the ousted Labor Government’s willingness to postpone hard decisions until after the last election.</p>
<p>This point is best exemplified by the case of the power and water <a href="http://www.ntnews.com.au/article/2012/11/20/315263_ntnews.html">charge increases</a> that Mills implemented. This issue became emblematic in his overthrow.</p>
<p>The previous government had used the government-owned Power and Water Corporation (PWC) for political ends. From 2006 it made the PWC pay for the undergrounding of power lines in the northern suburbs of Darwin (supposedly for cyclone safety reasons but coincidentally increasing property values and votes for the former government). The PWC had not been allowed to increase its charges commensurate with its capital renewal and repairs and maintenance needs. </p>
<p>The new CLP government had to rectify the situation. It chose to inflict the pain in a single dose, rejecting the option of graduated electricity price rises over a number of years. This was a political judgement that it was better to wear the odium immediately and hope the electorate would forget by the next election. It was a rational strategy but Mills failed to manage the storm. His school-masterly demeanour was not the medium to convince Territorians that they should pay very much more for electricity. The main Territory newspaper, Murdoch’s NT News, ran <a href="http://www.ntnews.com.au/article/2013/02/26/318007_ntnews.html">an aggressive populist campaign</a> against the government.
Like Baillieu, Mills failed as a political communicator. </p>
<p>Still, after only a few months in the job, Mills would have been forgiven for not seeing this coming. His position within the government seemed unassailable. He enjoyed the support of the four new Indigenous MLAs. His three putative challengers – Giles, <a href="http://www.countryliberals.org.au/members.php?id=6">David Tollner</a> and <a href="http://www.countryliberals.org.au/members.php?id=9">John Elferink</a> – neutralised each other. Although electorally unpopular, Mills seemed safe until these three egos could decide who would take a run at the top spot.</p>
<p>But Mills made several key political mistakes. First his Deputy and Treasurer, <a href="http://www.ntnews.com.au/article/2013/03/07/318313_ntnews.html">Robyn Lambley</a>, was pushed out, seeming to take the blame for cost cutting and power charges. At a stroke the powerful Alice Springs branch of the CLP was alienated and its three MPs withdrew their support for Mills. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/21249/original/hv7dh8d4-1363219553.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/21249/original/hv7dh8d4-1363219553.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=915&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/21249/original/hv7dh8d4-1363219553.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=915&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/21249/original/hv7dh8d4-1363219553.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=915&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/21249/original/hv7dh8d4-1363219553.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1149&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/21249/original/hv7dh8d4-1363219553.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1149&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/21249/original/hv7dh8d4-1363219553.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1149&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Alison Anderson, a key figure in Northern Territory politics, recently called Adam Giles a “little boy” and “spoiled brat”.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Alan Porritt</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Second, Mills assumed that the Indigenous MLAs were his supporters. That was true for the first Giles challenge in the party room meeting last week. But it changed this week. Last week Mills appointed two of the four Indigenous MLAs as <a href="http://www.ntnews.com.au/article/2013/03/12/318445_ntnews.html">Parliamentary Secretaries</a>. On the surface this seemed to confirm his permanence, but to this observer it seemed an odd indication of his dependence rather than leadership. </p>
<p>In the end it was two behind-the-scenes developments late last week sealed that Mills’ fate. Tollner agreed to defer to Giles for the leadership (Elferink was by now irrelevant, canvassing for votes for a challenge two weeks ago he discovered he had only one, his own). And Alison Anderson the <em>primus inter pares</em> of the Indigenous MLAs, reached a rapprochement with Giles. </p>
<p>Anderson is easily the most formidable and strategic politician in the Territory. After last week’s party meeting she publicly castigated Giles as a <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/nt-coup-ends-with-spoilt-brat-on-top-20130313-2g0sk.html">“little boy”</a> for his challenge. So we can only speculate on the subsequent conversation that secured Giles the “bush” members’ votes and so the Chief Ministership. </p>
<p>There was no one reason the Northern Territory lost its Chief Minister just six months into his tenure. Rather, like his colleague Baillieu in the south, Terry Mills had simply outstayed his welcome with a restless party, and lost the support of the public. </p>
<p>The ousting may have seemed dramatic, but in the end, it was just another day in Territory politics.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/12810/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rolf Gerritsen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It’s a fact up north that our governments habitually overthrow their Chief Ministers. By my estimation, five of the nine (now 10) Chief Ministers have been ousted by their party colleagues rather than…Rolf Gerritsen, Professorial Research Fellow, Northern Institute, Charles Darwin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/90372012-08-27T06:05:11Z2012-08-27T06:05:11ZArrogant Indigenous policies that toppled NT Labor is a lesson for Feds<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/14667/original/dfrzr4gq-1346045348.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Country Liberal government leader and Chief Minister Terry Mills has pledged to visit Northern Territory's remote communities.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The remarkable feature of the Country Liberal Party’s win in the Northern Territory is how it presents two completely opposing aspects, with dramatically contrasting results between the towns and remote bush communities. </p>
<p>In the urban seats in Darwin, Palmerston and Alice Springs and the seats of Nhulunbuy and Barkley (centred on mining towns), the status quo has prevailed. Labor retained all of its existing seats and indeed even achieved swings towards it in a couple of seats.</p>
<p>Labor’s campaign strategy was to pour resources into limiting an expected anti-Labor swing sufficiently to retain its own marginal Darwin seats, while targeting the northern suburbs Country Liberal seat of <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/elections/nt/2012/guide/sand.htm" target="_blank">Sanderson</a>. </p>
<p>The Gillard government maintains the federal implications of the NT election are minimal. Indeed, a swing of that magnitude probably reflects federal factors to a limited extent, as well as a muted local “it’s time” factor after 11 years of local Labor rule, but does not suggest the Labor “brand” has been irretrievably damaged.</p>
<p>The picture in remote Aboriginal community-based seats seats could scarcely have been more different. The ALP vote was decimated, with a general anti-Labor swing of around 16%. The seats of <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/elections/nt/2012/guide/daly.htm" target="_blank">Daly</a> and <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/elections/nt/2012/guide/arnh.htm" target="_blank">Arnhem</a> have certainly been won by the CLP, while the north coast and Tiwi Islands seat of <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/elections/nt/2012/guide/araf.htm" target="_blank">Arafura</a> will almost certainly go the same way and the sprawling bush seat of <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/elections/nt/2012/guide/stua.htm" target="_blank">Stuart</a> remains too close to call. </p>
<p>These results flow from particular local factors with very little immediate partisan relevance to federal politics, although clearly Warren Snowdon will struggle to retain the seat of Lingiari at next year’s federal election. </p>
<p>Snowdon sustained huge anti-Labor swings in many remote mobile polling booths, but retained the seat largely because the ALP vote in the towns remained strong. <a href="http://clubtroppo.com.au/2010/08/26/drilling-down-into-the-nt-federal-election-result/" target="_blank"></a></p><a href="http://clubtroppo.com.au/2010/08/26/drilling-down-into-the-nt-federal-election-result/" target="_blank">
<p>However, this weekend’s election outcome encapsulates an arrogant official mindset which has long bedevilled Indigenous policy in Australia. The emphatic rejection of that mindset by Aboriginal Territorians may well mark a decisive moment in Australia’s political history.</p>
<p>It now appears that very little was actually done by Labor to arrest the evident increasing hostility in its erstwhile Aboriginal heartland.</p>
<p>The sources of Aboriginal resentment toward Labor are not difficult to identify:
</p><ul>
<li>Residual hostility flowing from the heavy-handed paternalistic measures of the Howard government’s federal Intervention which the Rudd/Gillard government adopted, tweaked and re-badged as Stronger Futures;</li>
<li>Territory and federal government withdrawal of funding to many remote Aboriginal outstation communities and an associated embryonic plan to concentrate funding and resources in 20 designated “growth towns” in the larger Aboriginal communities;</li>
<li>The Territory government’s amalgamation of previous small community-based local councils into much larger “super shires”.</li>
</ul>
There probably wasn’t much the Henderson government could have done about Stronger Futures given that its influence over the Gillard government was clearly quite limited. But its failure to address the problems surrounding outstations, growth towns and super shires is more difficult to understand.<p></p>
<p>Aboriginal attitudes towards the Intervention/Stronger Futures are more complex and ambiguous than many southern commentators acknowledge. For example, the controversial income management policy, whereby 50% of social security benefits are quarantined to be spent only on food and clothing at designated outlets, is quietly supported by many people, especially women subject to “ humbugging” by aggressive male kin. </p>
<p>High profile Country Liberal candidate Bess Nungarrayi Price, who has been a vocal supporter of income management, looks likely to win the seat of Stuart.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, in a more general sense the Intervention aka Stronger Futures is experienced by Aboriginal people as a grossly insulting and indiscriminate official condemnation of the entire community as pedophiles or gambling and porn addicts, or at the very least irresponsible people incapable of taking care of their own children or finances.</p>
</a><p><a href="http://clubtroppo.com.au/2010/08/26/drilling-down-into-the-nt-federal-election-result/" target="_blank">Labor’s stubborn pursuit of withdrawal of funding from remote outstations, despite evident hostility, has also been puzzling. The decision was belatedly reversed when the</a><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2012/03/29/3466480.htm" target="_blank"> federal government</a> announced resumption of funding in May, and the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-01/funding-increase-announced-for-territory-outstations/4169140" target="_blank">Henderson government</a> eventually promised to match a CLP campaign promise to restore NT government funding, but by then it was far too late to undo the damage.</p>
<p>It is certainly true that some outstations were little more than publicly funded fishing or hunting holiday camps, but in general outstations demonstrably provide a far healthier environment for families than the chaotic, violent, dysfunctional larger communities. </p>
<p>Moreover, the de-funding of outstations was in part an initiative of controversial Labor defector Alison Anderson when she was the ALP Minister for Indigenous Policy. It was consistently opposed by other Indigenous Labor MLAs, but it appears that Chief Minster Henderson failed to listen. </p>
<p>There is a certain irony in the fact that Anderson has easily retained her central Australia seat of <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/elections/nt/2012/guide/nama.htm" target="_blank">Namatjira</a> as a Country Liberal MLA, partly on the back of local community resentment towards the very policies she previously championed.</p>
<p>The associated Territory government policy of concentrating resources and funding in 20 designated growth towns has not really begun in any meaningful sense, but initial implementation appears to have been botched. The central concept was to create secure land tenure in town areas on Aboriginal land, to encourage both home ownership and development of productive private enterprises. However, protracted negotiations with government for long township leases engendered considerable community resentment. </p>
<p>Indeed some communities are <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-23/amoonguna-community-refuses-to-sign-federal-lease-on-land/4218492?section=nt" target="_blank">refusing to sign new leases</a> with the federal government in the wake of the recent expiry of the initial five year Intervention period.</p>
<p>Veteran <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/candid-critic-of-indigenous-welfare-trap/story-e6frg6z6-1226076647928" target="_blank">NT Aboriginal Affairs bureaucrat Bob Beadman</a> was initially put in charge of the program, but resigned in despair after less than two years. In an official report to the NT government on the program, Beadman observed that the form and duration of leasehold being negotiated did not meet commercial bank lending criteria, and therefore “do not create the legal environment for economic development”. </p>
<p>One might also doubt whether quite a few communities even possess the inherent location and other attributes for viable commercial enterprises in any event, irrespective of the legal framework. </p>
<p>Lastly, the Territory government’s local council amalgamation program several years ago has also engendered deep resentment and also <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/indigenous/a-week-for-a-bed-by-the-chook-house/story-fn9hm1pm-1226453693269" target="_blank">appears to have been botched</a>. </p>
<p>Levels of nepotism, cronyism and even outright corruption were certainly high in some of the former local community councils, but it should surely have been evident that stripping away local autonomy and self-determination was unlikely to prove a viable solution.</p>
<p>In any event, devising and implementing solutions to the seemingly intractable problems of remote Indigenous communities is now the big challenge facing Terry Mills’ Country Liberal government. </p>
<p>Relationships based on mutual respect, honest dialogue, partnerships between government and local communities, and genuine local “ownership” of programs are the obvious keys to success. Aboriginal people have spoken through the ballot box, eloquently underlining their political power and agency. </p>
<p>No government from now on will be able to afford to neglect their interests or take their support for granted. The “top down” paternalism which has characterised the approaches of successive federal governments as well as the outgoing Henderson regime simply has not worked on any level. </p>
<p>You would wonder how anyone could ever have imagined that it would.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/9037/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The author was a Labor member of the Legislative Assembly from 1991-94. However he has had no affiliation formal or otherwise with any political party since 1995.</span></em></p>The remarkable feature of the Country Liberal Party’s win in the Northern Territory is how it presents two completely opposing aspects, with dramatically contrasting results between the towns and remote…Ken Parish, Lecturer, Charles Darwin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/90812012-08-27T03:40:27Z2012-08-27T03:40:27ZNT Labor counts the cost of federal and state indigenous policies<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/14648/original/k7bxwk4p-1346035415.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Northern Territory's new Chief Minister Terry Mills has benefited from indigenous disenchantment with state and federal Labor policies.</span> </figcaption></figure><p>The ALP losses in the Northern Territory are fairly clearly related to Aboriginal rejection of their treatment - not just what was done to them, but how it was done. </p>
<p>There has been little acknowledgement by ALP governments in the last few years of how major policies on both a state and federal level have roused local ire. </p>
<p>The Northern Territory Emergency Response group (NTER) was perceived to have failed to seriously seek and incorporate local input into Stronger Futures, the extension of the NT Intervention.</p>
<p>Yet the clues have been there in the content of their own recent reports on their own extensive consultations for Stronger Futures. They failed to note the clear concerns from many in more remote communities about both what was being done to them and, importantly how.</p>
<p>The NT Government’s introduction of super shires, which abolished 52 local community councils, was often raised as a problem in these Federal consultations and was obviously seen as part of Labor’s overall approach.</p>
<p>Similarly, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/homeland-communities-destroyed-to-save-a-bit-of-cash-3730">lack of funding for outstations</a> was seen as a joint problem, as it was targeting of only some towns for growth. </p>
<p>The signs were in these reports that they chose to ignore: there were problems in how decisions were being made by both governments, so locals put local and national issues together.</p>
<p>The voting patterns in many of the outer communities indicate wide discontent with Labor. The booths vary enormously, reflecting local loyalties and personal factors but show the punishing of the ALP was diverse. </p>
<p>There were many first preferences for the Country Liberal Party (CLP) but also for Greens and the new <a href="http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/first-nations-political-party-formed/story-e6frea8c-1225985264087">First Nations Party</a> in some areas. The low turnout and spread of votes suggest these electors were exploring their power in many new ways, rather than just turning conservative.</p>
<p>The CLP may have been seen as a least “bad” option, and it did make a serious effort to say it was prepared to change the models for making decisions. The main advantage they had was that they have not been in power for some time and they could therefore promise to do things inclusively and differently. Whether this will occur will be crucial to their maintaining these seats.</p>
<p>Federal Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Jenny Macklin needs to consider whether the presence of many Canberra bureaucrats and the ineptitude of many processes have contributed to the loss. </p>
<p>It is too easy to say the issues were local. The shires issue was certainly a major one, but the general lack of local respect and real partnerships displayed by a generic Labor brand can’t easily be obscured by not using the logo, or not asking any federal ministers - including the Prime Minister - to take part in the campaign.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/9081/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eva Cox does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The ALP losses in the Northern Territory are fairly clearly related to Aboriginal rejection of their treatment - not just what was done to them, but how it was done. There has been little acknowledgement…Eva Cox, Professorial Fellow Jumbunna IHL, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.