A horror election for the Northern Territory’s Labor Party has seen even the Chief Minister Eva Lawler lose her seat, as the Country Liberal Party (CLP) stormed to a decisive victory.
Territorians headed to the polls on Saturday and voted strongly in favour of Lia Finocchiaro’s CLP, leaving Labor with just four seats.
Country Liberal Party leader Lia Finocchiaro says she will lower the age of criminal responsibility, and reinstate spit hoods. Source: AAP / Bianca De Marchi/AAP Image
It’s a stunning turn around for a party that just eight years ago faced its own devastating loss at the ballot box.
That was a distant memory over the weekend, as Finocchiaro and her colleagues enjoyed double digit swings against their political opponents.
Some First Nations advocacy groups have already raised concerns about the CLP’s hardline stance on youth justice.
Speaking to journalists on Monday, Chief Minister-elect Lia Finocchiaro said it was “important to hold people accountable for the crimes they’re committing, but to put them on a better path going forward.”
“That’s why we’re lowering the age of criminal responsibility to 10 so that young people can be held accountable and that appropriate consequences for their age are delivered, such as boot camps,” she said.
“This is important work that needs to be done and there do need to be more diversion options for our courts.
“But importantly it’s not just about dealing with young people or offenders once they’re already committing crimes, this is about making sure we give kids every opportunity in life to succeed.
“That’s why our focus on getting kids to school is a very important part of our plan to reduce crime.”
It comes barely two years after the age of criminal responsibility was raised, from the minimum of 10 to 12 years of age.
Victoria made a similar move earlier this year,
It also comes in the wake of a landmark report by the National Children’s Commissioner Anne Hollonds, who called for a more empathetic approach to youth justice.
She has also vowed to return responsibility for youth detention to the Department of Corrections and increase police powers to arrest young people.
The CLP will also recycle plans to use truancy officers, an NT intervention policy that punished largely Aboriginal families when their child did not attend school.
Introduced by federal Labor in 2009, the School Enrolment and Attendance Measure project was later scrapped by CLP Indigenous affairs minister Nigel Scullion who labelled it a “complete failure”.
The CLP ran a campaign of largely unknown Territory candidates who kept a low profile during the election.
Instead, the party hedged its bets on Ms Finocchiaro, who picked up not only 49.5 per cent of the overall primary vote but more than 80 per cent of votes in her own electorate.
On her first day in the top job, she met privately with Police Commissioner Michael Murphy and the Department of Chief Minister and Cabinet chief executive Ken Davies.
Despite the overwhelming CLP victory, voter turnout was only about 65 per cent, with some electorates as low as 32 per cent.
While the swing to the right was enough to deliver the win, the swing in urban seats towards independents and Greens also created history.
Fannie Bay candidate Suki Dorras-Walker is expected to claim the Green’s first-ever Territory seat after defeating former police minister Brent Potter, while independent candidate Justine Davies has won the neighbouring seat of Johnston.
Environment Center NT chief executive Dr Kirsty Howey said on Saturday evening mass land clearing, fracking and Darwin’s proposed $1.5 billion Middle Arm development had produced the first Green and progressive Independent in the NT.
“Labor’s progressive vote has collapsed in the NT election. They’ve bled to the right and the left,” she said.
Liberal Party federal deputy Sussan Ley said Labor had failed to measure the impact of cost-of-living upon Territorians.
“Cost-of-living counts incredibly for these communities,” she told the ABC.
“And so does development and resources in promoting jobs and opportunity for the next generation.”
