Promises of more police are paving the path to power on election eve in the Northern Territory.
Almost 74,000 Territorians have cast their vote and with turnout usually lower in the NT, this could account for almost two-thirds of the overall vote heading into polling day.
Northern Territory Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro.Credit: Pema Tamang Pakhrin
Margins were extremely tight in nine of the 25 seats at the 2020 election and despite Labor’s victory, eight seats were won by less than 120 votes. Of those, four were won by less than 50 votes.
One day out from polling day, Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro opened the Northern Territory Police Association members conference with a direct appeal to the constabulary.
“We know that under eight years of Labor, our police have been ignored. They feel abandoned,” the Country Liberal Party leader told media outside the conference on Friday.
“They’re leaving in droves, and crime is through the roof, and so a focus on community safety is not only important for our police, it’s important for the future of the Northern Territory.”
Finocchiaro said successive police surveys show 90 per cent of the rank-and-file felt unsupported by the Labor government.
The NT is Australia’s most policed jurisdiction, however successive employment surveys have revealed low morale and trust in the government following the trial of former constable Zachary Rolfe.
Rolfe shot and killed teen Kumanjayi Walker during a bungled arrest in the remote Northern Territory community of Yuendumu in November 2019.
He was charged with murder and acquitted after a Supreme Court trial.
The impact of the ongoing inquest has placed significant pressure on the police department, with an independent review by a former police union boss and a commitment by both major parties to increase funding.
On the hustings on Friday, Chief Minister Eva Lawler spoke outside Palmerston police station about the “tough decisions” she has made.
“We’ve seen the really tough decisions that I’ve had to make … tough decisions like the curfew in Alice Springs,” she told reporters on Friday.
“Tough decisions like … supporting a gas deal for Territorians to make sure that the first gas out of the Beetaloo is gas for Territorians.
“I think I was the first member of parliament in the whole of Australia to give the CFMEU a bit of a boot as well.”
Voting closes at 6pm on August 24.
AAP
