Convincing win for Country Liberals: ALP likely to lose its only seat in The Centre

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2048

The Country Liberals party has won a convincing victory in yesterday’s Territory elections, ending an 11 year rule by Labor.
The ABC says the party is likely to have 15 seats, with nine for Labor and one independent.
The change was mostly in the bush – previously supporting Labor.
In the huge electorate electorate of Stuart, the CL’s Bess Price (1004) is likely to unseat Karl Hampton (892) with First Nations Political Party candidate Maurie Ryan on 394 votes. Preferences will decide.
Ms Price said this morning that Mr Ryan had directed his preferences in Stuart to her, although elsewhere First Nations preferenced Labor.
She is confident to have won the seat and is overjoyed about the result: “It hasn’t really hit me yet that I will be part of the team that governs the Territory.
“Today I’ll be with my family, rejoicing, relaxing and preparing myself.”
In Central Australia’s other huge bush seat, Namatjira, the indomitable Alison Anderson was re-elected as a conservative candidate in the electorate which she had first won for the Labor Party.
By this morning’s figures she had 1690 primary votes, more than double her Labor opponent’s Des Rogers (740).
The CL’s Robyn Lambley, Adam Giles and Matt Conlan comfortably retained the three urban seats in Alice Springs.
Voter turnout in both rural seats was poor – just over 50% on current figures, with absent, early, postal and declaration votes yet to be counted.
PHOTO: Party supporters for the CL (left in the picture), the ALP and Greens at the racecourse polling place in Alice Springs.

32 COMMENTS

  1. “Thank God”! “At Last”! The end of a long hard battle for the people of Alice. Our town has a future again, with a return to common sense, practicality and individuality as opposed to neglect, loopy left nanny state policies and spin. The numbers are fantastic for the whole Territory with enough seats being held by Country Liberal candidates outside of Darwin to ensure the regions will have a voice for the first time in what seems an eternity. Goodbye and good riddance Labor, what a horrible legacy of sheer inept stupidity you leave in your wake – time to spend a few years in the wilderness hopefully for the Territory taking a long hard look at the make up and policies of your party. For Alice time to resurrect our town now we have new hope another chance. Can’t wait to get on with it. “Yipeee”!

  2. What a great result. So much for the NT News saying twice Labor would win – how embarrassing. Just shows how out of touch they are, just like Labor. Now the real work is to start. Well done, Territorians.

  3. Congratulations to Terry Mills on well earned victory and what a wonderful result for regional voters and Territorians generally who live outside of Darwin.
    Is this the end of the Berrimah Line? As I’ve said in a previous comment the devil will be in the detail; that is how will the services, spending and general attention and priorities of government be shared equitably throughout the regions?
    Regional MPs must remember the physical seat of power, key advisors, departmental heads and most of the staff of government will still be based in Darwin with associated pressures to maintain the status quo. MPs will also need to remember that change is not an ease governing tool to implement and even loyal supporters and the voters who swung to the new government will not support every change 100%.
    The powers that be and entrenched views of interest groups and persons within the government and CLP will resist the new mandate for change creating pressures on Terry’s leadership. Be strong Terry, standby your promises and don’t squander this wonderful opportunity.

  4. So, Bob Taylor, for you, is Terry Mills the devil you used to know, the deep blue sea or neither / neither?
    D. R. Chewings aka THE lone dingo

  5. The electorate has spoken, congratulations to Terry Mills, not so long ago he was just one of four CLP members in NT Parliament. Good thing about this election is that it WASN’T decided in the northern suburbs of Darwin. Big implications for NT politics and allocation of government spending.
    Will be interesting to watch the new government in action. Some hand grenades about for Terry to think about. Final word: Like John Elferink’s comment on ABC TV last night. This is how to change a government, not like they are attempting it in Syria. We should celebrate the fact that we can change governments lawfully and peacefully, without any fears of election rigging, bribery or violence.

  6. Steve Brown@August 26. First out of the box crowing about a “new hope another chance” is the man who persists in referring to those whose social policies he dislikes as the “loopy left.”
    Those of us who have laboured for decades to build organisations in Alice and in many other places throughout the Territory, which Mr Brown now takes for granted, are the recipients of this sinister epithet. If I thought that Mr Brown originated it, I would be more concerned, but he is a relative innocent.
    Mr Brown “can’t wait to get on with” whatever it is he has in mind in terms of social policy for the sadly neglected town of Alice Springs, but in terms of alcohol policy which I have fought to reform, this quote from the recently published history of the Elliott district, by respected historians Peter and Sheila Forrest, is worthy of respect.
    “Since the walk offs from the stations, no black or white leader has been able to suggest where the next step in the walk should be headed. It is a terrible, tragic and too hard conundrum” (2011: 146).
    We have been promised a removal of the Berrimah line by the Chief Minister who posed for the Sunday Territorian with a beer in his hand. It remains to be seen if the CL will pursue the alcohol policy it wheeled out so late in the campaign and for which taxpayer costings have not been fully realised nor presented.
    It’s my hope that Mr Mills will confer with Bess Price and Alison Anderson before building his mandatory rehab facilities and criminalising drunkenness, perhaps even following similar excessive drinking cultures whose governments are considering a floor price. A new hope and a new chance.

  7. Clearly ignorance distorts thinking, when hear suggestions the newly elected NT government shall play a major role towards improving and providing housing in rural communities where voters shifted away from ALP.
    Governments – Commonwealth and NT, long sought to construct more houses to satisfy the needs.
    Failure to provide sufficient housing within these communities is caused by refusal of corporate agents and corporate private land owners to issue the required valid leases.
    Anyone purchasing or constructing a house knows finance depends upon a valid lease or ownership.
    Older houses constructed funded with expectations valid leases would be resolved and issued, rarely were they.
    Valid leases regularly refused by these corporate agents for the land owning corporations.
    Tenants in these communities, many of them shareholders in these land owning corporations, find themselves grossly denied their basic civil rights because they are denied valid leases by these land owning corporations and their agents.
    Ultimately responsible is the Commonwealth due constant exemptions for these corporate property agents and corporate private landowners from being held accountable for refusal to maintain basic legal standards for housing, civil rights, and the gross damage to persons resulting from these denials.

  8. One of the most interesting side-shows to watch in the coming electoral cycle is how Terry Mills and the CLP handle Alison Anderson and Bess Price.
    But whatever decisions are now taken, it will take all of us working together to keep Alice Springs on its refreshingly corrected path. People are going out at night. They’re smiling on the streets again. It is so welcome!
    Hopefully our diverse elected representatives will now get over their use of divisive terms like loopy-left and righteous-right. For the vast majority of us who inhabit the middle ground, neither is helpful. Both are juvenile. Time to raise our vocab and our game.
    It is a new chance. Let’s make the most of it.

  9. Yeh Hal. I think you might be a standing on your own out there in the middle, at least for the moment, a lonely majority of 1. I used the somewhat innocuous term of “Loopy Left” to cover my extreme anger at the havoc and destruction inflicted on the community of Alice Springs over the past decade by a level of gross incompetence within Government that is beyond description and if you imagine there is any future for our town in meeting that lot halfway you would be very wrong indeed.
    Not only is there a lot to do, there is also a lot to undo. Its going to take awhile but eventually this town will be back on track, a happy prosperous law abiding community which one day may accept another government but never again the incompetent uncaring idiotic socialists polices of neglect that have bought us so low.
    Hal, since when was there any future or gain in meeting rotten and incompetent in the middle? Halfway is still too close for comfort!

  10. Crikey, the only positive thing to say about Steve Brown’s latest comment is that he put his name to it. Let us generously assume he is on a high over the CLP victory and will calm down over time. Let us also hope Terry Mills will take him at face value, what you see is what you get. The new Government deserves a good go, they face the eternal problem of scarcity of resources, over-promising, unreal expectations in the electorate, the last thing they need is Steve Brown in full flight. Will be fun to watch though.

  11. Hey Russell, guess what banned drinkers register GONE! ID system GONE! No more stupid grog rules. The Nanny is dead. Time to party and have fun again. The wilderness awaits you.

  12. Totally agree Ian. Keep Steve Brown out of the whole arena. He brings a view and response that is just Steve’s. Stick to doing the bread and butter stuff, Steve, and that is [directed to] the elected councillor. That’s all!

  13. That’s fine, Erwin … and thanks for noting. I guess you could amend the story to reflect candidate’s presence along with his campaign supporter! lol

  14. @Steve Brown
    Hopefully Terry Mills will prove to be smarter than thinking that in our democratic system the 51% is allowed to shoot the 49%. He needs all of us.
    And so do I, and so do you.
    It’s a wonderfully diverse place, Alice. Let’s keep it that way.

  15. Congratulations to all in the Alice who have endured to see this outcome. I am sure I can see for all of us “ex” Alice residents that I hope the town returns to its rightful presence on the international stage as a truly magnificent place to visit and live.
    Well done!

  16. Yes, Anonymous Mark, the sky is blue again, rainbow bee-eaters have appeared, people are perambulating on the streets again, walking their dogs, smiling at passers-by, greeting neighbours, security fences are coming down. There is a new atmosphere in the town.

  17. Oh come on Ian. I just agreed with you regarding comment 7. But fences are coming down and people are smiling again, what a load of s@#*! We got a lot of work yet. The name has changed to CLP from ALP, Paul has now become Terry. Education, health, crime, lack of services out in the bush etc. They are all real. Fences are coming down phhhh. Stop dreaming!

  18. Janet@August 28. I always enjoy spending time in the “wilderness,” even though I know you’re referring to a place that exists in the mind of someone who prefers to ignore the reality of the facts relating to public health and alcohol.
    This is particularly curious when you can Google an increasing assemblage condemning the liberalisation of alcohol which is what your post seems to support.
    In fairness to police, ambo’s, doctors, other utilities, etc, and those families unfortunately victimised, we may ask why Australian governments have not acted on the evidence, while three-quarters of all Australians believe that Australia has a problem with alcohol (source supplied below). That statistic would place you in the “wilderness.”
    The evidence – that liquor outlets spawn violence, that responsible service of alcohol exists in name only and that one in three motor vehicle accidents involves excess alcohol – has been there for years.
    Public health advocates are not anti-alcohol, just anti-alcohol industry profits at a $36m p.a. expense to the Australian taxpaying community, not to mention the human cost.
    The source for evidence presented here can be found at http://drinktank.org.au and if you check it out you might like to sign the petition. It requires a couple of hundred more signatures before presentation to parliament, asking that our government mandate pregnancy health warnings on alcohol products because the industry has failed to do so.

  19. Hal you and a number of others who have entered the political discourse in recent times often raise taking into account the opposing view, win the argument then all hold hands in some sort of commonality which of course in some cases and discussions is entirely possible.
    Those occasions would be when the opposing view has something to offer, something within it worthwhile. I am saying to you that on this occasion that is not so. Labor got it so wrong, moved so far from government of the little people that it was closer to a fascist party, supporting big business against small, supporting and assisting land speculation by restricting Land release, trying to stop alcohol abuse by blaming business owners for supplying but never the individual for drinking.
    They increased the levels of discontent, misery, dislocation with their alcohol regime, they created heartbreak sadness more dislocation with their complete disinterest in maintaining law and order, they made life extremely tough for mums and dads by allowing affordability to become a thing of the past they drove our children from the town by the same means.
    You get my drift yet, Hal, and other like commentators? We have to move completely away from whatever the mentality was that created this disaster for Alice and in doing so, Hal, the small percentage that didn’t vote for change will still gain all the advantages that this new regime will eventually bring for our community.
    Yes, good Government is for everybody but you don’t get good government by walking in the shoes of extremely bad Government nor by listening to their advice and advisers. Those of you on the Left have just had eleven years to show us just how effective you are in Government. Look around you, see the disaster, the discontent, the misery you have created then maybe put your feet up and enjoy the benefits of good government, perhaps learn a thing or two, maybe ask a question or two about how a so called “Labor Party” could move so far from its foundational beliefs and perhaps resurrect the party into something that can provide a worthwhile role as opposition.
    The loosing vote is not 49% in our town, more likely 25%, and for those concerned, I am not part of this government, I am not even a member of the party, just a really enthusiastic supporter who has spent years of struggle to either change the policies or remove the Labor Government entirely.
    Now I’ve had a bit of fun gloating just a little, now it’s back to work putting forward policies and argument for the town of Alice, some of which hopefully this new Government will take on board, and it’s your turn to start from where I did 11 years ago, Laborites … out in the cold.

  20. Another self-contradictory diatribe from our ideological dogmatist mate Stevie Brown (Posted August 28, 2012 at 3:56 pm), a foundation member of Central Australia’s Loopy Right. If “Labor got it so wrong … trying to stop alcohol abuse by blaming business owners for supplying but never the individual for drinking”, how do you explain the Enough is Enough package and the Banned Drinkers Register? If that system was not an example, par excellence, of putting the blame and responsibility on the individual for drinking (it was the individual who was banned from drinking, Steve, not the business owner from selling) I can’t imagine what would be.

  21. Sorry Michael Liddle, I was trying be ironic after reading Anonymous Mark’s post. But I did see a rainbow bee-eater!

  22. @10 Janet seems to be saying that the banned drinkers register and showing ID has stopped her from partying. Sounds like it’s not a fun party for Janet unless it’s a full-on binge!

  23. Steve Brown
    For the record, I reckon Henderson’s government got what it deserved.
    Now it’s Mill’s turn, and I am, for now, completely behind him and his new team. I am not saying they should walk in the shoes of their predecessors. In fact I hope they don’t. But I am hoping they do all they can to take all of us with them.
    I agree with you that the hard work is far from over. On my way home this evening I noticed a car had been set alight in the Gap Hotel’s parking lot. I will not be taking my fence down.
    And please don’t call me a “Laborite”. You have no idea of how I voted.

  24. @ Bob I just read Your Comment, Quote. “If “Labor got it so wrong … trying to stop alcohol abuse by blaming business owners for supplying but never the individual for drinking”, how do you explain the Enough is Enough package and the Banned Drinkers Register? If that system was not an example, par excellence, of putting the blame and responsibility on the individual for drinking (it was the individual who was banned from drinking, Steve, not the business owner from selling) I can’t imagine what would be! Huh? Must say you cracked me up Bob, rolling on the floor laughing Ho HO HE HE You really consider a Banned Drinkers Register that had no consequence other than another warning no power to compel anyone to attend court that only stopped you buying take away but still allowed you to drink in the bar! You think a policy like that was going to work? Par Excellence! No wonder Labor just got booted! Thanks for the laugh Bob. You need to borrow a jacket give us a yell, I’ve got one I don’t need any more.

  25. Thanks Steve (Posted August 29, 2012 at 12:02 pm): just proves my point – “there is none so blind as he who will not see”, nor so ignorant as he who is incapable of acquainting himself with the relevant facts … or maybe just refuses to have a go, on principle.

  26. Well joz you do suffer from narrow vision. Persons do not have to drink alcohol to have fun and party. So many people will feel better for not being forced to buy grog for those banned. Less anger by those banned. Next we need opening and closing times to operate at the same times as other states. And for the record I am so happy that the Nanny Labor brand has been voted out of power. Conservative parties believe in individual responsibility and that impresses me personally as I dislike being forced to adjust my lifestyle due to some other individuals that are not prepared to change their lifestyles to prevent the infliction of self harm. Oh and for the record I don’t drink alcohol.

  27. Steve Brown, just off the top of my weary head, there were 2500 problem drinkers on the Banned Drinkers Register (BDR), installed at a cost of approx $1m for six months and about to be dismantled by the CL govt.
    Of that 2500, white and black, I personally know that some voluntarily placed themselves on it as a measure of controlling their own alcoholism.
    It empowered them and gave them another reason to get off the stuff. The BDR sent a positive message to some that their daily request and in some cases, humbug, for a six pack (out bush) was a result of their alcoholic condition. This also sent a positive message.
    The fact that take-away is available seven days per week does not. As the West Australians have said, a multiple approach to this monster is needed. The BDR was supported by NT police.

  28. @Steve Brown
    Thanks for that clarification. No worries.
    And for the record, is the Alice Springs News Online simply the best local opinion forum, or what!

  29. Let’s hope the CLP introduce mandatory sentencing mainly for drunkenness. I don’t want to see hospital beds taken up by drunks, I want to see the help delivered to the right sort of people who really need help, the elderly people, people with genuine disabilities, victims of crime and children. And highly it’s about time drunkenness is criminalised.

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