Lia Finocchiaro reveals CLP’s big plans for 2022

Ahead of parliament resuming this week, Lia Finocchiaro has vowed the Country Liberal Party can take the fight up to Michael Gunner.

A DEFIANT Lia Finocchiaro has vowed the Country Liberal Party can take the fight up to Michael Gunner, as parliament gears up to resume this week.

It follows an eventful six months for the CLP.

Among other things, it’s faced an unprecedented by-election defeat in Daly, a looming audit by the Australian Electoral Commission and drama over the departure of renegade Senator Sam McMahon.

Acknowledging the CLP “suffered” from the by-election loss of Daly – once a stronghold – Ms Finocchiaro nevertheless said she believed the party was resonating with the community.

“To the people of Daly, we pledge we will be back and we will be showing them better local members, better local support, better advancements of their cause in the parliament than what Labor can,” she said.

Ms Finocchiaro said issues resonating with the community included crime, cost of living and the impact of Covid on NT businesses.

While arguing the CLP had a “fundamentally different approach” to many issues, there was still space for some heart in a Finocchiaro-led party.

There has been a definite softening of the CLP’s rhetoric around youth crime over the past six months, and an embracing of rehabilitation rather than retribution toward youth criminals.

That shift appeared to have survived the Christmas break.

Ms Finocchiaro dubbed her strategy “different sentencing” – she said diversion had “failed Territorians”, but also wanted programs that help children learn to turn their lives around.

“It starts certainly by separating off youth justice from Territory Families, by making sure there’s alternative models for sentencing,” she said. “For example, our Sentence for a Skill.”

But Ms Finocchiaro doubled down on her argument that Labor puts the rights of offenders above those of victims, arguing that she would try to prosecute the government again on the issue.

CLP leader Lia Finocchiaro. Picture: Glenn Campbell

“What we’ve seen is a $35m payout for Don Dale criminals … (that’s) just been the biggest kick in the guts to victims who are often waiting three years to receive any compensation,” she said.

The turbulence suffered by the CLP during the past year has undoubtedly prompted questions in the media and in political circles about whether Ms Finocchiaro is cutting through with the electorate.

Ms Finocchiaro has pushed back against sentiment that the CLP was fading into irrelevance, proclaiming the party was “so focused on ensuring Territorians understand our vision”.

“Our focus is on the future and on the Territory, and as I said, the CLP has provided a conservative platform has built the Territory over the past 50 years,” she said.

“2021 was a great year – we’ve come out of the Territory election obviously.”

Ms Finocchiaro’s comments come after an embarrassing series of Facebook posts from past and present figures of the party, in which they openly debated replacing the party with a branch of the Liberals or Nationals.

One even posted a mocked up “Liberal Party Northern Territory” logo.

Despite the white-anting, Ms Finocchiaro has high hopes she can beat Chief Minister Michael Gunner at the next election – if he hasn’t handed the reins to Nicole Manison by 2024.

And while the Morrison government is suffering from some eye-wateringly poor polling numbers, Ms Finocchiaro was adamant the Coalition was in with a real chance of winning.

“We have fantastic candidates, Jacinta Price in the Senate, we’ve got Tina MacFarlane in Solomon and Damien Ryan in Lingiari … the Territory would be lucky to have them representing us in parliament,” she said.

Despite the distraction of federal politics, Ms Finocchiaro said she would continue to pursue the government in NT parliament. “(The government) feel like they have an endless platform to dictate to people however they like, and that period is well and truly over,” she said.

Originally published as Lia Finocchiaro reveals CLP’s big plans for 2022