Northern Territory election carnage a brutal lesson for Labor

The electoral carnage that was wrought on the Northern Territory government over the weekend carries a brutal lesson for Labor across the nation, and one the party ignores at its peril, writes Joe Hildebrand.

The Northern Territory is a different country to the rest of Australia. In many ways, it’s a different planet.

But the electoral carnage that was wrought on its government over the weekend carries a brutal lesson for Labor across the nation, and one the party ignores at its peril.

As 26.7 million or so of us were going about our regular Saturday night, 253,000 Territorians were ­undergoing a revolution.

Labor has held government in the NT for all bar one term since 2001. On Saturday night, its seats were almost slashed in half and the Chief Minister had lost her own electorate.

The reason for this upheaval was just three words: Law. And. Order.

The irony is that law and order should never be an election issue.

It is such a fundamental cornerstone of any civil society that if that society is functioning properly it is something beyond question.

And yet across Australia there are countless places in which this basic human right can no longer be taken for granted. In NSW and Queensland, regional communities have been crying from the rooftops that their streets are no longer safe after dark.

In Victoria – whose Premier Jacinta Allen recently tried to troll Adelaide for not having a night-life – businesses in the Melbourne CBD say they cannot find staff to work after 6pm because of safety fears.

The human impact of this is tragic enough, but it is the political impact that should put Labor governments around the country – and in Canberra – on notice.

The NT government has been in decline since the departure of Michael Gunner, with the leadership passing to the Left faction of the Labor Party.

It is perhaps no coincidence that Queensland and Victoria – where crime, or at least community concerns about it, is most visibly rampant – are also run by Left-dominated governments in their dying days.

Leftist elites have always had a somewhat sneering attitude to law and order as an issue, despite crime overwhelmingly affecting the poorest and most vulnerable people in society.

And yet not only are working and welfare-class people more likely to be victims of violence and crime, all the services that should be most dear to anyone – schools, hospitals, housing – are rendered redundant if they cannot be safely accessed.

Thus if law and order is functioning effectively, it is a non-issue.

But if there is no law and order, it becomes more important than all other issues combined.

All of this we have seen in Alice Springs over many years and on Saturday, Territorians simply decided enough. You can also expect a similar result in Queensland, where the government has gone from trying to downplay crime as a problem in the regions to madly scrambling to throw everything it can at it.

Country Liberal Party leader Lia Finocchiaro arrives to cheers after her party's 2024 Northern Territory election win. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

It won’t work. The minute a ­community senses it is not being taken seriously by its elected representatives, no amount of deodorant can mask that stench.

Here is basic another lesson for governments everywhere: Don’t tell voters they’re wrong.

By contrast, as soon as concerns about crime in regional NSW were raised Premier Chris Minns and his government broke several land speed records to roll out extra policing and services.

There is of course a way to go and more police are needed, but the difference in approach said it all: No arguing the toss, no telling people they are wrong or pulling out stats to prove otherwise, just hard and fast action.

Could the fact that this government is run by the sensible Right of the Labor Party be responsible for this shining aberration?

One can only wonder …

Meanwhile in Canberra, Peter Dutton is doing everything he can to make law and order and national ­security a millstone for Anthony Albanese’s neck.

On one day last week, every single question the Coalition asked in Question Time was about the safety risk of Gazan refugees.

The Opposition Leader’s call for a total ban on asylum seekers from Gaza might sound to the left like ­hysterical and inhumane fearmongering – and I personally disagree with it – but rest assured it is resonating in the community.

And it is forcing the PM and his government to talk about Israel, immigration and national security – three political minefields for Labor since time immemorial and never more so than now.

Lampooning Dutton or seeking to paint him as heartless or racist – as the tut-tutting Teal Zali Steggall did – only makes those who privately share his concerns feel that they too are being dismissed.

And if you want to know where that leads, there are a few ex-MPs in the Territory who now have more than enough time to tell you.

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