Labor Member for Stuart Scott McConnell calls for a new Minister position

THE Territory will continue to suffer from broken promises and failed projects if things don’t change immediately according to Labor Member for Stuart Scott McConnell

Independent Member for Stuart Scott McConnell (left) is calling for the NT Government to introduce a Minister for Regions to better support rural NT.

ALICE Springs and the remaining regions of the Northern Territory will continue to suffer from failed projects and broken promises if things don’t change immediately according to Member for Stuart Scott McConnell.

McConnell has renewed his calls for the NT Labor Government to implement a Minister for Regions position, saying regional NT is becoming less and less of a priority.

“We’ve had in reasonably quick succession recently a lack of delivery of projects in Central Australia,” McConnell told the Centralian Advocate this week.

“The government has completely messed up the community consultation for the National Indigenous Art Gallery and clearly they didn’t have their eye on the ball in listening to what the community had to say there.

“They’ve clearly dropped the ball on this and I think that is really good evidence of the fact that what we desperately need in the NT is a Minister for Regions.

“I’ve already called on the government to have a Minister for Regions when I was a backbencher in the Labor caucus and they were very very annoyed with me for making that call. I was ignored because the way the government is led is increasingly Darwin-centric.

“I made that call only a few months into government and now almost three years into government I think I’ve been proved right.

“I’m calling on them again, we need a Minister for Regions and we need a Minister for Regions now.”

McConnell also called upon Opposition Leader Gary Higgins to implement the position if elected in next year’s Territory election, saying it’s vital for the NT to have a voice outside of Darwin.

“I’d also call upon the Opposition Leader to implement a Minister for Regions,” he said.

“There are three Ministers that are from outside the Darwin area but they are always significantly pressured by the way this government is run.

“I think it’s highly likely there will be a change of government at the 2020 Territory election and one of the reasons why Labor will have lost so much ground, particularly in the regions and the remote areas, is because of their Darwin-centric view.

“They are spending so much time trying to save the furniture in Darwin that they’re letting the house burn down.”