Cunningham: In one swift act, Eva Lawler showed Territorians what she’s made of

The CLP should be an unbackable favourite to win the next election – but there’s been a recent change in the government that might translate to a change in its fortunes, writes Matt Cunningham.

The Country Liberal Party should be an unbackable favourite to win the next election.

If a drover’s dog could have won the 1983 federal election for Labor, then a mangy camp dog should be able to do the job for the CLP.

Crime is out of control, the economy is stuck in neutral and cost-of-living issues are biting. Add to that the chaos and dysfunction over more than seven years in office and you should have the perfect storm for a change of government.

But there’s been a recent change in the government that might translate to a change in its fortunes.

It’s early days, but Eva Lawler, the accidental chief minister, is proving to be the most competent leader the Territory has had in a decade.

She had a rough start to her reign.

Scandals involving other cabinet ministers deprived her of clear air during her first three months in the job.

But last week, during the biggest crisis this government has faced since Lawler took the job last December, she showed calm, sensible leadership.

Lawler would have known her decision to implement a 14-day youth curfew in Alice Springs and send in more than 50 extra police would attract criticism, particularly from within her own ranks.

Chief Minister Eva Lawler, Police Minister Brent Potter and Police Commissioner Michael Murphy announce $200m to recruit 200 new police to the Northern Territory force. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

The critics were quick to jump out of the woodwork. But the curfew has proven to be remarkably effective.

Police and community leaders say they can’t remember the last time the CBD streets were so quiet.

Mayor Matt Paterson says residents can again go out and enjoy a meal at a restaurant.

Order has been restored after years of chaos, and there are growing calls for the curfew to be extended.

The decision has also rendered mute the Opposition’s criticism.

The CLP’s calls for parliament to be recalled looked like juvenile political game playing when the government was taking real and decisive action to address the problem.

It would have been better to give unqualified support for the curfew and question why this hadn’t been done years ago.

Lawler’s decision to implement the curfew is emblematic of her determination to shift her party away from the bizarre drift that has left it on the brink of political oblivion.

I’m avoiding calling this a drift to the left, because there’s nothing left-wing about banning an industry with the potential to create thousands of blue-collar jobs, giving free solar power to rich people, or making words unlawful because they might offend somebody.

But these issues have often been the focus of the Labor Government while its constituents have been driven to despair by extraordinary levels of crime and a limping economy.

The problem for Labor with Lawler’s commonsense leadership, is that it highlights some of the poor decisions this government had made for more than seven years.

In many cases she is simply undoing the mistakes of her own government.

Her immediate action in response to the riots in Alice Springs last Tuesday, stands in stark contrast to the government’s complete inaction following the expiration of the Stronger Futures legislation in July 2022, which had seen alcohol bans lifted in Aboriginal town camps. For more than six months community leaders from across the political spectrum screamed from the rafters that lifting of the bans was causing carnage.

Chief Minister Eva Lawler. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

But for more than 180 days, amid horrendous increases in domestic violence and alcohol-fuelled assaults, the government did nothing.

It took the Prime Minister to fly in to force the NT Government to do what any sensible adult knew was necessary.

As Independent MLA Robyn Lambley pointed out this week, Lawler’s curfew also highlights the strident, ideologically-driven opposition some of her colleagues expressed when Lambley previously proposed a curfew.

“A youth curfew is madness,” now Deputy Chief Minister Chansey Paech said in 2019.

“It will not have a positive impact on any young person. It is targeting the wrong people.

“A youth curfew says to young people, come out and play the game with authorities.

“The minute you step out your front door, you are essentially breaking the law. Let us have a game of hide and seek and see if you can find me.”

In 2021, Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence Kate Worden said: “Police do not want a curfew or safe houses, nor do the NGOs, nor do the Aboriginal-controlled organisations we are working closely with to get contemporary solutions.”

Those contemporary solutions have proved spectacularly elusive.

Instead, we have seen some spectacular failures. Hopefully Eva Lawler’s curfew is the first step in correcting some of those failures. When Lawler took the job on last December, many within her own party wondered if this was the final nail in the government’s coffin. Right now, she’s the only thing keeping it on life-support.