Electoral redraw bad news for Chief Minister Michael Gunner: Ken Parish

REDRAWN electoral boundaries could threaten Chief Minister Michael Gunner’s hold on the seat of Fannie Bay, political commentator Ken Parish says

Redrawn electoral boundaries could threaten Chief Minister Michael Gunner’s hold on the seat of Fannie Bay

REDRAWN electoral boundaries could threaten Chief Minister Michael Gunner’s hold on the seat of Fannie Bay, political commentator Ken Parish says.

NT Electoral Commissioner Iain Loganathan announced the proposed redistributions yesterday, which would also see deputy opposition leader Lia Finocchiaro’s electorate of Spillett contract towards Palmerston.

Mr Parish, who was the Labor member for Millner from 1991 to 1994, said moving the Coconut Grove voters into Johnson and Nightcliff electorates would likely undermine Mr Gunner’s support base.

OTHER STORIES

• CLP candidate has a whinge ... then deletes social media outburst

• PIPING water from Darwin to Alice for a Red Centre ‘Ord River’

• DARWIN Council set to oppose local hair salon’s liquor application

• NAPLAN to go online in the NT for first time

• NT businesses divided as Uber Eats launches

But he said the bad news for Mr Gunner would boost the fortunes of Attorney-General Natasha Fyles and sin binned former Resources Minister Ken Vowles.

“I would think both Ken Vowles and Natasha Fyles would be quite happy about that because there’s large amounts of housing commissions through Coconut Grove which are traditionally fairly solid Labor,” he said.

“So moving that out of Fannie Bay will help them and conversely probably not help Michael Gunner — which might make Ken Vowles quietly very happy.”

Mr Parish also predicted the planned redistributions would hit government backbencher Chansey Paech, whose seat of Namatjira will gain voters from Araluen and Braitling.

”Adding on urban Alice Springs, bits from Araluen and Braitling, is likely to make it significantly harder for Chansey Paech to retain that seat,” he said.

“It’s reasonable to hypothesise that the people of urban Alice Springs are as unhappy about the Gunner government as the people in Darwin are.”

• AUSTRALIA’S best news deal: Subscribe for $1 a week for 12 weeks

Meanwhile, Alice Springs mayor Damien Ryan labelled the proposed redistribution “disappointing”.

“It’s time that he NT Electoral Commission recognised the Alice Springs community and brought back the seat that was taken away at the last election,” he said.