Gunner, Finocchiaro respond to Territory Alliance bid for NT Opposition status

The Chief Minister has refused to say whether his government would participate in a vote on who holds NT Opposition later this month.

Territory Alliance leader Terry Mills and new recruit Jeff Collins, the Member for Fong Lim. Territory Alliance will attempt to seize NT Opposition status from the CLP when parliament sittings resume. Picture: Che Chorley

The Chief Minister has refused to say whether his Government would participate in a vote on who holds NT Opposition later this month.

Territory Alliance will attempt to seize Opposition status from the Country Liberal Party when parliament sittings resume on March 24.

It comes after ex-Labor MLA turned independent Jeff Collins joined Territory Alliance, bringing the party’s number of seats in parliament to two – the same number as the current CLP Opposition.

Territory Alliance leader Terry Mills said it was now up to parliament to resolve who holds NT Opposition status.

“If we have a fair dinkum parliament that respects the democratic process … the parliament itself should resolve this matter,” he said.

“But the elected government should not be involved in that process because that would be improper.

“You can’t have a functioning democratic system where the government itself chooses it’s opposition.”

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In Alice Springs on Tuesday, Chief Minister Michael Gunner refused to say whether his Government would abstain from voting on who holds Opposition in parliament, if that’s what it came down to.

“I haven’t turned my attention to the fight that’s happening for the Opposition at the moment,” he said.

“If that becomes a question on the floor of the house, we’ll look at it then.

“While they might be arguing about who gets what, our focus is on Territorians.”

CLP leader Lia Finocchiaro seemed unfazed by the challenge of the party’s Opposition status.

“The CLP is not motivated by status and won’t be distracted by hypothetical scenarios because we put Territorians first,” she said.

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At the very least, Mr Mills said, Territory Alliance should be entitled to more support and resources.

“The CLP Opposition have about 10-11 full-time staff and I’m not sure how they’ve used them,” he said.

“We need to have those resources to assist us with good policy development.

“They have deliberately starved us of resources so we can’t contribute in a robust way to policy discussions in parliament.”