‘How many more people does Michael have to sack before he realises he is the problem?’
SACKING Alf Leonardi is the “best decision Michael Gunner has made since being Chief Minister”, his political enemy Ken Vowles has said
Northern Territory
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SACKING Alf Leonardi is the “best decision Michael Gunner has made since being Chief Minister”, his political enemy Ken Vowles says.
Mr Vowles last year accused Mr Leonardi of orchestrating his sacking from cabinet and caucus.
“Michael Gunner doesn’t fart without Alf Leonardi saying so,” he said at the time.
“Make no mistake, the bloke running this place is Alf Leonardi. Alf Leonardi would have told Michael Gunner to sack me and that’s what would have happened.
“The faceless men and women in any political party are the true puppet-masters here.”
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On Monday, he congratulated Mr Gunner for cutting ties with Mr Leonardi.
“Now we might see what Michael is really made of without his puppeteer’s strings,” he said.
“I hope for the Territory’s sake the desire for change runs deep and is genuine and not just for optics for next year’s election.
“How many more people does Michael have to sack before he realises he is the problem?”
Ex-Labor MLA Jeff Collins, who along with Mr Vowles and Scott McConnell was one of the three casualties of the party’s civil war last year, said it was “too little too late”.
“Alf has caused the damage already the party and they won’t have enough time to recover,” he said.
“Alf’s legacy is the destruction of this government. He turned what should have been a really progressive time in government into nothing.
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Mr McConnell said Mr Gunner had “done the right thing” by axing his advisers.
“Michael Gunner has made the right decision here to remove those staff members but it doesn’t give me any more confidence in his ability to lead,” he said.
“All we need to do now is get rid of Gunner and make it a hat-trick.”
He accused Mr Gunner of “trying to manage his own inadequacies by sacking others”.
“First he tries to sideline caucus members, then he sacks caucus members and a minister and now he resorts to sacking his strongest and closest ally. This person will sack anybody.”
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