Gunner Government’s suddenly new ‘how can we help you?’ attitude needs to be a permanent change, writes MATT CUNNINGHAM

WE don’t know where our government’s ‘how can we help you?’ attitude — rather than its traditional ‘how can we stop you?’ one — has been all this time, but let’s hope it’s a permanent change, writes MATT CUNNINGHAM

Within two days the Government managed to make changes to the liquor laws to allow bars, like Dom’s, to continue operating despite coronavirus restrictions. This speedy attitude will be needed when this crisis is over. Picture: CHE CHORLEY

A SMART man once said the key to success for any business – or government – was strategy.

A good strategy, he argued, wasn’t a 20-page glossy document or a grand mission statement, just a few simple words outlining what it was you wanted to achieve.

And that strategy should guide everything else you do. (Or in many cases, choose not to do.)

It’s a theory the Gunner Government might want to consider as it assesses its recent change in fortunes. Perhaps it already has?

Much has been said about the Government’s improved performance since the coronavirus crisis.

But perhaps the biggest key to its turnaround has been that it suddenly has a clearly defined strategy. It’s been summed up in four simple words – saving lives and livelihoods.

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The Government has been forced to put its sole focus where it needs to be; protecting the health and the jobs of Territorians.

This strategy has guided all its tactics over the past month, and anything that hasn’t fallen under this goal has been pushed to the side.

Closing the borders was easy – it was about saving lives.

A stimulus package a no-brainer – it was about saving jobs (with the added bonus there’d be almost none of the usual budget scrutiny).

Even a controversial decision like cancelling cracker night – something no chief minister would ordinarily dream of – became relatively simple. This was about saving lives, and the public largely understood, because that clear strategy has been explained to them for weeks.

This new-found strategy has also meant the Chief Minister has been able to speak in clear and simple language.

“I know this will piss some people off,” he said of the cracker ban, but it had to be done to help save lives. “Whatever it takes.” It’s a far cry from the “every Territorian deserves”-type motherhood statements we had come to expect.

Posted by The NT News on Wednesday, 15 April 2020

But this sudden clarity also raises another question. What was the government doing for the previous three-and-a-half years?

If you had to sum up its strategy over that period, it might be something like “enjoy the spoils of office while trying not to be as bad as the last mob”.

That’s hardly a vision for running a government.

Little wonder then, that this one has often lost its way.

As the economy has tanked, the Gunner Government has too often been caught up in the weeds of pet projects that are a mile from the primary concerns of the average, hard-working Territory family.

It’s proposed radical changes to the Anti-Discrimination Act that would see people fall foul of the law for the thought crime of “causing offence”, held a lengthy and expensive inquiry into the decriminalisation of drugs only to junk it before it was finished, towed the activist line on youth justice with disastrous consequences, pursued an illogical renewable energy target, mandated the right of tenants to keep pets in rental properties and said “yes, no and wait” to Dan Murphy’s more times than a nervous opening batsman.

You might wonder how many of these initiatives would have seen the light of day had the Government had a clear strategy from the beginning.

With its focus now sharpened by the coronavirus crisis, some of these policies have already been binned.

The nonsensical pets’ policy has been put on the backburner, likely never to return.

Meanwhile, faced with the very real prospect of blackouts in an election year, the Government used the cover of coronavirus to replace its “we love renewables” policy with a new one designed to discourage the uptake of rooftop solar. (Never let a crisis go to waste.)

But in our reshaped world, the failures of the past are less important.

OTHER MATT CUNNINGHAM OPINIONS

PALMERSTON Hospital stands as a triumph of politics over sensible policy

THE Northern Territory needs to develop a more sensible energy policy

OUR new Police Commissioner has a job that has never been more important — re-establishing a good relationship between police and community members

As we head to an August election Labor seems determined to hold, the most important thing now will be the strategy of whoever is elected to lead us out of this crisis.

Labor’s recent strategy has held it in good stead but that vision will need to be altered once we are confident the lives have been saved.

The focus will shift to how we best revive an economy that was already struggling, but has now been placed on life support.

And long-term Government intervention won’t be possible given our dire budget situation just got a whole lot worse.

The Prime Minister gave an insight into his post-coronavirus strategy at his press conference on Thursday. “On the way out we are going to have to have economic policy measures that are very pro-growth,” he said. “Our government sees business at the centre of the economy, not government.”

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The rejuvenated Gunner Government has already shown signs it’s on the same page.

Consider one small example. Last year small business owner Dom Wundke spent months fighting a mountain of regulation to open a tiny wine bar in a struggling shopping centre. For the past two weeks he’s been home delivering cocktails from the back of his ute thanks to a temporary change to licensing regulations that was made within two days of the forced closure of bars and restaurants.

It’s kept at least two people working and shows what’s possible when a Government and its public service says “how can we help you”, rather than “how can we stop you”.

Providing that kind of help will be crucial on the road out of this mess.

A simple strategy that says we want to help the Territory grow.

Once that strategy is in place the job of governing will get a whole lot easier — whoever is in charge.