Chief Minister Michael Gunner’s decision to attend a $5000-a-head lunch is gobsmacking

WHEN Chief Minister Michael Gunner was awarded the greatest career honour of his life to represent our great Northern Territory, one of his key promises to the people was to be open and transparent.

Chief Minister Michael Gunner attended a $5000-a-head lunch in Melbourne to raise money for the Labor Party’s NT branch

WHEN Chief Minister Michael Gunner was awarded the greatest career honour of his life to represent our great Northern Territory, one of his key promises to the people was to be open and transparent.

Revelations that he flew out of the Territory not long after Parliament ended for the year on Thursday night immediately posed some questions: Why was he leaving the Territory so abruptly? Where was he heading? And why?

We asked his office questions on Friday and all they said was he was in Melbourne for “meetings” at his own expense.

The $5000-a-head lunch invitation

We had gotten wind of a potential $1400-a-head fundraiser in Sydney today and we asked the Labor Party secretary Anthony Brereton questions about that. He refused to respond.

Now we can reveal Mr Gunner had, in fact, flown to Melbourne for a $5000-a-head lunch, originally with Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, to raise money for Labor’s NT branch.

We understand political parties raise money but why was the public not told the real reason why our taxpayer-funded Chief Minister left the Territory when we first asked?

The decision to even attend the lunch poses many questions for Mr Gunner, who has been vocal about better transparency around political donations.

Did he even think that this $5000-a-head NT Labor fundraiser wouldn’t be a good look given the Territory is facing an $8.3 billion debt under his watch?

Unfortunately, this is just another example of why the public views Mr Gunner as an underwhelming leader, whose honesty and credibility now have to be seriously questioned.