CLP gifts election opponents a big head-start

THE lack of urgency shown by the Country Liberal Party for the upcoming Johnston by-election — and the Territory election in August — is befuddling

The CLP has announced Josh Thomas as its candidate for the upcoming Johnston by-election. Picture: Che Chorley.

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IT has taken six weeks for the Country Liberal Party to preselect its candidate to take on Labor’s Joel Bowden in the upcoming Johnston by-election.

The long lag has given the other parties a big head start in campaigning – even the fledgling Territory Alliance had its candidate Steven Klose ready to go immediately after news of Ken Vowles’ resignation from the seat broke.

Bowden – already familiar to voters as a footy star and Unions NT president – has waited no time in hitting the hustings.

It means the CLP’s Josh Thomas, who doesn’t enjoy the same name recognition as Bowden, has a lot of catching up to do.

The lack of urgency from the Country Liberals is befuddling.

It’s as if the party is only now waking up to realise a Territory election is less than seven months away.

Still the CLP has only announced a handful of candidates to contest the election in August.

In Fannie Bay, Tracey Hayes is a dead cert to take on Labor’s Chief Minister Michael Gunner. But bizarrely, the CLP is insisting on waiting until February to make her preselection official. The delay has hobbled Hayes’ campaign.

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When you’re trying to topple an incumbent chief minister, every weekend that can be spent knocking on doors matters.

The CLP is insistent it is ready to be a conservative force that can be taken seriously again.

But at the moment, the party seems to have little desire to campaign, let alone govern. It’s time to get moving.