CLP can win the next election if they bring Mills and Lambley back, writes MATT CUNNINGHAM

IF the CLP just let bygones be bygones and offered Terry Mills and Robyn Lambley a spot in the fold, they could win the next Territory election, writes MATT CUNNINGHAM

The CLP needs to get Terry Mills and Robyn Lambley back into the fold if they want to win the next Territory election, MATT CUNNINGHAM writes

WHEN the Country Liberal Party lost the 2016 election, most probably thought the party was destined for a long stint in the political wilderness.

Reduced to just two seats in a 25-seat parliament, it was assumed the CLP would be in Opposition for at least two terms, possibly three.

A lot has changed since the 2016 election. After two years of underwhelming government, Labor flicked the switch to chaos just before Christmas, sacking three of its own members from the caucus.

The public’s frustration with the Government turned into full-blown anger. The beneficiary of all this dysfunction should have been the CLP.

But while much in politics has changed since 2016, one thing remains the same; the conservative side of politics is still divided.

As it meets today at its Central Council Meeting the CLP has a decision to make.

Does it want to hold on to the grudges of the past, to continue to settle personal scores and protect their petty fiefdoms?

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Or does it want to grasp the unlikely opportunity that has presented itself; an opportunity that could see it returned to power in just 18 short months, despite the catastrophe of its last term in office.

If it wants to achieve the latter it needs to do two things: unite and work hard.

The first step in this process is obvious. The party must offer an olive branch to Terry Mills and Robyn Lambley.

At last year’s Central Council Meeting in Alice Springs, then-president Nigel Scullion suggested the party reach out to Lambley and try to bring her back into the fold. He was shot down by some members of the Alice Springs branch.

The reason for this is hard to fathom.

Lambley alone has proven more effective at holding the Government to account than the CLP’s two-member opposition.

She’s a CLP person with CLP values, yet remains on the sidelines because of events that happened five years ago with people who are no longer around.

After a stand-off that has lasted too long, Opposition Leader Gary Higgins tried to broker a peace deal recently, even offering to sign Lambley’s CLP membership form, but others intervened and Lambley remains an independent.

Terry Mills presents a more difficult proposition.

There are those who see his re-entry to politics before the 2016 election as an act of revenge on the party he once led.

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Mills has always argued otherwise. In his letter resigning from the CLP he wrote: “My chief concern remains the quality of governance in this most fragile of Australian jurisdictions, the Northern Territory.”

Recent history says he’s right to be concerned. But even if he was motivated at least in part by revenge, could you blame him?

Here is a man who took the CLP from a similar situation it finds itself in today, to Government, in five short years between 2007 and 2012.

He remains the only CLP leader to win Government from Opposition, yet he was booted by his own colleagues within seven months of taking the job.

Mills has said if the CLP wants him back, it needs to make the offer.

Higgins and CLP President Ron Kelly should get together and do just that.

Surely swallowing a bit of pride is a small price to pay for the benefits that would come from a united, four-member CLP.

The alternative is to continue on a divided path that could ultimately end in the party’s demise.

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What happens if Mills and Lambley form their own party or join the Nationals?

What if Mills runs for Solomon — or even the Senate — and wins? The answers to these questions are unclear, but I suspect the CLP doesn’t want to know them.

What’s easier to determine is what happens if the party can bring Mills and Lambley back into the fold. It doubles its numbers in parliament overnight, and prepares to launch a full-blown 2020 election campaign.

It should preselect candidates quickly — in fact, this should have been done months ago — and get out door knocking.

If the conservative side of politics remains divided, the CLP could soon cease to exist.

But if it can bury the past, unite and get down to work, the spoils of victory await.