The 100 words that candidates chose could be the ones to sway voters
OPINION: The NT News gave Territory election candidates 100 words to sell themselves to voters over the last two months. How they used these words could make or break them
Opinion
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EVERY Northern Territory political candidate had 100 words with which to sell themselves to voters in the NT News over the past two months as part of the Seats in Focus campaign.
The well-received initiative was aimed at all voters from the astute to the novice.
Given the high number of electors casting their vote early ahead of the August 22 polling day, those 100 words could well end up being the windfall or downfall of the Territory’s candidates.
Some candidates used the space to push their election platforms while others told voters where they grew up and gave some insight in to their family life.
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It seems doing a little bit of both was the key to capturing the eye of readers and therefore voters.
Feedback from some punters suggested they weren’t interested in the home life of candidates and wanted to know what issues stood for.
Others wanted that glimpse in to the person behind the core flutes.
Gwoja favourite Chansey Paech left out the fact he’d recently become Australia’s first openly gay, Indigenous Speaker of the NT Parliament, in favour of spruiking Labor’s policies.
“What we are achieving in areas like housing, our commitment to build new homes and extend others, is making a big difference to many families,” he wrote earlier this month.
“And with the smaller things – getting better sports infrastructure, playgrounds on communities, community laundries – it all matters.
“I want to continue to make a difference in Gwoja, to ensure more equitable services, for jobs, for autonomy over lives and communities, for hope in the future of bush communities.”
However, Fannie Bay CLP candidate Tracey Hayes aimed to win voters with her role as a mother of four boys and longevity in the Northern Territory.
“A Territorian for almost 40 years and mum to four boys, I have been working hard for the NT, our people, and our industries for most of my working life. I will work just as hard for the residents of the Fannie Bay electorate,” she wrote.
In Sanderson, Territory Alliance candidate Amelia Nuku combined the two nicely writing: “I was raised in Darwin and my family lived in Anula for nearly 35 years. We will reduce, and where possible, prevent crime with greater support for Police, swift justice and a fair community justice approach. We will ban fracking. Provide water security and protect the environment while supporting renewable energy.”
While some voters are staunch supporters of one party or another and rarely change their vote between election cycles, others choose their favourite local members while a handful will vote in a preferred leader.
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In any case, a candidate’s chance to sell themselves for free could be the 100 words that convince an undecided voter to tick their box on a ballot card on or before the August 22 polling day.
Denise Cahill is the Head of News at the NT News
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