The CLP has failed to reinvent itself despite its defeat in the 2016 election

A once great party has failed to reinvent itself despite its embarrassing defeat in the 2016 Territory election. Matt Cunningham questions whether they’re gone

Former NT Chief Minister Shane Stone (left) and party stalwart Graeme Lewis (right) in the mid-1990s. Picture: SUPPLIED

THE function room was packed at the Hilton hotel around this time last year.

The event was a CLP fundraiser with guest speaker Peta Credlin, the night before the party’s annual conference. Hundreds of party faithful packed the room to listen to Credlin’s call to arms. A party that had been decimated at an election 12 months earlier appeared to have found a new life. Alice Springs councillor Jacinta Price had flown up for the event and was greeted like a rock star.

She would introduce Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull at the party conference the next day, and would soon be endorsed as the party’s candidate for Lingiari. There was an air of optimism that the party left on life support after the chaos of 2012-2016 might rise again.

But if a week is long time in politics then a year must seem an eternity, and 12 months on from that conference some within the party say there is a real chance the CLP could soon cease to exist.

The CLP’s hopes of a revival took a major turn for the worse when former chief minister Shane Stone resigned as president last November. He’d been re-elected to the position at the conference just two months earlier but had now been offered a position as chair of the Council of the Order of Australia, meaning he could no longer remain CLP president. After the 2016 election Stone had inherited a party on the brink of bankruptcy.

Over the next 14 months he went about winning back the support of the business people and donors who had long supported the CLP but had been left disillusioned by the chaos of the Giles Government. He could regularly be found in coffee shops around Darwin pressing the flesh with town’s movers and shakers.

Stone’s resignation left a void that is yet to be filled. Nigel Scullion reluctantly stepped in, but it’s hard to devote much time to raise funds and win over new members when you have the small business of Indigenous Affairs Minister as your day job. The party’s coffers again began to dry up, and sources say there is now little more than $30,000 in the bank account.

In the past 10 months the situation has become so dire that drastic action has been considered. One option discussed seriously by senior party members was to wind up the CLP altogether. A proposal was discussed that the CLP be disbanded and that an alliance be formed with the Queensland LNP.

Aligning with The Nationals was also discussed. None of this eventuated and Senator Scullion says no plans of this nature were ever discussed with him. “No-one has ever spoken to me about any of those matters,” he said. “Yes, it’s evident that the party has got some challenges, but no-one spoken to me even vaguely about those things.”

But several sources confirmed others within the party had discussed the plan, driven in part by concerns the CLP brand is permanently damaged.

The disquiet behind the scenes boiled over a couple of months ago when Brad Vermeer resigned as party director. Vermeer had been recruited as the party’s fresh new face. He was young, articulate and presentable.

But there were those among the old guard - particularly beyond the Berrimah Line - who would never warm to a twenty-something blow-in from South Australia. Vermeer’s departure a couple of months ago angered those who felt the party needed to move past its cowboy image.

Vermeer had extended an olive branch to former deputy chief minister Robyn Lambley and even held informal talks with Terry Mills about coming back into the fold.

His replacement - Jason Riley - now faces the arduous task of uniting a party that now appears more divided than ever. That division boiled over this week with news Adam Giles’ former chief-of-staff Ron Kelly was standing for CLP President. While some hold Kelly in high regard, others cannot separate him from the chaos of the former government. And they say any hopes of convincing Lambley to rejoin the party will be lost if he is elected. “We need Ron Kelly like we need a hole in the head,” one party figure told me this week. At the moment, the only other option is Darwin businessman Peter Hopton, a former director of Foundation 51. Either way, Labor will have a field day. Some are predicting this weekend will mark the beginning of the end for a party that has ruled the Territory for 27 of the 40 years since self-government. “I can’t see them making it to the next federal election,” one party source said. Others are less pessimistic. One former minister told me the party needs to stop airing its dirty laundry in public, knuckle down, work hard and present a viable alternative government. But that seems a long way off at the moment.

Meanwhile, a ghost of the CLP’s past remains lurking in the shadows. If Terry Mills hadn’t completely ruled out joining the CLP already, you can bet he will have come Monday. But don’t expect him to drift quietly back to Indonesia. Mills remains close to Lambley and has developed a close relationship with Nhulunbuy independent MLA Yingiya Mark Guyula. These alliances are significant for those with the ability to count to three.