Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro discusses her first 100 days as the Territory’s top leader
Reflecting on her first 100 days as Chief Minister, Lia Finocchiaro has revealed how she has found being the Territory’s top leader and what achievements she’s most proud of.
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Reflecting on her first 100 days as Chief Minister, Lia Finocchiaro has revealed how she has found being the Territory’s top leader and what achievements she’s most proud of yet.
Ms Finocchiaro sat down with the NT News to discuss her tenure so far.
Staring from election night, Ms Finocchiaro remembers a key piece of advice given to her – by numerous people – which she still follows today.
“I was supported by people who kept saying for me to trust my instinct,” she said.
“They said ‘you’ve got to this point, the team has got to this point, don’t lose sight of the message people have given you and the reasons you’re here’.
“I think there were salient lessons in that piece of advice and that’s why I hit the ground running on day one.”
Indeed, in-line with her election promise to tackle crime, Ms Finocchiaro’s first official engagement as Chief Minister was the following morning with NT Police Commissioner Michael Murphy.
“I think more than anything else it was a really important to reset the relationship between government and police,” she said.
“The police for many, many years, felt like the previous government had turned their back on them.”
In the week that followed, how did Ms Finocchiaro find speaking to senior leaders as Chief Minister compared to her time in opposition?
“It’s totally different,” she said.
“They’re looking to you for leadership and direction and that’s why our plan becomes so important because it gives our entire public service real clarity and purpose.”
With only a couple of months to deliver massive crime reform, Ms Finocchiaro and her team invested significant hours into reading through legislative detail, which would often eat into their precious sleeping hours.
The Chief Minister said she had no regrets.
“It’s a really demanding job, but it’s so unbelievably worth it,” she said.
“It’s hard to explain the responsibility of representing your community, let alone having the chance to lead the Territory forward.”
With 12 years of political experience under her belt, Ms Finocchiaro stands as one of the CLP’s more experienced leaders despite her age.
She celebrated her 40th birthday just weeks after being sworn in as the Territory’s leader.
With multiple newly-elected colleagues, did the Chief Minister find time to mentor those new to the political arena?
“I have tried, we’re obviously all really busy,” she said.
“As a new local member, you’re establishing your office, your systems, you’re wanting to get straight back out into the community and show them you’re there for them.
“There’s a lot of opportunity to provide mentorship and guidance, but you also want people to feel their own way and have their own voice and autonomy, so I think there’s a balance I really try to strike.”
What advice does she give to those who ask?
“You really have to look after your electorate at the end of the day,” she said.
“You can be the world’s greatest Minister or the world’s greatest Chief Minister or whatever, but if you’re not a great local member you won’t be there to deliver on any other change.
“You are there by the grace of your community and your primary role is to represent them, so while I’m the Chief Minister, I’m here because of the people of Spillett, who have put their faith and confidence in me to deliver for them.”
For Ms Finocchiaro, perhaps the biggest week of her first 100 days came in October during the first sittings of parliament.
“That was about week eight of our government and we clearly took to the election several pieces of reform we would do straight away,” she said.
“We did that on urgency which is probably unprecedented amounts of legislation and urgency in Australian parliament, but we did that because Territorians asked us to do that.”
In a matter of days, the CLP lowered the age of criminal responsibility to 10, passed Declan’s Law, introduced ‘nuisance public drinking’ laws, mandatory sentences for assaulting workers, criminalised ‘posting and boasting’, and created a new law against ram raids.
Despite winning the election by a landslide, Ms Finocchiaro and her team still received plenty of criticism both locally and abroad for the changes – how did she deal with the flak?
“I don’t see it as criticism, I think it’s part of democracy and it’s just about embracing the diversity of people’s opinions – it’s actually very helpful,” she said.
“You want people to feel like they can express how they feel about how things are going.
“When I’m doing the grocery shopping with the kids in my thongs, people come up to constantly and feel comfortable to share their views and that’s extremely important to me because it tells me I’m creating an environment where people feel like they can have a say.”
Would Ms Finocchiaro have done anything differently is she had her first 100 days over?
“I think all I can say in answer to that question is, I’ve given everything I’ve got over the last 100 days, everything,” she said.
“I’ve not left anything in the tank, and so I can go to sleep at night knowing I’ve done the very best I could. And I hope Territorians see that as well.”
What has been her proudest achievement so far?
“I think passing Declan’s Law and the meningococcal B vaccine because we were able to deliver for those families,” she said.
“And also the home builders grant because it was the first big ticket item we could get off the ground and it reinforced that when you work hard you can make change and get things done.”
So, what does the next 100 days look like?
“I’m hoping to have Christmas Day with the family, but we’re really focused on making sure we go into next year with clearly identified targets about what the next tranche of reform looks like,” she said.
“There’s lot of work to do between now and February, and I’ll keep an eye on Alice Springs and what’s going on down there because we know traditionally it’s a time of high crime and we’ll keep an eye on the weather up in the Top End too.”
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