NT Australian of the Year Blair McFarland announced as Greens candidate for Namatjira

Blair McFarland, the founder of a service helping to keep kids out of prison, will take on Shadow Treasurer Bill Yan in the Alice Springs seat of Namatjira.

Greens candidate for Namatjira Blair McFarland. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The NT Greens has announced the 2024 NT Australian of the Year Blair McFarland as its candidate for the Alice Springs electorate of Namatjira.

Mr McFarland was awarded the honour in recognition of decades of work fighting to improve the health and lives of young people in Central Australia.

He will go up against Shadow Treasurer Bill Yan in one of the Territory’s most marginal seats – Mr Yan winning by just 22 votes at the last election.

In 2002, Mr McFarland founded the Central Australian Youth Link Up Service (CAYLUS) with Tangentyere Council to tackle the epidemic of volatile substance use among young people.

Over the past 22 years CAYLUS has expanded to become a crucial youth service across Central Australia, helping to keep kids away from sniffing and out of prison.

He has also worked for Tangentyere Council helping remote communities set up night patrols and as a probation officer across Central Australia.

“We’ve heard a lot of politicians talking about community safety and justice during this election,” Mr McFarland said.

“I’ve worked in justice in Central Australia for nearly 40 years and I can tell the major parties right now that more of the same from them won’t work to make us safer.

“I can say from experience that prevention is the way forward, not strategies that kick in after the crime.”

Blair McFarland in 2014. His activism was crucial to reducing rates of sniffing in Central Australia. Picture Justin Brierty

Mr McFarland said support from former WA Greens Senator Rachel Siewert had been critical to secure the Opal (non-sniffable) fuel rollout across Central Australia.

“Having a Green in parliament helped shine a light on urgent issues that other politicians didn’t understand,” he said.

“Voting 1 for the Greens at this Territory election tells the major parties they need to do better. The Greens are the only party running at this election that doesn’t take corporate donations.

“We’re the only party with plans to look after the climate and nature. That’s why I’m running with the Greens, to tell my grandkids I did what I could to help.

“We need a completely different approach to helping young people and finding justice, especially for First Nations kids. If we want safer communities, we need to focus on kids’ basic needs right now, like access to food and shelter.”

Labor is again nominating Sheralee Taylor for Namatjira, who lost by a margin of 0.3 per cent in 2020.

Mr McFarland made unsuccessful bids for the Alice Springs mayoral race in 2021, and for the federal seat of Lingiari in 2022.