Sky News NT Leaders’ Debate: Eva Lawler and Lia Finocchiaro clash ahead of 2024 NT general election
The leaders fighting to be the NT’s next Chief Minister have come out swinging at their final public clash before polls close on Saturday, warning of overly simplistic slogans from the CLP, or more of the same under Labor.
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The leaders fighting to be the Northern Territory’s next Chief Minister have come out swinging at their final public clash before polls close on Saturday, warning of overly simplistic slogans from the Country Liberals, or more of the same under Labor that the Territory cannot afford.
Chief Minister Eva Lawler and Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro faced off at the Sky News NT Leaders’ Debate on Tuesday afternoon.
Sky News Australia chief news anchor Kieran Gilbert moderated the hour-long event, which gave audience members the opportunity to put questions directly to the two major parties, covering the economy, alcohol policy, crime, energy and infrastructure.
While more than 54,000 Territorians have already cast early votes, for those still undecided the debate was unlikely to have produced a clear winner – both leaders sticking to familiar talking points despite more fiery performances than usually seen from the pair.
“Lia are you tough enough to push back on your big donors?” Ms Lawler asked when given the chance to put a question to her opponent.
“I think that you are a lightweight and I don’t think you’re tough enough.”
Mrs Finocchiaro replied: “Thank you, Eva, (you’re) a real treat”.
“Eva, your entire campaign has been only about you. You disregarded your parliamentary colleagues, you disregarded your party,” Mrs Finocchiaro said.
“You completely walked away from being part of the (Labor) brand, and so I think the real question for Territorians is: who is it that they’re voting for? What are they getting if they’re voting for Labor?”
Several commitments were made throughout the debate – Ms Lawler ruling out a return of alcohol to town camps, or negotiating with independents over Middle Arm in the case of a hung parliament, and Mrs Finocchiaro promising no tax increase.
Asked what their plan was to encourage more private investment in the NT, Mrs Finocchiaro said it was about “getting back to basics”.
“Under Labor for the last five and a half years we’ve had the worst performing economy in the nation,” she said.
“The Territory has everything that this country needs: from our indisputable place in the nation’s defence as a strategic and security asset, to our tourism offering, agriculture, minerals and gas – we have it all. But those opportunities aren’t being realised because our approvals process is too long and too hard.
“Major projects under this government has become a joke. It’s almost like, if you get major project status that you’re doomed never to get off the ground.”
Mrs Finocchiaro said she would implement the CLP’s plan to reduce payroll tax, implement a Territory Coordinator to facilitate investment, and to cut approval times by half.
In her reply Mrs Lawler dismissed the plan as “simple statements”.
“All of us in this room know that what Lia just said is absolutely not going to happen,” Mrs Lawler said.
“Halving time frames, really? In the Territory, you have to be able to work with environmental groups, you have to work with the land councils – that is a fact.
“The line around major projects – absolutely rude, Lia … they’re projects such as Tamboran.
“If you think they (Tamboran) are doing something, any of the government departments are doing something, not to facilitate Tamboran getting a gas deal, or Tamboran being able to deliver gas in the Northern Territory, you are absolutely mistaken.”
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