Unsuccessful candidate points blame at Mills, Lambley as Alliance splits revealed
TERRITORY Alliance Party secretary Danial Kelly has pointed the finger of blame for the party’s election disaster at the party’s senior political figures
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Territory Alliance Party secretary Danial Kelly, the unsuccessful candidate for the seat of Casuarina, has pointed the finger of blame for the party’s election disaster at the party’s senior political figures Terry Mills and Robyn Lambley and key advisers Delia Lawrie and James Lantry.
In the fallout from yesterday’s resignation from the Territory Alliance by its only successful NT election candidate Robyn Lambley, Mr Kelly claimed the senior political figures had at times acted against the wishes of other party members.
Ms Lambley had been sent a show cause letter why she should not be sacked by the Territory Alliance Party, which Ms Lambley says she quickly seized as an opportunity to quit and return to being the independent Member for Araluen.
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In a round of media interviews Mr Kelly described Ms Lambley as “very much a lone wolf” who did not tow the party line. He also said as time went on he and the party’s founder Terry Mills drifted apart in their views on the party’s decision making and the direction it was being taken.
He confirmed the party’s former Member for Fong Lim Jeff Collins is no longer a member of the party.
He told Mix 104.9 that Ms Lambley “along with some others” completely ignored the party’s rules during the election period about everyone having a say.
Mr Kelly said those people whole went along that path are no longer active with the Territory Alliance Party.
Mr Kelly revealed that their former leader Terry Mills was not fully behind the Party’s anti-fracking stance.
“He was not fully sold on it and he said that,” Mr Kelly said.
When asked on Mix 104.9 about whether former Labor Leader Delia Lawrie and former Terry Mills CLP chief of staff James Lantry were still members of the party Mr Kelly responded that they were never members of Territory Alliance.
He said many in the party had not wanted Ms Lawrie involved in the election campaign and attributed it to in part where “things fell apart.”
“That was one of only a number of things that departed from the ethos of Territory Alliance,” he said.
Mr Kelly said Terry Mills was still a member of the party, but did not know what his future with it would be and did not answer the question of whether he still wanted him to be a member.
“He’s not the leader. My understanding he’s still a member of the party,” he told Mix 104.9 radio.
Earlier on ABC Mr Kelly said that Ms Lambley was not a suitable member of Territory Alliance “from the start”.
“The fact is she wasn’t suitable from the start, but it has taken us all this long to do something about it,” Mr Kelly said.
“I didn’t try to attract her to the party, that’s something that Terry Mills was interested in.
“He and his political Adviser James Lantry were very much interested in getting Robyn on board. I had reservations from the beginning. I wasn’t convinced she was a good fit.”
Mr Kelly one of the things the Territory Alliance Party will do differently when it contests the next Territory election is to have a longer and more thorough process for selecting candidates.
“We were rushed to find candidates to run and some seats we had some first rate candidates but in other seats we were rushed,” he said.
Mr Kelly said while some in the party would have preferred to not run candidates in those seats Mr Mills had insisted on getting as many candidates as possible to contest the NT election.
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“But it wasn’t just Terry … Robyn was one of those people,” he said on ABC radio.
“In the beginning of things I thought I was in very close step with Terry, but the election campaign went on there was a greater distance between the two of us.”
He said problems were created by Ms Lambley’s willingness to ignore key parts of the party’s constitution and not stay consistent with the culture of the party and Mr Mills also did some of those things.
He said Mr Mills went well off script with Territory Alliance during the election campaign.
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