NEWLY minted Attorney-General Selena Uibo has opened up about the personal attacks, misogyny and “lateral violence” she faced in the closely fought election which saw her come close to losing her Arnhem seat.
The ongoing occurrence, of negative personal campaigns and infighting in Aboriginal communities during elections, has worked against aspiring Aboriginal politicians for decades, former MLA Marion Scrymgour has said.
And she warns it could dissuade emerging leaders, particularly women, from raising their hand.
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The traditionally safe Labor seat of Arnhem took a turn at the recent NT election, with Ms Uibo’s margin wilting from 14.3 per cent in 2016 to just 1.6 per cent.
Her personal vote fell as well from 54 per cent to 41 per cent.
Ms Uibo, officially the longest serving Aboriginal Attorney-General in the NT’s history, revealed the Arnhem campaign did turn negative as she faced personal attacks against her and her family.
“When it becomes personal I stood up for myself when I felt I needed to, I didn’t make a big song and dance about it, I didn’t do it in a disrespectful way, when I heard there were negative things being said about me and my family,” she told the NT News.
“Definitely (faced) misogyny and, being not just a woman but an Aboriginal woman, the lateral violence that happens in different contexts.
“I think (this) played a part in some of the candidates’ campaigning as well.”
Lateral violence is a term used to describe violence and bullying by marginalised peoples among themselves, or as the head of the Northern Land Council Ms Scrymgour says, the act of being nasty, vindictive and pulling other Aboriginal people down.
Ms Scrymgour described lateral violence as like being the one mud crab in a full pot that was striving for the top while the rest of the shellfish underneath continuously tried to pull it down.
The first Aboriginal woman elected to NT parliament in 2001, she weathered a personal negative campaign built on nasty rumours that came out of her being a young, married woman who opted to travel around the electorate alone.
Ms Scrymgour said until then only men had run because women weren’t considered a “viable option” in the bush, which was the “domain of men”.
She said her predecessor Maurice Rioli, AFL royalty turned MLA, faced lateral violence on the basis he was considered “not traditional enough”.
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“Lateral violence is something that’s right across the board, and, we’ve got to … be brave enough to have a conversation and call it out for what it is,” she said.
“This has got to stop, we should be trying to all work together for the better cause of our people.”
A total of 22 Aboriginal people have been elected to NT’s parliament in its history, which is four more than every other state and territory combined.
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