SUNDAY marks exactly a year since the CLP quadrupled its presence in the Legislative Assembly, but the party’s leader Lia Finocchiaro seems ready for another election.
In her electorate office in the Palmerston suburb of Zuccoli, Ms Finocchiaro on Saturday laid out to the Sunday Territorian a hard line alternative to the Labor incumbents, promising a public service getting things done faster with less red tape.
For youth crime, she promised more action taken to get recidivist crims off the street.
“The CLP is absolutely committed not to raising the age of criminal responsibility, to ensuring that revolving door of bail is slowed down.”
But behind that tough rhetoric is an argument that it will work out for the better in the long run, that the ends justify the means.
Ms Finocchiaro said diversion had a place but “not necessarily in the form the Gunner Government have done”.
“We want to see youths who are repeat offenders given an opportunity to learn a skill and divert out of that criminal behaviour”.
And on the economy, Ms Finocchiaro argued she could improve the situation for impoverished communities if wasteful spending was reigned in.
“We have a tragic bottom line because (the government) have blown out the books, which then means (the government) can’t put more investment into areas they want because there’s nothing left in the cupboard.
“Whereas if you have a strong economy, if you ensure your regulatory regimes, protect people, protect the environment, but also create a good competitive environment where people want to invest in participating, then you start to see real change happening.”
Ms Finocchiaro was quick to point out the CLP wasn’t waiting for 2024 to put their case forward for alternative government.
“We brought our own legislation into parliament on the Territory Coordinator, we brought legislation into parliament on bail reform, because we want people to know we have policies, we have a plan, and we would do things differently,” she said.
“And so it’s performing those two key functions (of opposition and alternative government) at the one time, so that people know we’re calling them out and putting forward our own plan.”
Ms Finocchiaro portrayed last year’s loss against Michael Gunner as a victory of sorts.
“I think the greatest takeaway for me was how important a strong conservative voice is to the Territory,” she said.
“For the Country Liberal Party to fight back from effectively one incumbent going forward to winning eight seats with everything against us … we came back incredibly strong.”
Ms Finocchiaro said the CLP had doubled down on “staying connected at the grassroots level” and getting MLAs out listening in communities.
She said that ear-to-the-ground approach informed her hard stance on youth crime and government spending.
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