New NT chief minister Lia Finocchiaro lays down the law

Lia Finocchiaro immediately marshalled crime-fighting resources to deal with the Top End’s law and order crisis as she said her party’s victory could be a template for conservative oppositions across the nation.

NT chief minister elect Lia Finocchiaro on Sunday. Picture: Liam Mendes

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Lia Finocchiaro, the first political leader to topple a Labor government in six years, immediately marshalled crime-fighting resources to deal with the Top End’s law and order crisis as she predicted her party’s victory could be a template for conservative oppositions across the nation.

The gravity of the crisis in Alice Springs that helped end eight years of Labor rule in the Northern Territory was evident after polls closed on Saturday, when police were called to deal with what one described as “one of the worst nights of carnage”. Roaming vandals damaged more than 60 cars, smashed hundreds of windows and attacked at least eight businesses in the small Central Australian town.

On Sunday, more violence spilled on to the streets after a football match where people fought with weapons, including a hatchet, a baseball bat and sticks.

Ms Finocchiaro on Sunday met with police commissioner Michael Murphy and the head of the ­Department of Chief Minister Ken ­Davies during which she and Mr Murphy had “a lengthy discussion about my expectations on law and order”.

Finocchiaro with NT police commissioner Michael Murphy and Ken Davies, CEO of the Department of Chief Minister on Sunday. Picture: Liam Mendes

“Community safety is the No 1 focus for my government and we talked in great detail as to how we can take a whole of government approach to deliver on that,” Ms Finocchiaro told The Australian.

The Country Liberal Party will form majority government after a resounding victory, leaving Labor with just four or five seats. Eight years ago, the CLP was reduced to two seats but on Saturday it won 48 per cent of the primary vote. Labor won 30 per cent.

As she delivered her concession speech, Chief Minister Eva Lawler already knew she had lost her seat of Drysdale on the outskirts of Darwin. The swing against her was more than 20 per cent. While voting is compulsory in NT elections, voter turnout was 57.6 per cent, the lowest on record.

Eva Lawler. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin.

“I think Labor needs to do some soul searching about what they stand for, and that they have not been able to deliver for Australians no matter where they live,” Ms Fin­occhiaro said.

“As a result of that, people are looking to the Coalition for that leadership, which they undoubtedly will provide over the next lot of state and federal elections.”

The CLP’s decisive win has left the Coalition hopeful it can take Lingiari, one of two federal lower house in the NT.

Both are held by Labor.

Lingiari MP Marion Scrymgour said the Albanese government needed to take lessons from the NT election, with cost-of-­living the key issue that translates to the next federal poll.

With Coalition strategists arguing the result bodes well for Peter Dutton in Lingiari, Ms Scrymgour said federal Labor “can’t ignore” the result.

“The biggest issue – and people raised it right through when I was on the ground – is cost of living,” she said. “We have just got to stop ignoring that people are doing it tough.

“Yes, the government has done a number of things but we need to have a look at trying to help ­people to get through this because otherwise we will be punished in the same way.”

The CLP is yet to name a candidate to take on Ms Scrymgour in Lingiari, but Coalition sources say the seat is a must-win if the Opposition Leader is to win the election.

The CLP secured a 4.51 per cent two-party-preferred swing to it from the last election, despite large swings away from the ­Coalition more broadly. It is one of the most marginal electorates in the nation, held by 0.9 per cent.

“It gives us brand presence back in that market,” a Coalition source said.

“To win government, Lingiari is one of the first that has to come our way.”

NT Labor presided over a debt blowout that is now almost $11bn and a flatlining economy. Treasury recently predicted the NT would begin making surpluses within 18 months as royalties from emerging industries began to flow.

However, it was crime – particularly in Alice Springs – that was a frequent topic of discussion in the campaign. So was family dysfunction and the plight of children living in violent homes or with irresponsible adults.

Curfews brought temporary relief. Federal opposition spokeswoman on Indigenous affairs Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, a Warlpiri-Celtic woman who lives in Alice Springs, said there was not enough early intervention in the lives of Aboriginal children at risk, arguing this was fuelling the youth crime crisis.

The chaos in Alice Springs on Sunday followed a football game where spectators from the communities of Papunya and Hermannsberg turned on each other, yelling and brandishing weapons.

One witness said they were “terrified” when they saw the two groups wielding hatchets, a bright blue baseball bat, massive sticks and a garden maddock. The witness said the there were only unarmed Aboriginal Community Police Officers present.

NT Labor was hit hard from the right and the left on election day. Labor had 14 seats before the election and is now likely to hold just four, with the CLP on track to win 16 seats. The Greens were poised on Sunday to claim their first NT seat, the Darwin suburb of Fannie Bay, the first time Labor will not hold the seat in 30 years.

While NT Labor performed particularly poorly in Darwin on Saturday, the overlapping federal seat of Solomon is held on a margin of 9.4 per cent and is considered difficult for the Coalition to win. Labor strategists played down the crossover of federal ­issues in the result, arguing that youth crime did not translate to federal elections.

Nationals leader David Littleproud said Anthony Albanese was at the “front and centre” of cost-of-living issues facing the Northern Territory.

“There are federal issues at play up in the Northern Territory, and there will be in Queensland, in my home state here,” Mr Littleproud said.

“Obviously, we’re not taking anything for granted, but we just simply say to Australians, do they feel safe and do they feel better off after 2½ years of Anthony ­Albanese?

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said federal Labor would examine lessons from the NT result.

“The issues that were at hand in this election were Territory-based issues, law and order being front and centre,” Mr Marles told Sky News.

“That’s clearly what people are seeing as being the driving issues in respect of this result.”

Inside NT Labor on Sunday, party faithful reflected on the tumult of three leaders in four years.

“The Natasha (Fyles) era was shocking, the (Michael) Gunner era was pretty bad, we really underestimated how pissed off ­people are,” one Labor source said.