Matt Cunningham reflects on first sitting of parliament under CLP

Right now Labor looks like a party more interested in winning back Nightcliff than winning back office, writes Matt Cunningham.

Selena Uibo Leader of the Opposition, Northern Territory Government of Australia at the official Opening and First Meeting of the 15th Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory.' Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Lia Finocchiaro deserves a great deal of credit for leading the Country Liberal Party to a landslide election victory two months ago.

But there is someone else whose contribution shouldn’t be underestimated.

Gary Higgins was one of just two CLP members left standing after the party’s annihilation at the 2016 election.

It’s hard to believe now, but at this moment in history the CLP’s very existence was being called into question.

Higgins reluctantly took on the task of trying to rebuild a dysfunctional party that was despised by most of the electorate.

It was a challenge that would require a lot of contrition and humility.

Aware of the need to win back the public’s confidence, Higgins, during the first week of sittings after the CLP’s election debacle, took the unusual step of issuing a lengthy apology.

“I want to start by not only acknowledging the mistakes of the past, but by offering an unequivocal, unreserved apology to Territorians for much of our performance in government between August 2012 and August 2016,” he told the Parliament.

“Where there should have been consultation, there was belligerence. Where there should have been communication, there was spin. Where there should have been respect, there was defiance. Where there should have been loyalty, there was division and disunity. For that I am sorry.”

Former CLP opposition leader Gary Higgins addresses media in 2014, announcing his resignation from the role. Picture Che Chorley.

For the next three-and-a-half years, Higgins took a unique approach to opposition.

Aware Labor had a massive majority and an undeniable mandate, he would often support the government’s legislation, picking his few battles carefully.

Higgins pushed back against the hard-core ideologues on his party’s right flank to win back the middle that had been lost during four chaotic years in office.

He even formed a close friendship with Labor chief minister Michael Gunner that remains today.

It was the re-set his party desperately needed.

By the time Higgins handed over the top job to Finocchiaro in early 2020, the CLP’s credibility had been largely restored.

Four years later the CLP would condemn Labor to its worst election defeat since self-government, something that had seemed impossible in August 2016.

Higgins’ approach stands in stark contrast to what we saw from the new Labor opposition this week.

Instead of apologising, Opposition Leader Selena Uibo used her first effort in Question Time to ask for the resignation of a Chief Minister who has just won 17 seats.

“Will you resign if you do not uphold your promise to Territorians and fix crime in 100 days, by 6 December this year?” she asked.

Selena Uibo Leader of the Opposition, Northern Territory Government of Australia and Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro at the official Opening and First Meeting of the 15th Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory.' Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Apart from showing a remarkable lack of awareness about the public’s current mood, it’s difficult to understand the strategy behind the question.

Territory Labor politicians have long lived by the golden rule that law and order is not a space you want to play in with the CLP.

Even if crime has increased in four years’ time, does Labor really think it can win back voters by offering a softer approach?

Right now Labor looks like a party more interested in winning back Nightcliff than winning back office.

None of this is to say the opposition doesn’t have an important role to play in scrutinising the government.

But, like Higgins, it needs to choose its battles wisely.

The less it says about crime for now the better.

It would be better advised to keep pressing the government on its promised budget tightening and the $180 million in savings that mysteriously appeared in the CLP’s costings two days before the election.

When, on election eve, Mix FM’s Katie Woolf and I pressed Attorney General Marie-Clare Boothby on where these savings were coming from the best she could offer was that the CLP would scrap Labor’s “pet projects”.

Asked repeatedly what those pet projects were, she was unable to say.

But Labor also needs to show a bit of humility.

It needs to let the electorate know it can recognise the mistakes it made during office that saw voters turn away in such spectacular numbers.

If it needs some advice, it could do worse than contact Gary Higgins.

Michael Gunner should have his number.

Originally published as Matt Cunningham reflects on first sitting of parliament under CLP