Territory Coordinator consultation turns sour

The CLPs Territory Coordinator plan was criticised by an overwhelmingly angry crowd at a consultation session in Palmerston on Wednesday evening. Read the details.

Stuart Knowles is the interim Territory Coordinator

A community consultation session on the CLP’s controversial Territory Coordinator erupted into a fiery debate as an overwhelmingly angry crowd of constituents voiced their opposition.

The interim Territory Coordinator Stuart Knowles held the public consultation session in Palmerston on Wednesday evening with a crowd of more than 100 people.

Although the event was open to the public, media were stopped by organisers from taking photos or videos.

The event was held at Rydges Palmerston

Mr Knowles began with a 20 minute presentation outlining the roles and responsibilities of the Territory Coordinator, followed by an hour-long interrogation by the crowd.

He said the Territory Coordinator would help to “drive economic prosperity”, while also “considering social and environmental impacts”.

Many of the questions focused on concerns with the legislation, such as the exemption notice and the step-in powers of the Coordinator.

These ‘notices’ would “exclude or modify the applications of a law”, or allow the Coordinator to “step in to make a decision in place of the original decision maker”, Mr Knowles explained.

Mr Knowles attempted to assure the crowd the role was not designed to “stymie opposition” or “cut corners”, as some questioners accused.

Mr Knowles’ session was met with no applause and occasional jeering.

This was markedly different to the reaction most questioners received, which ranged from affirmations from the crowd to ovations.

The crowd’s opposition to the position was obvious – at one stage during the questioning an attendee asked the crowd to respond “yay” or “nay” to voice their support for the Territory Coordinator.

No one responded in the affirmative – including the coordinator himself and CLP MLA Tanzil Rahman – while the rest of the crowd responded in the negative.

Many of those present were not satisfied with the consultation process or the answers given by Mr Knowles, including opposition MLAs Justine Davis, Kat McNamara and Dheran Young, who outnumbered the sole CLP MLA present.

Member for Johnston Ms Davis was “completely unsatisfied”, claiming the consultation process was “hollow” and superficial.

Independent Johnston MLA Justine Davis doubted the consultation process would have any impact. Picture: Fia Walsh.

“The other big concern I have is the hollowness of this whole process... it’s very difficult to see how this consultation is going to have any impact whatsoever.”

Rural resident and environmental scientist Pauline Cass attended the consultation in Palmerston and an earlier one in Katherine.

She said opposition for the Territory Coordinator spread beyond Darwin and Palmerston.

“I went to the Katherine consultation and there was no support for the Territory Coordinator there either,” she claimed.

Ms Cass – a qualified environmental scientist – believes the answers provided by Mr Knowles were “substandard”.

Pauline Cass criticised Mr Knowles’ responses. Picture: Michael Franchi

Fiona, a resident from Karama, labelled the consultation “political spin.”

“The questions were incredibly detailed and intelligent, but the responses given were really uninformed,” she said.

“I’m not satisfied one bit.”

The community is invited to give their feedback on the proposed position before January 17, 2025 by email to [e-mail].

Originally published as Territory Coordinator consultation turns sour