Small Mercies
Posted by Jacques Chester on Monday, July 21, 2008
I have been planning to visit Darwin in August for some time — Colin Wicking has an exhibition on the 15th and I have a reunion on the 23rd. I have been concerned until now that an election would be on during my stay, thus buggering everything up quite beautifully.
The NT Chief Minister, Paul Henderson, obviously got wind of my plans and called the election for the 9th. Good man. Now I have an absolutely ironclad alibi for why I won’t man a booth or wear somebody’s T-shirt.
I don’t think that the CLP can win this election, but they could certainly win back a few seats. The one to watch is David Tollner vs Matthew Bonson in the new seat of Fong Lim. Matty Bonson is a boofy, sporty sort of bloke with strong connections in his electorate; Dave Tollner is also a boofy, sporty sort of bloke with a very high profile due to his tenure as the Federal Member for Solomon.
Luckily the CLP had an outbreak of common sense and found a place for Jo Sangster to run. She’s a smart woman and is good at getting favourable media. She’s up against the second creepiest bloke in the ALP Ministry.
For Henderson, the test of this election is to try and stay as close to the 2005 high water mark as possible. Not an easy task, especially when some of the seats seized last time have been double-digit CLP territory for most of recorded history. Hendo will campaign on his record of bringing in new and exciting bacon. The NT News has already established its credentials for the campaign by talking about a “$12 million” LNG plant. Off by three zeros, but who cares?
Update: They noticed the mistake while I was at the gym, but for those who enjoy that sort of thing, here’s a screenshot of the original.
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This entry was posted on Monday, July 21st, 2008 at 12:16 PM and filed under Politics - Northern Territory.
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At least the NT News cartoons are accurate, Jacques. Well, most of the time.
Posted on 21-Jul-08 at 2:44 pm | PermalinkYour cartoons tend to be the most accurate thing in the paper on most days.
I worked there for three years and Editorial managed to spell my name wrong at least once.
Posted on 21-Jul-08 at 4:07 pm | PermalinkI notice that the typo has been fixed.
Posted on 21-Jul-08 at 4:08 pm | PermalinkWhy thankyou, Mr Chuster.
Posted on 21-Jul-08 at 4:14 pm | PermalinkMr Colin Wicket, ladies and gentlemen!
Posted on 21-Jul-08 at 4:34 pm | PermalinkMatty v Dave is definitely one to watch. Bayview in the new electorate will clearly counter some of the strong relationships Matty has in the rest but Bayview should have pretty well educated voters. That isn’t Dave’s natural constituency. Perhaps Matty will need to focus a little more on his legal qualifications than his sports skills.
I wonder about Jo Sangster and Chris Burns. Chris on the doorstep early on a Sunday morning might be a little more difficult to take than Jo but he has been out and about for a long time and should hold.
Chris Natt in Drysdale, James Burke in Brennan and Kerry Saciolotto in Port Darwin are on very tight margins and Kerry has John Elferink up against her. Those could all be interesting. You would have to punt that one or two would go.
Fannie Bay has a history of being held by Chief Ministers. I would think that both Garry Lambert and Michael Gunner would have strong aspirations. Will be interesting to see what the voters reckon.
Posted on 21-Jul-08 at 4:54 pm | PermalinkI reckon Brennan is a good chance to revert to the CLP. The election of James Burke was a primal spasm of people doing Whatever It Took to be rid of Denis Burke. The same spasm nearly took out Terry Mills next door.
The tragedy with Sangster is that she didn’t get Sanderson.
I was surprised to see Elferink pop up in Port Darwin. I hope he gets in; a very talented, thoughtful man. Saciolotto reminds me too much of a stereotypical union hack from Victoria or NSW.
Port Darwin is not the blue blood seat it used to be, though. It’s moved towards the city as units have gone up. Sue Carter told me once that it’s the hardest seat of all because the population turnover is extremely intense — you climb up and down stairs doorknocking, then come back 6 months later to discover that all the names and faces have changed. It’s like starting from scratch every year.
I don’t know Gunner too well. Lambert’s long and reptitive tenure as an alderman does not fill me with confidence.
Posted on 21-Jul-08 at 5:06 pm | PermalinkI’m up there from 15 to 18 August. We must catch up and you can show me the code behind Troppo - ooh aaah guv I luv it when you talk dirty - or we could go around a chuck empty tinnies on KP’s roof.
Posted on 21-Jul-08 at 7:32 pm | PermalinkEven better: we could chuck empty tinnies off Ken’s balcony!
Posted on 22-Jul-08 at 9:47 am | PermalinkI have been told the NT has an annual population turnover of around the thrity percent mark. If this is true it would be almost impossible to predict any outcome across the board. Voters would be voting on prejudices they have brought with them from down south and in such small electorates a few dozen votes could make all the difference.
Posted on 24-Jul-08 at 6:50 am | PermalinkThe Brian Burk vote last time did seem to be personal. And Some wag put one of Brian’s posters up on the road into the CBD the Monday after the election with a sign hanging around the neck saying: “Will work for food.” Unkind.