Terry Mills has a fatal flaw.
Posted by Jacques Chester on Friday, August 8, 2008
He is too honest for politics.
There are three kinds of seats in the NT elections. Those which are dominated by aboriginal voters, which routinely return ALP candidates. Those which are dominated by people who feel excluded from government largesse, principally Katherine and Alice Springs. These routinely return CLP candidates.
And a third kind where the number of public servants is larger than the margin required to change candidates. These vote for whomever they prefer, so long as both candidates refuse to touch public sector jobs.
Terry Mills has correctly pointed out that the NTPS — usually called NTG by locals — has bloomed in the last few years. And that millions of dollars could be saved by culling some of the fat: executives, media handlers and the like. But that’s not how it plays out in what-about-my-job land.
That’s what folk underestimate. A lot of attention is given in the Northern Suburbs races to picking candidates who resemble the electorate. The seats of Casuarina and Wanguri, for example, are ethnically dominated by greeks, and both parties generally run greek candidates there. But which do people care more about — what kind of cuisine they put on the table, or the job that lets them put it on the table?
The NTG is a monster that cannot be culled because public servants will almost always vote their jobs. Any sane person with a mortgage and kids would.
Sadly, I think Terry’s fundamental decency has blown his chances of clawing back Northern Suburbs seats a pretty heavy blow. And that’s a shame.
This entry was posted on Friday, August 8th, 2008 at 5:06 PM and filed under Politics - Northern Territory.
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It was a most basic of strategic errors and as such their advisor(s) [Peter Murphy I assume] should resign and go back to political kindergarten. I still find it hard to believe that the CLP is so naive to even broached the subject except to provide confidence in positions.
It was no accident that the ALP came out with an opposite policy – to expand the Public Service. The contrast couldn’t be more stark. And one must remember the dramatic changes in Darwin over the past few years – rapid increase in rentals and home prices. People need their jobs and certainty to pay the bills and or to pay the big mortgage. Not to mention those small businesses that depend on Public Servants.
This election they shot themselves in the foot, not through being extreme right wing weirdos as we find in NSW and the Federal Liberal party but just by being inexperienced and naive.
Posted on 08-Aug-08 at 5:42 pm | PermalinkIf it was put on Terry by Peter Murphy I can’t chalk it up to naivety. Only senility would fit the bill.
Posted on 08-Aug-08 at 6:33 pm | PermalinkThis is the sort of conversation that would hearten the CLP…
Public Servant 1: Did you hear they are going to get rid of DCIS? (pronounced dee kiss)
Public Servant 2: Good.
Anyone who has tried to buy, hire or employ anything through DCIS and NT fleet knows there’s duplication and frustration up the yin yang.
Posted on 08-Aug-08 at 7:36 pm | PermalinkIt is possible to cut public service numbers – but the strategy is to be specific where the cuts will hit.
That way, those in the public sector whose jobs are not targeted will not get too ruffled, the numbers of people actually affected is small relative to the numbers in the electorate, and therefore feasible.
Mind you, if you cut somewhere that provides services you are going to be in trouble in the short term, and if you cut planners, you will be in trouble in the long term – witness infrastructure deficiency disasters down south.
Posted on 08-Aug-08 at 7:40 pm | PermalinkGreat minds think alike Jacques (and small ones seldom differ). I’ve written some punditry for tomorrow’s NT News that includes the following passage:
“I expect Labor will lose some seats, mostly because of adverse redistributions affecting Goyder and Drysdale, but will retain a reasonably comfortable majority. The CLP should gain enough seats to be a more viable Opposition for the next term. Whether the election is a major plus for the CLP will depend on whether a potential new leader (i.e. Garry Lambert or Dave Tollner) is elected. I don’t see Terry Mills as a long term prospect, mostly because he’s a nice, genuine and fairly non-aggressive person, which sadly don’t seem to be desirable qualities for a political leader.”
Posted on 08-Aug-08 at 10:17 pm | PermalinkSpeaking of the NT News, they seem to have rotated Nigel Adlam into subbing. All the headlines are wildly anti-Mills lately, without much regard for the journo’s slab.
Posted on 08-Aug-08 at 11:56 pm | Permalink“He is too honest for politics.”
Well. Apparently not, Jacques
Posted on 10-Aug-08 at 8:35 am | PermalinkI’ve never been more pleased to be right about a bloke and wrong about a process.
Posted on 10-Aug-08 at 12:17 pm | PermalinkWhat’s today’s punditry, Ken? Get some lolly on the WA Libs.
Posted on 10-Aug-08 at 12:24 pm | Permalink