Let's get more now on the resignation of Northern Territory Chief Minister Natasha Fyles after she failed to disclose her shareholdings in a mining company. Professor Rolf Gerritsen is a political economist he was not shocked to hear her resignation.
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00:00 There'd been an accumulation of incidents that raised ethical questions about the chief
00:08 minister's conduct.
00:09 And the pressure was on and it didn't help that she made the announcement, or the government
00:17 made the announcement yesterday that territory politicians weren't going to get a pay rise.
00:23 So that probably made the caucus more amenable to change.
00:27 Timing is everything.
00:29 What do you make of the way it has been handled and the way that she has handled it over the
00:34 past few weeks?
00:37 Well there are a number of situations that are going to be difficult for the government
00:41 in the next six months.
00:42 So I presume that she thought, well if we clear the decks and have a new leader that
00:48 will clear the air for the party to go forward to the next election, which is over next year.
00:59 It was a bit of a drip drip effect though, wasn't it, with the information coming to
01:04 light.
01:05 If she'd have perhaps dealt with it a lot sooner, these financial probity issues, do
01:11 you think there might have been a different outcome?
01:15 Well when the issue of her shares in BHP Arca Woodside came up, which is a, Woodside's
01:24 an important player in the national precinct being developed in Parliament.
01:29 When that issue came up and the fact that she had shares in it, I think she should have,
01:34 if she was shrewd or to limit the damage, disclosed the shares that she had in the company
01:41 that now operates the mine at Alian Gula.
01:48 But there was also the issue of one of her advisors who turned out to be a lobbyist for
01:53 Tamboran which is one of the big players in the proposed fracking of gas in the Beteloo.
01:59 And I mean it's a, I suppose a commentary on the fact that Territory is the only jurisdiction
02:07 in Australia that does not have a register of lobbyists.
02:12 Interesting.
02:14 What about the opposition there then in the NT?
02:18 How can they, will they be capitalising on this?
02:21 Well they will be cock-a-hoop and say that the government has lost its direction and
02:27 is rotten to the core and whatever.
02:30 You know I'm not a speech writer for the opposition but I'm sure they'll think something.
02:36 What do you think then will, changes will be made within Labour going ahead, as you
02:42 say the election next year, August time.
02:47 What do they need to do?
02:50 Well Labour has a very serious structural problem.
02:58 That is, it's, Territory's finances are going to get steadily worse over the next decade.
03:06 So the Territory government will become increasingly unable to solve the problems.
03:11 It has two solutions to that.
03:14 One, cut the public service.
03:17 We have 24,000 effective full-time equivalents or if you like 30,000 people who are in the
03:25 public service.
03:26 About twice the rate of anywhere else.
03:31 And that's just unsustainable.
03:34 The structure of the public service is top-heavy.
03:37 That's unsustainable.
03:38 So what do you do?
03:39 Well you cut the public service.
03:40 The problem is public service are about 40% of the electorate, of the voters in the electorates
03:48 that are in Palmerston and Darwin and that's where the election is decided.
03:54 So the Labour Party can't cut the public service.
03:58 So then it's got to get development going to try and get an increased revenue stream.
04:03 And that's such a real problem is that it has to be pro-gas, pro-minerals, purely fiscal
04:11 reasons.
04:12 And of course in the Territory there is a growing, what I broadly call a conservation
04:17 movement that now includes more than just the traditional Greens, but left elements
04:24 of the Labour Party and growing Indigenous interests.
04:27 Yeah, it's a fine line to walk, isn't it?
04:30 I mean, Labour will be pleased that she's not stepping down completely.
04:34 They don't want a by-election.
04:37 Any names springing to mind about who might be what will become the third Chief Minister
04:42 in this current Labour term?
04:46 We're just copying everybody.
04:52 I don't know.
04:53 I mean, I'm not very good at predicting these things.
04:57 I remember the last time when Chief Minister Gunnar resigned, I confidently predicted that
05:03 Nicole Manneson would become the Chief Minister because she was a candidate of the left faction
05:09 and they had a slight majority in the caucus.
05:13 It turned out not to be the case because some of her supporters ended up voting for Ms Files.
05:23 I think there might be a wild card in this.
05:26 So I'll make a prediction that it's Joel Bowden who is a recently elevated minister.
05:35 So he's been a backbencher.
05:37 He's long been seen as a rival of Files.
05:41 He has left support, union support.
05:45 He comes from a Richmond footballing dynasty in the AFL, so he has the sort of, if you
05:54 like, cache that gives him.
06:00 And he's the Minister for Amateur Fisheries, which is the most popular portfolio the government
06:06 has.
06:06 [BLANK_AUDIO]