00:00Well, just behind me at Government House, the new Chief Minister, Lia Finocchiaro, has
00:06been sworn in as the next Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, along with her Deputy
00:10Gerard Maley, who's been sworn in as well.
00:13Now, the CLP came to a landslide victory over the weekend, where they claimed 16 seats at
00:19least, potentially a 17th, defeating Labor in key parts of Darwin.
00:25So far, we have a new Cabinet from the CLP, which is basically the two Chief Minister
00:30and the Deputy Chief Minister in all portfolios, split 50-50 between them.
00:36Now, that's just an interim measure, and they're planning to swear in the full Cabinet, possibly
00:40next week or at a later date, just so that they can get the ball rolling on key issues
00:45that they were elected on, particularly the issue of crime.
00:49Now, Lia Finocchiaro has been sworn into the portfolio of Police Minister to that end,
00:55as well as Treasurer and Minister of Territory Families, which is kind of the youth-related
01:01and child protection portfolio in the Northern Territory, while Gerard Maley has been sworn
01:07into Attorney-General and Alcohol Policy.
01:11This is just interim measures, with the full Cabinet to be sworn in at a later date, when
01:15they will presumably split some of those portfolios to the rest of the Cabinet and the rest of
01:20the new members of the Legislative Assembly.
01:23We didn't learn a lot from the press conference today, because the Chief Minister stayed for
01:27just about three questions before returning into Government House for a social gathering
01:33after being sworn in, a celebration of sorts.
01:36But we did know, we did learn that she has recommitted to lowering the age of criminal
01:41responsibility in the Northern Territory from 12 years old back down to 10.
01:45That was a key commitment prior to the election, but it has received a lot of criticism from
01:50experts who say that it will increase the incarceration of Indigenous people in the
01:55Northern Territory.
01:57There are still two seats to be counted throughout the Northern Territory.
02:01Those are Fanny Bay and Knightcliffe, but what we know so far is that the CLP is ahead
02:06in Fanny Bay, which could deliver them potentially a 17th member of the Legislative Assembly,
02:12while in Knightcliffe it's the incumbent member, who is Natasha Files, the former Chief Minister
02:17of the Northern Territory for Labor, who looks likely to take that seat.
02:22There are three independents in the next NT Parliament, Robin Lamley in Central Australia,
02:29in North East Arnhem Land we have Yngi Aguila, and in the Darwin suburb, the Darwin electorate
02:36of Johnston, we have Justine Davis, a new independent who was elected on a Teal platform
02:41supported by independent ACT Senator David Pocock.
Comments