Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for External Territories) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Saturday saw the culmination of voting in the Northern Territory election. Voting commenced two weeks ago with mobile teams visiting remote community centres and prepoll centres opening across the Territory's larger urban centres. While the result is yet to be finalised, Labor is well ahead on votes and on seats, and I am very confident as of today that Michael Gunner will form the next Northern Territory government. He and his team need to be congratulated. They are committed to finishing the job they have started and to continuing to steer the Territory through the coronavirus crisis. There's a need for all of us to remain vigilant to ensure we keep this insidious virus out of the Northern Territory, where it would wreak havoc if it were to gain a foothold, particularly if it were to get into any of the remote Aboriginal communities. There is still much work to be done, saving jobs and creating new opportunities for businesses and employment. This is a challenge for the new Gunner government. A salutary tale from the election, however, has been the very low and poor Aboriginal voter participation and engagement. This should raise alarm bells for all of us.

I want to congratulate those candidates who stood for remote electorates in the Northern Territory, particularly my friend who stood for Daly and the person who stood in Namatjira. In these two seats, they are at the moment within a handful of votes of claiming victory. I want to congratulate the member for Arnhem, who will be re-elected as of today, the new member for Barkly and the member for Arafura. (Time expired)