The new Northern Territory government will reintroduce community cabinet meetings in remote bush towns in an attempt to return control to local decision makers.
It will continue the $18m “community champions” program but the chief minister, Michael Gunner, will not say how his promised 26 job cuts at executive department levels will affect it.
The community cabinet meetings, introduced under the Clare Martin-led Labor government, meant all ministers and department heads visited remote communities to speak with local people for a “direct conversation”, Gunner said.
“Obviously there are a lot of issues shared across the territory, and that provides an excellent forum for making sure you were exposed directly to feedback from remote Territorians, which I think is really important.”
Gunner said Labor had run a strong campaign in the bush to gain trust – and with it credibility – in parliament. Policies were based on returning community control, especially in schools.
He said there would also be a yet-to-be-named local implementation board to bind government policies together and “ensure locals have meaningful control of their lives”.
“Because when we make decisions in Canberra, we can get it a little bit right but when we get it wrong we get a lot wrong,” he said. “If you make decisions locally, occasionally you’ll make mistakes but when you get it right you’ll get a lot right and when you get it wrong you get it a little wrong.
“We’ll avoid the common mistake of when someone makes a mistake in a remote community, locally, we strip that decision-making power back to Darwin. That’s part of that meaningful relationship with local Territorians and giving that control.”
Gunner also promised the continuation of the Country Liberal party’s community champions program, albeit with changes. Labor has committed to sacking 26 chief executives and deputy chief executives as part of its cost cutting by consolidating government departments.
“I’ve always been worried about some communities missing out essentially under community champions,” he said. “It wasn’t, I thought, a structurally good fit.
“But some communities do like their champions and I’m not going to take away something that they like.”
Gunner said executive job losses would not be impacted by whether that individual was one of the community champions; the government would make sure communities retained a representative after the “restructure”.
“Different communities have different regard for the CEOs who are their champions,” he said. “It’s not a structural solution to give direct access to government and solving issues. Some people like them and will keep them.”
Gunner made the comments in Numbulwar, on the gulf coast of the NT on Thursday in his first remote visit since winning the election last weekend.
Gunner and the newly elected MLA Selena Uibo visited the Numbulwar school where Uibo used to teach and met with local students and teachers.
Uibo won 64.3% of the two-party-preferred vote, over the incumbent independent MLA Larisa Lee, who suffered one of the biggest defeats in political history, gaining just 116 primary votes.
Gunner chose Uibo’s home town as his first trip to the bush as leader – but his new recruit was the main attraction.
The corflute signs encouraging people to vote for her had all but disappeared from the community, apparently pinched as souvenirs of the victory.
Uibo was the senior teacher at Numbulwar school for four years and her mother was its principal for many years before that.
When she arrived at the school, children cried out “Selena, Selena” and leant over fences to say hello. She introduced Gunner: “He’s the bungawa [boss] for all of the Northern Territory,” she said.
“I don’t know Michael Gunner,” said a teacher linguist, Hilda Ngalmi, who added that people had voted for Uibo rather than for a party.
“Selena knows our people’s culture,” Ngalmi told Guardian Australia. “She’s part of Aboriginals (sic) and she’s part from England, and she has the two-ways balance.
“She’s a strong voice because she knows every people (sic) in the community, and speaks our language.”
