Saturday, November 21, 2015

NEVER NEVER LAND POLITICS STUNS OBAMA , TURNBULL , DEFENCE , US AMBASSADOR

Due to all the antics  going on  in the chaotic Northern Territory  Country Liberal  Party government , headed  today by Adam Giles ( who knows what  the  morrow will  bring  in the game of musical chairs ? )  , the  regime is firmly  regarded locally,  increasingly elsewhere in the  nation   and in the corridors of power in the United  States,  as  some kind  of   Banana Republic.

While polls  predict the CLP will  be hammered at the next election , the  ALP  is not  in  the  best   position  to  benefit from  this situation as its deposed leader, Delia Lawrie , is going to stand as  an independent  in her seat , and almost  certainly win.  Unlikely  ALP candidates  have been suggested  for several  seats.
 
Undoubtedly  benefiting  from  the  two major  party tension  and  uncertainty  is  the  brand new  1Territory  ( One Territory )  Party, a non-aligned,Territory-centric group.  Little  Darwin  has  received  intriguing  info, not all favourable ,  about  the new  chums   on  the Top End  political  scene , so commissioned  a correspondent  to  put an  ear  to the ground in the Top End , loiter  about  dingy  drinking establishments  and   noisy  coffee dens,  ask questions , and  file  a report ,  with a warning to go  easy on the expense account .

First off , our investigative  reporter  said  PM Malcolm Turnbull was obviously  misquoted when  the media said  he described  Darwin as the most  dynamic place in Australia . What he actually  said  was  that  the Darwin government situation  is dynamite,  with  a  spluttering  ,  Pink  Panther " bome"on the premises . 

While  Turnbull  was in Darwin  receiving  the Crocodile Dundee treatment  in  the  Northern Territory  News  he made  inadequate statements  about the CLP signing over  the port of Darwin to  the Chinese , an incredible act  which upset President Obama , Chief  Minister  Giles was  bunkered  down  in  far away Alice Springs.  [Readers of  this blog will recall that on the subject of  the port 99 year lease, we pointed out  that  like Queen Victoria , the Pentagon was not amused , before it became  a  hot issue .] 


 Strange  indeed  was the reaction by the now federal Treasurer , Scott Morrison, who made a big thing about border security in another life/portfolio, saying the NT Government was responsible for  leasing  the port  to the Chinese and that it was not the act of  the vigilant  feds.  Excuse  the  inexcusable  honourable Chinese  schoolboy  pun, on the ABC  Insiders , Clive Palmer appeared  to  put a clacker up the clacker of  the Turnbull government  when he said it was absurd that the port had been handed over to the Chinese  and  that you could not buy a port in  China .

Add to the Territory  explosive mix   the   latest  shemozzle  over the CLP move to  oust  the  redoubtable NT Legislative Assembly   Speaker , Kezia  Purick ,  a feisty  CLP member who recently threatened ousted  federal   Defence Minister Kevin Andrews with  painful  treatment  involving a ring used in animal castration  , followed  by  a declaration  by NT Attorney-General , Johan  (John) Elferink Minister  , naturally variously nicknamed The Elf and The Fink , that he will  not stand at the next election for  Port Darwin gives the impression  that  the government  is imploding and is on the verge of collapse .   Last February Elferink led a failed late night bid to oust  Giles in  a  farce which seemed like  the ancient  Indian game of  snakes and ladders ...one minute you are up, the next down  the bottom.
The  game  they  play  in Territory  politics.

Recently  Elferink  said  he would like to slap a female member  of the Legs. Assembly, which  caused  an uproar  and a call for his resignation . All  these   incidents , as expected , received a  certain amount  of  coverage  in the local media. However, our  reporter was surprised  that  the  media has failed  to pick up the fact  that a prominent member   of  1Territory  received  death threats, which were reported to the police .
 
Floating  about  the  town  is  a  claim  that Country Liberal  Party  polling  had revealed  an  8 percent  support  for 1Territory , which  was quickly  said  by the CLP  and its twitching  supporters  to  indicate  there was  no  great  threat to   the government.      However, this  supposed  polling  is said to had  been done before the  party was  officially formed and   accepted  by  the NT Electoral Commission.Here are other items  of scuttlebutt  picked up about  the  new  party  which  has  set  a  dingo loose  among  the  pigeons  :

* A  person claiming to be from  an  "oil company "offered  financial help to  1Territory  and  was  told  no thanks .  It was pointed out earlier in Little Darwin, that   the  party  is opposed to  fracking  and  is calling for a moratorium  in  the NT.  At a  recent public meeting  in  Darwin  , ALP leader Bill Shorten was asked  a number of  questions about  fracking  from  1Territory backers, which  later led  to a  terse exchange with  a  local  ALP member .  

*The  party's  website conducts online polling on a wide  range of issues - euthanasia ,  age care, domestic violence , rehabilitation of mining  sites , juvenile crime, the use of  RU486, even  asks if politicians , like employees in the mining industry and  other large companies , should undergo drug and alcohol tests .
 

*  A growing number of  organisations and individuals  have made contact with the  new  party.
 
*The fact that two former CLP presidents , who resigned from the party for various reasons , are  leading lights  in  the nouveau  party concerns some.They , however , have  stated  people  with various political leanings , fed  up with the present  NT government , the local  ALP  and  Canberra  control of  the  two major parties  , are  rallying  to  the  cause . Our correspondent  was  told  these two  high ranking ex CLP members  "know where  the bodies are  buried "- and this could have led to the  death  threats.  We  await the next exciting  report from our roving reporter with great interest -as does the CIA , an army of Chinese  hackers ,  ASIO , FBI et al .