Malarndirri McCarthy (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to share with the Senate an incredible weekend in the Northern Territory with the Northern Territory election and commend Chief Minister Michael Gunner on being able to take a second term for himself and his team. I want to commend all the candidates of the Australian Labor Party who stood in the seats across the Northern Territory—such a vast territory that it is—and put in the Hansard the hard work that the Labor Party has been doing, in particular through the COVID crisis.

I do think that we need to put on the record that this was the first election during the COVID pandemic, and I know that it was important for every single candidate to feel safe and to know that they were able to speak to the people across the Territory. I want to acknowledge the frontline workers, our health practitioners and the Northern Territory Police—certainly on our borders and not just on the roads but also in our airports—along with the AFP and the Australian Army.

I would like to acknowledge those candidates who stood for Labor: for Arafura, Lawrence Costa; Araluen, Jackson Ankers; Arnhem, Selena Uibo; Barkly, Sid Vashist; Blain, Mark Turner; Braitling, Dale Wakefield; Casuarina, Lauren Moss; Daly, Anthony Venes; Drysdale, Eva Lawler; Fong Lim, Mark Monaghan; Goyder, Mick Taylor; Gwoja, Chansey Paech; Johnston, Joel Bowden; Karama, Ngaree Ah Kit; Katherine, Kate Ganley; Mulka, Lynne Walker; Namatjira, Sheralee Taylor; Nelson, Steve Asher; Nightcliff, Natasha Fyles; Port Darwin, Paul Kirby; Sanderson, Kate Worden; Spillett, Tristan Sloan; and Wanguri, Nicole Manison. I would also like to thank our Labor members and volunteers across the Northern Territory, in particular the First Nations Workers Alliance. Unions NT were out supporting our candidates. To the CPSU, United Workers Union, CFMEU, MUA, ETU, ASU, SDA, AMWU, TWU and AWU, thank you so much to each and every one of you who supported our candidates across the Northern Territory.

It is important to acknowledge the supporters and volunteers who come together at election time—the supporters who are in the background but who are very much at the forefront of driving hundreds, if not thousands, of kilometres across the Territory to follow the Northern Territory Electoral Commission and their teams. It was a significant task even for the Northern Territory Electoral Commission to have the staff that they had and to conduct polls at all the booths that they had in some of the remotest regions of the Northern Territory. I commend you for your efforts in those areas.

As difficult and as challenging as it is physically and geographically, we still have a lot of work to do in understanding why it is that First Nations voters are being disengaged in most of our remote regions of northern Australia—not just in the Northern Territory; it will also occur in Queensland, WA and also South Australia. So it's important that the Senate and the parliament make sure they resource the Australian Electoral Commission.

We've seen a reduction in the workforce, especially with the AEC and other federal agencies—in particular in the Northern Territory—like the Bureau of Meteorology, just to name the two of those. If we had further, appropriate resourcing, we know we could have the educational and information programs out there across the regions as to why voting is significant, and to make sure it is in the languages. There are over 100 Aboriginal languages in the Northern Territory, so, whether they're local elections, state or territory elections or federal elections, we must make sure all are enrolled. I think ensuring that we are getting people on the roll so that they have their say when it comes to elections is a real challenge for every single senator and every single member of federal parliament.