Lia Finocchiaro has been sworn in as the Northern Territory's new Chief Minister alongside her deputy Gerard Maley. Ms Finocchiaro is the first Northern Territory born country Liberal Party member to be elected to the position and faces the tough challenge of turning around rising crime rates and a faltering economy.
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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.