Is it time the CLP stops blaming Labor for the NT's problems?

analysis Is it time the CLP stops blaming Labor for the NT's problems? Four-hundred and forty-three. That's how many times Country Liberal Party (CLP) politicians referred to former Territory Labor governments over the six sitting days of NT parliament this month. Over those same six days, the current Labor opposition was mentioned by the CLP a further 137 times. It didn't go unnoticed by Opposition Leader Selena Uibo. "This constant rhetoric of Labor, Labor, Labor," she told parliament. "It is like an obsession now with the CLP, to … act like it is not in government. "There are constant excuses — ask a minister a question: 'Oh, Labor did this two years ago' — ask a minister a question: 'Oh, Labor did this four years ago'." The CLP is now more than halfway through its first term of government in the NT, having trounced Territory Labor at the 2024 election. After eight years and three chief ministers, voters not only decided a change was needed — they gave Labor a walloping. An escalating crime problem, weak economy and a series of integrity scandals were among the reasons the party was completely wiped out in Darwin, leaving it with just four remote-based seats in a 25-member parliament. But while Labor might reasonably be blamed for many of the Territory's problems, including record debt, gas shortages and botched major projects, is it time the CLP starts taking responsibility? Remote Territorians left behind While NT governments of both persuasions have failed to fix long-standing issues in remote communities, under the CLP's current term, violence in the bush has been a recurring theme. So far this year, NT Police have responded to community unrest or large-scale disturbances in Maningrida, Wadeye, Tennant Creek, Palumpa, Yuendumu, Santa Teresa, Ngukurr, Numbulwar and Elliott. The CLP is yet to properly roll out its key election promise of restoring local control to community councils, while federal parliament has heard claims the NT's remote housing target is off track. Since June, two teenage girls, including a 16-year-old girl in Alpurrurulam, have allegedly been murdered by their older, adult partners in remote communities. While in opposition, Aboriginal Affairs Minister Steve Edgington called for Alpurrurulam's police station to be reopened, but the CLP government now says that will not be happening. The nation was devastated in April when Kumanjayi Little Baby was allegedly abducted and murdered in Alice Springs, following failures in the child protection system. Last week's report into the Department of Children and Families' conduct relating to the little girl made several similar recommendations to a coroner's report from November 2024, which minister Robyn Cahill dismissed at the time. The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency later criticised Ms Cahill for not listening to the coroner's recommendations. During her speech in parliament last week on the new report, Ms Cahill said the department "could have stepped in" to remove the little girl on several occasions, but that did not occur "due to the focus and policies of the previous Labor government". That was despite eight child protection notifications being made about Kumanjayi Little Baby while Ms Cahill was in office. Work to do on crime, health and economy While the CLP may be credited with driving down crime statistics in most parts of the Territory, and particularly in Alice Springs, some have questioned the sustainability of its tough law-and-order approach. Some Territorians are suspicious of the positive crime stats, saying people have stopped reporting offences. And in some cases, the numbers are rising, with property offending around the Top End higher this August than when the CLP was elected. Despite crime still being a key focus for the government, CLP members regularly refer to Labor’s record in parliament. “[Victims] will not forget what it was like under Labor,” Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby said this month. "Labor let crime go through the roof. There was a crime crisis every [parliamentary] sittings." Having lowered the age of criminal responsibility from 12 to 10, legislated tougher bail laws, expanded police powers and commissioned new prisons, the CLP has little room to move on the issue, with the NT the second-most imprisoned jurisdiction in the world behind El Salvador. The territory's run down health system is another frequent problem for the government. NT Health this week bungled its response to a privacy breach, while the Health Services Union said the smell of decomposing bodies at the crumbling Royal Darwin Hospital was leaving staff feeling "physically sick". After Ms Uibo called on Mr Edgington to resign as Health Minister on Thursday, he responded through a social media post saying "we will not take lectures from a failed Territory Labor health minister". "Labor had years to improve the Territory’s health system but had no plan and genuinely no idea," he said. Arrogance creeping in, speaker says Having previously served as a CLP deputy chief minister over a decade ago, Robyn Lambley now watches the debate in NT parliament from the speaker's chair. The Alice Springs-based independent believes her old party is "partly justified" in hammering Labor due to the "pile of unresolved and unfunded legacy issues" it left behind. But she said the mudslinging had just about reached its expiry date. "It's what governments do, but after a while it becomes boring and it becomes a way to deflect from them just getting on with it and doing what Territorians want them to do," Ms Lambley said. "It's something that they need to resolve, for the most part, and just get on with it." Throughout its eight years in power, Labor were just as guilty of blaming the CLP for the NT's woes and Ms Lambley said it could be a slippery slope for the current government. "At times I see this government behaving in quite an arrogant way, as I saw the arrogance creeping very quickly with the former Labor government," she said. "Territorians do not like arrogant politicians." With just one parliamentary sitting week to go in 2026, the CLP has its final opportunity this year to show it can stand on its own two feet and govern in its own right.