Leader of the Opposition, Lia Finocchiaro, says the Chief Minister’s avoidance of Labor’s toxic
candidate for the Daly by-election, after he was outed as verbally attacking a Member of
Parliament, is glaringly obvious.
“Labor announced its candidate for Daly last Thursday, yet Michael Gunner hasn’t publicly
endorsed Labor candidate Dheran Young.
“Despite the Chief Minister using his social media to prematurely post critical public health
information, and attack Northern Territory police officers, he doesn’t have a single photo of
the Labor candidate for Daly.
“Michael Gunner has clearly banned the Labor candidate for Daly from posting photos of the
Chief Minister on his campaign Facebook page as well.
“That’s because the Chief Minister had hoped the public wouldn’t find out his captain’s pick
for Daly has a history of threatening and intimidating Members of Parliament.
“Michael Gunner has tried to fob off Dheran Young’s verbal attack by saying he doesn’t ‘give
a rats’ – which is further proof of his attempts to cover-up shockingly bad behaviour from
within his government.
“Michael Gunner didn’t ‘give a rats’ when the NT Treaty Commissioner faced allegations of
verbally abusing and making threats of physical violence against an Indigenous woman.
“Michael Gunner didn’t ‘give a rats’ when the disgraced Member for Blain fundamentally
breached community standards with his involvement in the Labor ‘Cocaine Sex’ Scandal.
“Michael Gunner didn’t ‘give a rats’ when reports surfaced that police were investigating the
Labor ‘Cocaine Sex’ Scandal implicating Territory Labor members.
“This is a disturbing pattern of deceit and cover-up and Territorians are sick of being treated
like fools.
“The choice for the people of Daly is clear – a CLP team that will be a strong voice to hold this
disgraceful Gunner Government to account, or a Chief Minister that cares more about himself
than Territorians,” said Mrs Finocchiaro.
ENDS