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Chief ministership of Lia Finocchiaro
The chief ministership of Lia Finocchiaro begun on 28 August 2024 when she was sworn-in by Administrator Hugh Heggie as the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory. Just 4 days prior, Finocchiaro's Country Liberal Party (CLP) won in an extensive landslide victory, gaining 17 of the 25 seats in the Northern Territory Parliament, leaving the opposition party Territory Labor with just 4 seats, whilst the Labor chief minister at the time Eva Lawler lost her seat to the CLP. The victory of the CLP in the 2024 election outperformed the polls, with pundits on the lead up to the election predicting a close race. Finocchiaro's win marked the second Coalition affiliate to hold government in Australia since the 2023 New South Wales state election, with the only other before her win being Tasmania. During her election campaign, Finocchiaro pledged to increase penalties for youth criminals, including lowering the age of criminal responsibility from the age of 12 to 10. Despite criticism from organisations including Amnesty International, Finocchiaro's party introduced the bill to lower the age of responsibility early in her term, as well as passing a law that sets no-bail presumptions in court for violent offenders regardless of age and whether a weapon was used or not. In her campaign plan to 'rebuild the economy', she has increased the first home buyers grant 5-fold, which her government has reported significantly increased interest in buying and building homes in the NT. Finocchiaro has taken action within her role as chief minister to fast track approvals for mining projects in the Northern Territory, for which she has received criticism. As chief minister, she has appointed her full 9 member cabinet following an interim arrangement, as well as restructuring the executive branch departments and reappointing heads of a number of departments. She has joined her fellow Coalition affiliate premiers in other Australian states to support the Federal Labor government's plan to introduce an adolescent social media ban. During the last stretch of her current term, she is expected to nominate a replacement for the current Administrator of the Northern Territory. Electoral history2024 Northern Territory general electionThe 2024 Northern Territory general election was held on 24 August, 2024.[1] A limited number of polls were conducted prior to the election, which showed that the Country Liberals were leading Labor.[2] Despite the polls favouring the CLP, political pundits and psephologists in the lead-up to the election showed angst in predicting a CLP win or landslide, instead arguing that the race was most likely a toss-up and either side had a fair chance of victory.[3] It was shown during the counting on election night that the CLP had outperformed the polls by approximately 3.5%.[4] This was the first time that the CLP had one government in the Northern Territory since Labor reduced the Country Liberals to 2 seats in the 2016 Northern Territory general election, with Finocchiaro being only one of two remaining members of the CLP in Parliament and holding on to official opposition status despite the Territory Alliance holding more seats at the time than the CLP.[5]  It was later revealed that the CLP had unseated Eva Lawler, the immediate predecessor of Finocchiaro in the chief minister office.[6] The CLP upon winning was only one of two Coalition affiliate governments in Australia; the only other being Tasmania since the Liberal Nationals lost the 2023 New South Wales state election.[7][8][9] Since the win of the Liberal National Party in the 2024 Queensland state election, Finocchiaro serves as one of three Coalition heads of government in the National Cabinet.[10] Since the beginning of Finocchiaro's chief ministership, her party has held a supermajority in the Northern Territory Parliament of 68% of the total seats.[1] CampaignDuring the 2024 election campaign, the CLP released their policy platform named 'The CLP Plan to rebuild the Territory'.[11] The first of three priorities laid out in the plan is crime (particularly youth crime).[11] The plan proposed among other items building two adult prisoner work camps, as well as two new women's prisons in Alice Springs and Darwin, Northern Territory.[12] The CLP also committed to building two youth boot camps in Alice Springs and Darwin, as well as investing in skills training for inmates during prison sentences.[13] The CLP also controversially committed to reversing a previous Labor government's decision to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 12 years of age.[14] Amnesty International released a scorecard during the campaign mainly based on criminal minor's rights, favouring the NT Greens.[15] During the campaign, the CLP announced their second set of campaign pledges, aiming to 'rebuild the economy' and make the NT a competitive place to live and work. One of these pledges was to slash payroll tax for small businesses, as well as increasing the first home buyers program.[16] Finocchiaro also announced that her government would increase tariff payments to residents who export solar energy to the grid.[16] Finocchiaro also committed to 'vigorously pursue' the mining, gas and defence sectors in an effort to increase the strength of the NT economy.[17] The CLP also released during the campaign their plan to 'Restore our Lifestyle'. This was underpinned by aiding the health system by attracting more health workers, as well as lowering the cost of vaccines and medicines.[18] Finocchiaro also committed to easing regulation for commercial and recreational fishery by removing registrations for fishing and boat licenses, as well as committing to upgrading boat ramps.[19] Finocchiaro committed to removing entry fees for state-run national parks.[20] State and domestic affairsMiningEarly in her term, Finocchiaro has fast-tracked plans to cut red-tape for mining companies wanting to conduct operations within the Northern Territory by delegating various extra powers to the Territory Coordinator and Minister for Mining.[21] HousingFollowing the introduction of Finocchiaro's housing guarantee scheme, she reported mass levels of interest in buying homes within the Northern Territory.[22] National adolescent social media banIn November 2024, Finocchiaro joined fellow Coalition heads of government in Australia to support the Federal Labor government's bill to ban social media access for adolescents under 16 years of age.[23] EducationIn November 2024, Finocchiaro's government reinstated a School Attendance Officer Program with the aim of increasing school attendance for regularly truant students.[24] The program works by having school attendance officers patrolling areas where absent students are often located outside of school during school hours, such as shopping malls. If a school attendance officer determines that a student stays at home too excessively during school hours, or they remain at areas other than school, as an authorised officer under the law, the attendance officer can issue fines to parents and arrest the violating students.[25] Law enforcementOperation LudlowIn November 2024, due to increasing crime in the Northern Territory and the violent wave of crime that comes in the summer, the Northern Territory Government's Police Force commenced Operation Ludlow, in attempt to reduce crime rates and better prepare for violence in the coming months.[26] In an effort to reduce illicit consumption of alcohol during the operation, the police task force had emptied over 1000 standard alcoholic drinks a month after the operation begun, with over 100 arrests of repeat offenders made in the same time period.[27] Family violenceAlice Springs, one of the largest rural towns in the Northern Territory and home to the Pine Gap Joint Australo-American surveillance facility, is a family violence hotspot in the Australia. In December 2024, Finocchiaro hinted that federal intervention may be required after a baby was harshly injured in a violent home attack in Alice Springs, with the child subsequently being medevac'd to Adelaide, South Australia.[28] Like the previous 2024 Alice Springs curfews due to street violence, the Commissioner of the Police Force stated that additional police units would be deployed in Alice Springs, with the Australian summer being a violent period in the Northern Territory.[29] The Police Commissioner did not rule out requesting police assistance from other Australian states.[29] AppointmentsCabinetOn 9 September 2024, Finocchiaro announced her ministry.[30]
Administrator and Supreme Court JusticesAs the current Administrator of the NT, Hugh Heggie's term ends by convention in early 2026, Finocchiaro will nominate the next Administrator of the NT to the Governor-General for appointment.[31] The Attorney-General and Chief Minister confer for the appointment of Supreme Court of the Northern Territory justices, with a mandatory retirement age for justices of 72.[32] Public serviceAs the chief executive of the Northern Territory Government, Finocchiaro has the ability to appoint public service heads, as well as reorganise executive branch departments. Upon her swearing-in as chief minister, Finocchiaro dismissed Marco Briceno and Karen Weston from their roles as the heads of health and education departments respectively.[33] Finocchiaro also increased the number of government departments from 12 to 18, moved the youth justice portfolio from the Department of Corrections to the Department of Territory Families, as well as removed the departments responsible for climate change and Indigenous treaty.[34] Legislative agendaCrimeEarly in her term, Finocchiaro used her large majority in the NT Parliament to introduce and pass various bills relating to the CLP crime agenda; including 'Declan's law'.[35] Declan's law, named after a victim of youth crime — Declan Laverty, established a doctrine that courts assume that bail not be granted to both youth and adult violent offenders, irrespective of whether or not a weapon was involved in the crime.[36] The Finocchiaro government in the parliament introduced a bill promised during the election campaign to lower the criminal age of responsibility from 12 to 10 years of age.[37] See also
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