Don't risk the Daly

Now, here's a piece of recent history:

Back in 2005, the NT ALP were up for re-election for the first time ever.

2001 had seen the historic election of the Territory's first labor government. After languishing in opposition for decades since Self Government, labor had got a grip on power, and they weren't about to let it go in a single term.

Labor's 2005 election strategy was two pronged.

stealing the redneck vote

On the right, they caught the CLP by surprise by seizing the issue of 'problem drinkers' (ie homeless Indigenous people). In fact, labor surprised everyone by adopting the CLP's 'tough talking' approach to the uncomfortable realities of homeless people who come to Darwin from the wide catchment of poorly serviced remote communities in the Top End. They promised mandatory rehabilitation for alcohol-related crime, and apparently surprised partner organisations who they declared would help impose 'standards' on itinerant visitors.

This proved outrageously successful for their campaign. The CLP leader, Denis Burke (accurately) accused them of trying to steal his red neck voters. His voters didn't take kindly to being labelled as such, and he was left effectively, and obviously, out-manouevered. The labor party's logic was that breaking a few eggs (endorsing the gutter politics of slandering homeless Indigenous people) is the price of a good omelette (decimating the old guard of the CLP).

On the left, labor took a more measured approach. But campaigning during the election period by a number of environment groups highlighted concerns about land and water management in the Daly River catchment. This coupled with the largest ever field of Greens candidates to participate in an NT election. So although labor hadn't brought any policy or preparation targeting that constituency, in the final hours they ramped it up.

No uranium

On the Friday before polling day, Chief Minister Clare Martin made a surprise declaration: no more uranium mining.

It was a surprise, because until that moment, uranium mining had not been raised. The vague threat of a nuclear waste dump had been floated by the feds a week out from the poll, but we were still a while away from the uranium rush that was to gather pace over the following year. Uranium mining was just not on the political landscape. And although the announcement was consistent with federal ALP policy at the time, it wasn't NT policy.

That position didn't hold long - the re-elected labor government was issuing exploration licenses to uranium miners just two weeks later, and the fact it was abandoned in a couple of months illustrates the spirit in which Ms Martin's announcement was made. Having successfully taken what they could from the right during the campaign, labor were reaching to the left by election day.

Don't risk the Daly

The outgoing parliament had presided over a looming land-grab in the Daly River region, illustrated by an advertising campaign down south that promised "free water" to new land holders. Environmental groups, both local and national, had started to raise concerns. These moves risked replicating the errors of the Murray Darling Basin in a region that notoriously suffers an annual drought; the Dry Season. A certain Controller of Water was heard to quip that maybe we needed to make those mistakes to qualify for the federal remediation funding...

Despite their role in engineering the threat, labor effortlessly pivoted, declaring that only they could be trusted to wisely manage the risks posed by new agricultural development. And that's how we came, on election day, to find the polling booths of left-leaning electorates plastered with upside-down green triangles. Here's a momento:

A casual observer might think this poster, with a prominent green triangle, was branding of the Greens party. Looking more closely, we see it was a labor message with branding bearing similarity to a Greens logo.

I think the logic goes like this: the Greens political party 'stole' the yellow triangle from the Franklin River Dam blockade, so it was fair game for labor to repurpose it too.

well, fair enough. I guess. The CLP wore it better next time, but that's another story.

This story's about the labor party, and what they stand for.

Because what they stood for in 2001 regarding homeless Indigenous people was not what they stood for in 2005. What they stood for regarding uranium mining in June 2005 was not what they stood for a month later when they were issuing exploration permits. And what they stood for regarding protecting the rich natural values of the Daly River region in 2005 is not what they stand for today.

2023 - Risk the Daly

Today, it seems the NT ALP are not only risking, but intent on harming the Daly. Only this time it's not just the Daly. Similar threats face the Roper, and there's recently been a large land-clearing application near Katherine.

Now we have an NT ALP government who not only permit land clearing in the region: they're approving illegal clearing, within cooee of the Daly River. I guess issuing a permit after the act is more absolution than approval.

And whereas the argument in 2005 was over bore licenses, today's NT ALP are pushing ahead with plans for floodplain extraction, under policies which grant agriculturalists discretion over whether they believe a permit is required to harvest floodplain water, leading lawyers to warn:

Economic pressure

Cotton farming is one of the few planks in the NT Government's ridiculously ambitious goal of building a $40b economy by 2030 that hasn't suffered a significant obstacle. Origin backed out of the exploration of the Beetaloo Basin (though someone else took up their lease); Santos are facing a two year delay to their Barossa gas project after successive legal losses over flawed consultation; the pivotal ship-lift project has suffered delays and cost-blowout; and SunCable has entered administration - all in the context of an economy that is forecast to shrink considerably this financial year in the wake of $AUD inflation.

The fact that prospects for building a cotton industry on the back of unwise landclearing and water extraction remain vastly over-stated will do little to temper the NT Government's urgency to look like something - anything - is building.

Environmental resistance

This pressure is being met with resistance from an environment movement that is well informed by the values statements gathered last time, as well as a more finely tuned appreciation of the compounding impact of accelerated climate chaos on regional freshwater resources.

Grass roots environmental organisations have joined traditional Owners and local residents to form the Territory Rivers campaign alliance. They've released a report which highlights accelerated land-clearing and warns against large-scale floodwater extraction.

While environmentalists will undoubtedly be looking at NT government to make a pivot from risking to protecting the Daly, it remains unclear that the 2023 NT ALP will be as agile as their 2005 predecessors.

See also: https://cottonkillsrivers.org.au/