Is the Northern Territory a ‘mini Trump-style’ government?

The CLP’s ‘tough on crime’, pro-development agenda brings sweeping changes, which advocates say cut the NT’s most vulnerable out of the conversation Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The Northern Territory is out of sight – and often out of mind – for many Australians. But for 18 months, environment, First Nations, justice and family groups have been sounding the alarm with increasing urgency. The populist “tough on crime” agenda which saw the Country Liberal party, led by Lia Finocchiaro, sweep to power in 2024 has been taking shape, and those representing the territory’s most vulnerable people, communities and ecosystems are worried. “It feels like Australia’s first, and hopefully only, mini Trump-style experiment,” says Kirsty Howey, the executive director of the Environment Centre NT, a small organisation on the frontline of community opposition to a gas industry expansion of fracking across the Top End. Two moments this month have underscored the change. First, submissions to a proposed update of the territory’s child protection laws revealed overwhelming opposition to th