Dear Editor,

So, the CLP won the NT election. What might this mean for the NT community sector?

Of course, if Labor won the election, it would have been business as usual for the community sector, but a CLP win will mean that things may start to get funky, and especially for the Northern Territory Council of Social Service.

The last time the CLP were in power, it left NTCOSS to rot and wither on the vine. To their credit, NTCOSS managed to hang on like Gollum, the pathetic creature from Lord of the Rings. It was an unedifying sight to see them scratch and scrape their way to the 2016 election where salvation awaited them in the form of a centre left Labor government.

There has been chatter among the conservative political class that the NT’s community sector might need weeding out because of its creepy devotion to everything Labor. The conservative side of politics see NTCOSS as the ringleader.

The Tories know all too well that the community sector leadership have no affection for the conservative agenda.

So, the CLP won the election, and now there will be a reckoning, and NTCOSS will be in the firing line.

The new CLP government is going to be on the hunt for savings to prove their economic chops to a startled electorate. The NT government gifts NTCOSS a staggering amount of money.

It is worth noting that NTCOSS does not offer a front-line service. That has got to stick out like the proverbial dog balls. The CLP are less misty eyed about the community service than Labor. If the new government can save money, and taking out a few lefties along the way, they will.

It is entirely possible we could be experiencing the end days of NTCOSS, and they will only have themselves to blame.

Paul Morris, Darwin city.

Mr Morris is a person who lives with a physical disability, and a well-known community service and disability activist and advocate. He was formerly the branch secretary of the Community and Public Sector Union and the regional manager of the Australian Services Union. Mr Morris is not a member of any political party.

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