By Charlie Phillips

OPINION: The 2020 general election marked a turning point in the ongoing corrosion and corruption of our NT democracy. What happened on the fifth floor was a conspiracy to steal the election – conceived in secrecy and dedicated to the proposition that a government could do whatever it takes to gain and retain political power – even at taxpayers’ expense.

The key elements of the conspiracy have been exposed in a series of articles written by the NT’s leading investigative journalist, Chris Walsh. It is instructive to read them in sequence and I encourage everyone to do so. It then becomes clear that what we are dealing with is a series of orchestrated moving parts – as opposed to ad hoc instances of improper conduct.

Who was the maestro?

The authorisation of taxpayers’ money to advance and run Labor’s campaign – breathtaking in its audacity, Trumpian in its ethics and arrogant to the point they thought they’d never be caught – was central to Labor’s plan for victory.

Walsh also exposed ongoing representations from senior Ministerial Advisers to the Electoral Commission after the campaign commenced – unprecedented in the preceding forty-two years since Self-Government.

And in the end they almost got away with all of it with impunity.

It is a fact that NT Labor prevailed in the election. But their nefarious conduct in the wedding cake was ultimately exposed by Chris Walsh’s astute use of FOI applications and incisive political analysis.

Labor’s transgressions are under investigation. It now remains to be seen whether ICAC, DPP and possibly Police can bring the offenders to account.

As opposed to repudiating the sins of the past, the current Cabinet and caucus have decided to go down with the sinking ship.

Who will become King (or Queen)?

Someone with sufficient courage and political nous to say, “what we did was wrong.”

Charlie Phillips is a former Senior Adviser to three Labor Chief Ministers.