EDITORIAL: David Connolly’s swearing-in as Administrator is the latest indignity inflicted on the Northern Territory, the latest humiliation on the national stage, brought about by those in positions of power once again putting their own interests above what is best for the Territory.

The overarching truth about Connolly’s disgraceful social media posts and speeches was more than the hurt they caused to a wide cross-section of the community, it was what they represented; a glimpse into the character and mind of the man who is now the King’s representative here, who has just been entrusted with vast constitutional powers.

There is no escaping those posts and the former speeches, the sheer volume of which showed without doubt that the man sworn in to bring the community together and reflect the “Territory spirit” does not respect Aboriginal people, women, the LGBTQI+ community or anyone else who doesn’t look like him; a man who thinks it’s funny to joke about domestic violence and laugh about drugging women.

This is who he is—even if he thinks a hasty apology will somehow erase his past.

If it was possible, Connolly made things worse on Friday morning in his first speech as Administrator by his condescension, with his supporters surely cringing themselves when he attempted to speak in language and talked about his great and deep respect for Indigenous culture.

We all knew it was a lie, which made it all the more grotesque.

The swearing-in ceremony itself was especially large for reasons never explained, with its red carpets, cavalcade and brass bands all coming across as desperate and full of CLP arrogance.

David Connolly appears to be the first Administrator in the Territory’s history who needs the pay cheque, the perks and the public housing that come with the position.

Listening to him speak in the hall of Parliament after his swearing in, as he embarrassed himself and the Northern Territory with his blatant hypocrisy, it was clear this is a man who really, really wants this job. He wants and needs it so desperately, he’ll do and say anything not to lose it and to placate his critics, even if he still doesn’t fully understand the role.

That should have been a big reason not to give it to him in the first place. The King’s representative in the Northern Territory is now a man who will say and do anything for a buck, which in some sick irony might be fitting for the Territory given the long line of political leaders we’ve had in recent years, but certainly not the way it should be, particularly for a role that is supposed to be above politics.

The raw arrogance that he deserves the vice-regal role is another red flag.

If he truly understood the role and had any respect for it or the Northern Territory, he would have declined it—especially when the dignity of the position was dragged through the mud over the last two months because of his actions that pitted Territorians against one another for weeks on social media.

But this is the Northern Territory and what’s another carpet-bagger who’s only here for what he can get out of it rather than what he can put in going to cost us?

He wanted it so badly, he finally lowered himself by begrudgingly apologising less than 48-hours before being sworn in and six weeks after he should have for his posts, which he said were never meant to cause offence, despite specifically stating in a 2022 speech that he never intends to cause offence, “but you’re free to take it”.

He dived further down the toilet at the swearing-in ceremony and insulted everyone, telling us all that those Welcome to Country ceremonies he mocked and ridiculed were now meaningful because he attended one at sunrise on Friday morning, which was “incredibly special” to begin his first day with “the original custodians”.

These are the same people he previously said had done nothing good for this country.

He went on to thank the Larrakia people and pay his “respects to them all, past and present”, around the same time one of their elders was being arrested outside for daring to step on the parliamentary lawns to protest his appointment.

Then there was the nonsense about him answering some sort of calling to be the Administrator, that the Territory “doesn’t suffer fools” while playing us all for fools and that the NT “has a way of keeping people honest”, leading to his epiphany that the controversy around his appointment was “part of a healthy democracy” and that he would respond now to differences of opinion “not with division, but with respect”.

This pledge was made two days after a video showed him resorting to violence when a gas protester dared to speak in front of him. After manhandling and shoving Phil Scott, Connolly found some water and allegedly threw it in Scott’s face for no apparent reason other than he was angry—and to add some sort of extra humiliation.

A few people yesterday thought the speech worked, with Governor-General Sam Mostyn beaming with pride.

Governor-General played her role in social satire about values and decency

Listening to her explain her role in this whole sordid affair on ABC Radio on Thursday morning was a good laugh, if anyone can muster one these days.

She came across as the NT’s version of Henry Higgins in the little Territory production of Pygmalion we unwittingly staged this week.

Mostyn told us how she had spoken with Connolly – our own Eliza Doolittle – and taught him about “restraint”, manners, the value of listening to people and being respectful, with the etiquette lessons no doubt including how to use a knife and fork and not speak with his mouth full in polite company.

It was all too much and deeply embarrassing for everyone.

But Mostyn is complicit in the whole social satire we’re currently living through.

As is Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his Cabinet, including NT Senator Malarndirri McCarthy, which signed off on this appointment despite the PM stating he would not have chosen Connolly and then refusing to revoke it because he suddenly respects the Territory’s sovereignty, while at the same time tearing up the NT Government’s 99-year contract with Landbridge for the Darwin Port.

Albanese said last month in Darwin there was no precedent for interfering in the appointment of an NT Administrator.

But that’s not entirely true.

Back in 2014, former CLP chief minister Adam Giles reportedly put up his drinking buddy and respected Alice Springs publican Wayne ‘Krafty’ Kraft for Administrator, which was knocked back by the then-Coalition government.

Asked this week about that, Krafty played it cool and said he wasn’t really sure how far up the chain of command his name was pushed, just that it was “an honour” to be “bandied about at the time”.

A friend of Ted Egan’s for decades, Krafty said he remembered visiting Ted in Darwin while he was Administrator, adding that his mate had the weight of the world on his shoulders in the role.

“I wouldn’t have accepted the job,” he said. “It would have been a great honour, but it’s not for me.”

It’s that kind of humility that has been lacking in this affair over the last two months and for far longer in NT politics.

Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro, who put her own ambitions above the good of the Territory to appoint Connolly for reasons nobody can properly understand outside of presumably some morbid desire to stoke racial tensions and divide the community further (if you have any doubt about the success of that, have a look at social media comments that have descended into public slanging matches with Territorians disrespecting one another on an hourly basis over Connolly).

Given the political capital lost over this appointment and her willingness to die on a hill for Connolly many have been asking: what is this really all about?

Is somebody blackmailing her? Who put her up to this and why Connolly?

Why would a self-respecting politician take on this risk for a man who was never suited for the role to begin with?

We may never truly know the answers. A lot of times it comes back to that magic nexus of corruption and incompetence that keeps this place chugging along.

Lia’s radio performance this week was a classic case study of how not to manage a political crisis. She was angry and arrogant, demanding Territorians show respect for Connolly, while claiming she was entitled to appoint him and then attempting to position Connolly as the “voiceless” victim in the whole sordid affair that he started unassisted with his social media posts and speeches.

The outright political mismanagement of the Connolly affair by Lia and her team of advisers that has dragged on for more than six weeks while interfering with the government’s day-to-day business, which included no minister holding a press conference for weeks out of fear, is an embarrassment.

With all the talk yesterday of what the Northern Territory is and could be in various speeches, it was disheartening that the Connolly affair has thrust us back on the national stage in a negative light and made us the laughing stock of the country once again.