NT: Pipe sends CLP election campaign off the rails

AAP General News (Australia)
08-03-2001
NT: Pipe sends CLP election campaign off the rails

By Rod McGuirk, Northern Territory Correspondent

DARWIN, Aug 3 AAP - Not long after a confused and unidentified man announced that a
Northern Territory election had been called, the ruling Country Liberal Party's re-election
campaign seemed to lurch off the Alice Springs-to-Darwin rails.

The man, who would not give his name, opened his post office box in the Darwin central
business district before dawn on Tuesday this week to find a form letter from Chief Minister
Denis Burke explaining why he had called an election.

Had an election been called? The man telephoned the Darwin ABC newsroom at 5.50am (CST)
for an answer.

The call proved more informative for the ABC editorial staff and their radio audience.

Having figured the letter was legitimate, the ABC reported in its 6am bulletin that
the chief minister had announced, via his anonymous messenger, an August 18 poll.

The letter was part of a Territory-wide mailout due to reach all addresses by Thursday.

Mr Burke followed up the announcement in person after 9am with an interview on ABC
talkback radio. Election writs would be issued the following day, he said.

Voters should return the CLP, in power since 1974, to provide certainty for a $1.5
billion Timor Sea gas pipeline planned for Darwin and an associated $13 billion in downstream
investments.

"These are very uncertain times; what I'm doing now is saying we don't want uncertainty
in government and we don't want an uncertain government," he said.

The next day, Phillips Petroleum announced the pipeline, which underpins $13 billion
in proposed Australian onshore gas investment, had been shelved over unresolved tax, revenue
and legal issues.

Mr Burke made no secret of his desire to follow up his success in stitching up the
$1.3 billion Darwin railway with a firm commitment on the pipeline before he called the
election.

Federal Opposition Leader Kim Beazley said the election timing had left Mr Burke looking
an idiot.

But has the shelving of the project hurt or helped the CLP?

Opposition Leader Clare Martin has largely sidelined herself on the issue.

She has not criticised the United Nations side for demanding a better deal from Phillips
for the East Timorese.

Her only criticism of Mr Burke's stance is that he has politicised the issue.

The public slanging match is between Mr Burke and UN-appointed negotiator Peter Galbraith
whom he blames for single-handedly blocking the pipeline.

Mr Burke portrays the stalemate on gas as an unwelcome distraction from his campaign.

The night before the election was called, Resource Development Minister Daryl Manzie
was sent to Canberra to argue for a better deal for Phillips.

Mr Burke said he would have preferred Mr Manzie, who retires at the election after
a 23-year career, was walking the streets of his Sanderson electorate with the CLP candidate
Peter Poniris.

While the CLP has never lost an election, Ms Martin concedes a Labor victory is a big ask.

But the political stakes are high for Mr Burke in his first election as chief minister.

The CLP, which holds 17 of the Legislative Assembly's 25 seats, is expected to lose ground.

Mr Burke's predecessor Shane Stone, now the Liberal Party federal president, led the
government to a resounding victory in 1997.

But he lost the statehood referendum in 1998. Three months later, he was rolled.

The CLP does not tolerate losers.

AAP rmg/mjm/bwl

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