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

TThe Northern Territory is invisible – and often unconscious – to most Australians. But for 18 months, environmental, First Nations, justice and family groups have been raising the alarm with increasing urgency.

The populist agenda “tough on crime” that saw the Country Liberal party, led by Lia Finocchiaro, come to power in 2024 has begun, and those who represent the most vulnerable people of the area, communities and the environment are worried.

“It feels like Australia’s first, and hopefully only, small test of the Trump style,” said Kirsty Howey, executive director of the Environment Center NT, a small organization on the front line of public opposition to the expansion of the Top End fracking gas industry.

Two times this month have underscored the change. First, presentations on the proposed review of the country’s child protection laws have revealed strong opposition to the changes from experts in the field – including the children’s commissioner, who said he was given just one week to look at the draft laws.

Next, the government released its Climate Resilience Plan which listed, as its first option, dismantling the Beetaloo pit.

According to the Arid Lands Environment Center, it was a sign of “the extent of dystopian state capture” and the government’s decision-making in favor of the gas industry.

“It’s very sad. I couldn’t believe that accelerating the development of new gas as a priority in the climate plan,” said the coordinator of the fracking campaign, Hannah Ekin.

“My first reaction was numbness because I just heard the bad decisions of this government.

“I laughed for a while seeing the stupidity of it and then the truth started to sink in and I remembered that this year we had the worst floods in the history of this area.

“These floods have been made worse by climate change and the future of life in the NT under rapid climate change is very bleak.”

Warnings against proposed changes to the NT’s child protection laws, which include removing decades-old protections for the Aboriginal child placement policy, were strong. In a presentation to the local legislature’s scrutinizing committee, the children’s commissioner, Larrakia woman Shahleena Musk, said she was given “only one week” to provide comprehensive and robust advice on the proposed amendments. Opposition spokesperson on child protection, Chansey Paech, described the proposed amendments – announced after the alleged murder of Kumanjayi Little Baby – as “ideologically driven”.

“The CLP government has brought a series of laws that I would say are completely directed at using the law as a way to control Aboriginal families instead of investing in resources that keep them safe,” said the man from Arrente, Arabana and Gurindji.

‘Slash and burn’

The Top End experienced five unprecedented natural disasters in the most recent rainy season, including massive flooding that left some Aboriginal communities in the Daly River for months.

But Howey says the answer to the growing threat of such disasters has been to “double down on fossil fuels and landfill and total climate protection”.

Since coming to power 22 months ago, the Finocchiaro government has scrapped the NT’s 50% renewable energy target by 2030, despite the CLP supporting it while in opposition, and dropped a promise to implement a 43% emissions reduction target by 2030.

The eligibility review process, which allowed communities to challenge decisions related to oil projects and water licenses, has also been withdrawn in an attempt to stop environmental groups and other third parties from using the legal system to “destroy” the projects. A policy introduced by the previous Labor government that required certain large emitters to develop greenhouse gas mitigation measures was also scrapped.

In 2025, Finocchiaro appointed Stuart Knowles, former NT general manager of the Japanese gas giant Inpex, as regional coordinator, a powerful new position in the bureaucracy with the authority to override the laws of 32 territories to speed up development of “economic importance”.

Then came the Climate Resilience Plan which lists accelerating “low emission energy production, including from the Beetaloo Subbasin” as its first action, and other priorities including “promoting emissions and mitigation opportunities”.

Ekin says the area already had very poor climate and environmental protection. But he says the change in government has seen “a real slash and burn approach” with the CLP showing “very little interest in any sort of regulatory safeguards or public participation in appropriate decision-making”.

Howey describes the Finocchiaro government’s approach as “anti-democratic” and “a series of populist policies that have disproportionately affected First Nations communities but also benefited big business including gas companies”.

Howey says the area has previously been a “vanguard area” for different kinds of policy – some very punitive, like the NT intervention in 2007, but others positive, like land rights.

“It feels like with the political climate in Australia and the rise of One Nation, the NT may be sadly ahead of the curve,” he said.

“Australia should take a closer look at the anti-democratic, racist, and climate change-denying policies implemented by the Northern Territory government to understand what is happening here, but also as a precursor to what could be deployed elsewhere.”

‘You’ve tried and failed before’

The CLP government has also shown a “consistent pattern of non-engagement” with Aboriginal organizations when introducing reforms that disproportionately affect First Nations people, said Ben Grimes, chief executive of the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (Naaja).

One of the first changes made by the CLP was to lower the age of criminal conviction back to 10 years of age – two years after it was raised to 12. The government also tightened bail laws and launched training camps for young people granted bail and armed public transport officers in Darwin.

“Naja was not touched before changes were introduced to child protection legislation, bail laws or housing legislation, despite each affecting thousands of Aboriginal Territorians who represent Naaja,” Grimes said.

He says the government is focusing on “tough on crime” methods that have been “tried and failed in the past”. The impact on those caught up in the system can be huge, he says: people spend long periods of time in prison due to backlogs in the courts and the reduction of legal aid means that the courts are looking at “a wave of cases that are postponed indefinitely or stopped indefinitely due to the lack of a lawyer”.

“This is bad for public trust in the justice system, bad for victims and bad for public safety,” he said.

Indigenous councils have also rejected the policies they say backs away their rights to be involved in decision-making. In March 2025, land councils accused the NT government of “treating them like children” at a “tick-a-box” meeting about changes to the Sanctuaries Act held with the minister for lands, planning and environment, Joshua Burgoyne. “We asked for information; he gave us speeches,” said the chairman of the Central Land Council, Warren Williams, at the time.

Changes to the act, passed last year, were introduced to allow new developers to be added to the certificates of authorities of decades that set the conditions of sacred places, and where the proposed development is very different from the purpose of the original certificate – successfully bypassing the need to continue to consult with traditional authorities. The first application of the new rules was a proposed luxury waterfront hotel in Darwin. The Singapore-based developer has scrapped the project.

Ekin says his overwhelming impression of the county government is that they “don’t respect evidence and don’t care what communities think”.

“We are a small and often forgotten place and life is going to be difficult here, especially for First Nations people,” she said.

The NT government has been contacted for comment.