Formal review for TA

FLEDGLING political party Territory Alliance will undertake a formal review of its campaign after a bruising election, candidates have decided following a meeting on the weekend.

The Sunday Territorian understands Territory Alliance candidates are also of the view the party released too many policies.

FLEDGLING political party Territory Alliance will undertake a formal review of its campaign after a bruising election.

The decision was made following a weekend meeting of candidates.

Beyond the leadership stumbles outlined in the immediate aftermath, the Sunday Territorian understands that Territory Alliance candidates also believe the party released too many policies, reminiscent of federal Labor’s 2019 election missteps.

As the initial shock and anger of the election aftermath subsided, the party is viewing its 12 per cent vote share as a fair effort considering it has been around for less than a year.

But with two of its three MLAs down and out for the count, with Robyn Lambley hanging on by her teeth in Araluen, the party will also undergo a restructure on how it operates.

At this stage, former Blain MLA Terry Mills’ successor as the leader of the party is unclear, even if Ms Lambley wins her Alice Springs seat.

The likely outcome is the management committee of the party, and less so its MLAs, wielding most of the decisionmaking powers.

But the party is moving quickly to figure this out in case Ms Lambley holds her seat, and once these machinations are in place will move to begin a formal review process of what went wrong at last week’s election.

Territory Alliance party members who spoke to the Sunday Territorian also slammed Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro for calling the party a “wrecking ball” that helped Labor return to power, considering the math did not appear to stack up.

ABC election analyst Antony Green, who initially expected 70 per cent of Territory Alliance voter preferences to go to the CLP and the rest to Labor, found after crunching the numbers that electors tended to express a protest vote with the party before falling back to their traditional loyalty or whomever was the sitting member.

Overall, the party’s preferences varied depending on the seat, with an estimated 38 per cent heading to Labor in Blain while 52 per cent headed to Labor in Sanderson.