New chief to tackle social issues
DARWIN: The Northern Territory’s new chief minister Natasha Fyles has hit the ground running in her first week in office with a promise to tackle social issues and their causes.
Alcohol abuse, domestic and sexual violence and property crime have all soared in recent years.
The homelessness rate is 12 times the national average.
The former health minister says she will work to “quickly tweak” social policies to make a “significant impact” in the territory.
“We have to change something because what we’ve seen across our communities ... it hasn’t eased up,’’ she told ABC radio.
Ms Fyles also promised to tackle crime rates, signalling more resources would be allocated to address the causes “to stop this before it happens”. “It’s a priority,’’ she said. “Clearly what we’re doing isn’t working because we’re still seeing these issues on a regular basis.’’
The ex-school teacher said consultation with the health sector and police over alcohol sales and consumption policies was already underway.
“We know that alcohol is the basis for so much crime and family and domestic violence,’’ she said.
The Northern Territory’s challenging economic position could slow Ms Fyles’ reform agenda, however, with last week’s budget revealing that net debt is set to grow to $9.4 billion by 2025-26.
Ms Fyles, 43, a mother of two boys, was selected and sworn in as Labor leader on Friday following Michael Gunner’s surprise resignation last week.
Cabinet will remain the same for the next week of parliamentary sittings with Ms Fyles adding Mr Gunner’s portfolios, including treasury, defence relations and major projects, to the health and tourism ministries.
A new leadership team and cabinet will be selected the week after, with changes expected.