Northern Territorians tell ABC's 'Your Say' about the issues on their mind this election

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Throughout the election campaign we've been hearing from thousands of Australians via the ABC's 'Your Say' project about what's most important to you as you head to the polls.

Transcript

00:00Covering an area six times the size of Victoria, the Northern Territory's two federal divisions

00:08are roughly split between the city and everywhere else.

00:12Solomon covers most of Darwin and Palmerston, just 1% of the territory's landmass.

00:18Some voters there are questioning their vote as they prepare to head to the ballot box,

00:22while Luke Gosling is hoping to extend Labor's hold on Solomon into a fourth term.

00:27His main rival is former police officer Lisa Bayliss of the Country Liberal Party.

00:33The CLP rose to power in the Northern Territory last year in a landslide, on the back of a

00:38campaign on crime and community safety.

00:41It left Labor without a single seat in Darwin, and it's a wave of support the Coalition is

00:46hoping to ride into tomorrow.

00:48We're saying to the community here in Palmerston that we want to help you have a safer community.

00:55There are seven candidates on the ballot, including Jonathan Parry from the Greens, and Climate

01:00200-backed Independent Phil Scott.

01:03Many voters say they're still making up their minds.

01:05I want to know who's going to look at alternative ways to address youth crime other than locking

01:11kids up.

01:12I'm really not sure.

01:13I'm so on the fence.

01:15Yeah, it's like the election of unremarkableness.

01:18The Division of Lingyari covers everywhere in the Northern Territory outside Darwin, including

01:23Alice Springs, Catherine and all of its remote Aboriginal communities.

01:28Sometimes forgotten, the electorate also includes the Cocos Keeling Islands and Christmas Island.

01:34Voting for around 1,000 voters in those territories closed on Saturday.

01:38But closer to home, is crime still top of mind for voters in Lingyari?

01:42Not so much the crime, but our border protection more so than the crime rate.

01:46We've got to look after it.

01:47We've got to look after our borders.

01:48I'd like to see them get tougher on crime.

01:51I'd like to see them introduce a lot of programs that help the troubled people, not just punish

01:57them.

01:58Others in Alice Springs this week remain undecided.

02:00Have you made your mind up on who you'll vote for?

02:04I'm still inclined on Labor, but they haven't delivered much.

02:09More than 40% of the Northern Territory's 150,000 registered voters have already cast their

02:14ballots.

02:15To find out more, head to abc.net.au slash Australia Votes and click Your Say.

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