Byelections in Australia: Labor secures seat in Arafura

Labor’s Manuel Brown, the new representative for the Arafura district in the Northern Territory, claims that supporting an Indigenous Voice to Parliament in the rural community helped him win.

On Saturday night, two hours after the votes closed, Chief Minister Natasha Fyles announced Mr Brown’s victory on social media.

With over half of the votes counted, he defeated Leslie Tungatalum of the Country Liberal Party (CLP) and received 66% of the first preferences.

Appearing beside Ms Fyles in Darwin this afternoon, he claimed to have gained much knowledge from Lawrence Costa, whose passing late last year led to the by-election for Arafura.

Before the COVID shutdown, I collaborated with Mr Costa, Mr Brown claimed.
He taught me to listen to people, approach people, and be patient.

Don’t mince words; present the facts.

He claimed that his victory demonstrated the support for an Indigenous Voice in Parliament among the constituency, which includes the Tiwi Islands and much of west Arnhem Land.

He claimed that the villages near the Top End want to get involved with Voice.

While the CLP’s rank-and-file members have voted against the Voice, the parliamentary wing has yet to state its opinion.

Lawson Broad, the party’s president, resigned due to it last week.
The election result from last night was deemed “exceptional” by Ms Fyles.

“By-elections don’t usually favour the government, but a 15% shift that way proves the CLP is totally out of touch, especially in the bush,” she added.

Given the outcome, she claimed that Lia Finocchiaro’s position as CLP leader was “untenable,” and she claimed that Ms Finocchiaro had exhibited a lack of leadership by “sitting on the fence” about the Voice.

Ms Finocchiaro recognized the outcome was “disappointing” in answer to inquiries from the ABC, but she promised to remain the leader.

Given that we had previously only won the seat once, she said, “we understood we entered this as the underdog and wanted to respect the traditional importance around respectfully honouring the prior member for Arafura.

Tungatalum will “continue to be a local spokesperson for the Arafura communities,” according to the CLP leader.

Ms Finocchiaro congratulated him and CLP volunteers for their work during the by-election in a social media message Wednesday night.

The following NT general election will be held in August 2024, and “we confronted this election as a team.”

According to Ms Fyles, Mr Brown will be formally sworn in on Tuesday of the following week, the first day of the NT Parliament’s sessions.

The NT Electoral Commission will formally announce the election outcome on Monday afternoon.