It is almost certain Labor will replace the first indigenous woman elected to Parliament with another indigenous woman, as Nova Peris has decided not to contest the election.
Peris was Julia Gillard’s “captain’s pick” for the Northern Territory Senate spot in early 2013. The Age reported yesterday that Peris had been in talks with key AFL executives to take on the top indigenous job in the AFL, which would rule her out of contention as a Senate candidate for the July 2 election. Crikey understands Peris was not talking to anyone about her plans overnight, but in a statement released this morning, Peris confirmed she would not re-contest her Senate seat:
“I had never envisaged myself becoming a career politician. I want to thank all the people who have made contact with me to thank me for my efforts over the past three to four years. I’m now moving on and personally looking forward to the next chapter and journey of my life. I will not be making any further comments on my decision to not re-contest.”
As Peris has now decided to end her short political career, Labor is already floating a couple of names of potential candidates to fill one of the two candidate places on the Labor ticket in the Northern Territory (the other is Pat Honan). It is believed that the top Senate ticket candidate for Labor will need to be a woman in order to comply with the party’s affirmative action rules. The lower house candidates for Labor are all men, and the second spot on the Senate ticket is seen as unwinnable, so if a woman is not appointed to the top spot, it will mean 100% of Labor’s NT federal politicians would be men.
Crikey can reveal one name in the mix is former territory Labor politician Malarndirri McCarthy, who was in the NT legislative assembly between 2005 and 2012. McCarthy is a former ABC journalist, and last month she stepped down from NITV and SBS. In 2014, she was part of a team that received a Walkley nomination for NITV’s Bowraville coverage. McCarthy is currently based in Sydney, but she would return to her home territory.
The other candidate is Marion Scrymgour, a former minister and deputy chief minister in the NT government, who briefly sat as an independent after disagreeing with the government over indigenous development issues in 2009. She rejoined the ALP later that year, and ultimately retired from politics in 2012.
Both women are from the progressive side of the Labor Party in the Northern Territory. Peris has said she will support whoever the national committee of the Labor Party decides to fill the No. 1 spot on the Senate ticket in the Northern Territory.
Respectfully, I never thought that being an olympic athlete was ever a good reason for Peris to be a senator, and nothing she did in the job made me change my view.
It would be good for Labor to have someone female, indigenous and preferably useful. No, that wasn’t an attack on females or indigenous folk, only on the perceived shortcomings of putting a high profile athlete in a job that requires some skills of the non-sporting variety.
Is Trish Crossin in the conversation at all?
You must keep in mind Dog’s Breakfast that it wasn’t the fault of Nova Peris that she was chosen to ‘represent’ Faux Progressive campaigns. They kept quiet about the fact Nova (with the previous event winner not competing) ran a slower time for her event than the winning time four years earlier. This would have spoiled their propaganda campaigns, and the media kept quiet.
There was an indigenous youth who won an open Commonwealth Scholarship to Sydney University where he did well in completing 1st Year Economics. He then decided he wanted to become a medical doctor, but had to pay his way through Full Time 1st Year Medicine by driving a taxi of a night.
After graduating in Medicine he spent annual leave providing voluntary free treatment for indigenous camps in the Northern Territory.
The Faux Progressives [including the Crikey Commissariat] never mention him, despite having had the example brought to their attention numerous times over the years.
As for your suggestion about “It would be good for Labor to have someone female, indigenous and preferably useful” it must be conceded he’s not female, but that hardly provides us with a good excuse for not promoting indigenous community members who have demonstrated their abilities in open competition, does it.
I’ll be interested in your thoghts, once the Commissariat Censorship Team releases this Post.