Labor will never do
deals with One Nation

Warren Snowdon wants the CLP
to come clean on its attitude
to Hanson's One Nation.

One Nation is causing the major parties to rethink the way in which they're dealing with people and I think that's the only positive outcome. The difficulty with the One Nation party is that it's really a very conservative organisation.
That's not to say, however, that the people who are voting for it, necessarily identify with that conservatism. I suspect that the result of the Queensland election is about people saying, "Look, you haven't been listening to what our concerns have been and it's about time that you did". They've looked for an alternative voice and they've voted for the One Nation party. My message for those people is that the alternative voice is the Labor party; and it's the Labor party that will form the next government.
Here in the Northern Territory the CLP have refused to indicate what they're going to do in terms of their preferences and I suspect that's because there are people in the CLP who want to flirt with One Nation. There are people in the CLP who are undoubtedly sympathetic to many of the core One Nation principles. That is not to say that all CLP members are, or their supporters are, but it's the nature of the organisation.
Shane Stone and the Federal members, that is Dondas and Tambling, have shown a lack of leadership by not telling the community where they want their preferences to be. In a place like the Northern Territory, we can't afford that uncertainty because the fabric of our community requires that people share with one another, not alienate one another. The keys aspects of One Nation's polices in terms of the Northern Territory are all about race and we only have one choice and that is to repudiate them.
In the federal scene, just look at what has happened to the Adelaide to Darwin railway. Howard is attempting to gain public support for himself by attaching himself to the Melbourne to Darwin railway. I mean here he is, having committed his government, so he says, to one hundred million dollars to the Darwin to Alice Springs railway. That of course is to be welcomed, except that it is not enough; but what we're seeing now, because of the effect of One Nation in the bush in N.S.W and Q.L.D, is this other option which has been on the drawing board for eighteen months or so. What he's done is see an opportunity to good to miss to attach himself to this other proposal and give it his endorsement. I don't think it will fool anyone in the bush.
But what it will do is undermine confidence in the Darwin to Alice Springs railway.
I'm told that the Prime Minister's position caused absolute chaos in CLP headquarters in Darwin. Although we don't share many political views, Barry Coulter I think, has done a reasonably good job in marketing the Darwin to Alice Springs. The Prime Minister only has one option and that is to actually indicate to the community which railway he in fact supports.