Parties from the Northern Territory’s notoriously divisive political factions have come together to work on a surprise infrastructure project – a floating two-seater boat made from discarded election posters.
Labour’s landslide victory last month has left the Country Liberal Party (CLP) in limbo and the streets of Darwin plastered with unwanted campaign posters.
So 105.7 ABC Darwin producer and passionate sailor Connor Byrne decided to take on the challenge (posed by himself) and build a boat with the face of territorial politics.
“I said to myself, ‘This looks a lot like a sheet of plywood.’ I was working on building a small sailboat.
A few days later, Byrne and other members of the space station breakfast crew spoke with a teenage engineer from New Zealand who had built a corrugated cardboard boat with a working mast.
During the broadcast, the outgoing CLP party chairman also donated the coveted “Just Vote 1″ sign, while various political institutions also donated smaller campaign posters.
”We’re looking for candidates who didn’t get their seats because we think they have nothing left to lose,” Byrne said.
The array of political posters donated eventually included outgoing First Minister Adam Giles, who gave up his seat to Braling; and former Labor leader Delia Lawrie, who lost the Calama election; as well as other party and independent candidates including Peter Styles, Carol Fire, Matthew Baker and Sean Muncy.
After hours of designing, cutting, sweating and pondering the state of politics in the territory, Byrne took his masterpiece to Darwin’s Lake Alexander on Friday morning for a launch party.
“As for the Independents, the CLP and the Labor Party being in the same boat? “I think this is the last and only time this will happen in the Northern Territory.”
105.7 ABC Darwin viewers suggested more than 50 names for the ship, with top picks including Mandate, Ship of Fools, The Floating Ship, House of Cards, Hemp and Corky McCorFrood.
In deference to the battered CLP, which was left with just two elected members after the election, the creation of two seats in Byrne was officially named SS Opposition.
The ABC in Canberra takes on Team Darwin’s challenge, with the ACT election scheduled for October 15.
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Post time: Sep-13-2023