TERRITORY Labor has announced its secret weapon to claw back the seat of Arnhem from incumbent local member Larissa Lee is a 30-year-old teacher with a lifelong love of politics.
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The Katherine Times can reveal that Selena Uibo, who teaches at the remote Numbulwar School, has been preselected as the party’s candidate to contest the 2016 Northern Territory election.
In her first interview following the announcement, Miss Uibo explained that her affinity for politics had been nurtured when she took part in the Youth Parliament NT as a student.
“It’s something that I’ve wanted to do since I was in high school, believe it or not,” she laughed.
“Taking part in the mock parliaments was pretty impressive as a 15-year-old and [entering politics] is something I’ve had as a long-term goal.”
With strong family ties to the electorate, Miss Uibo said that, while she had yet to ascertain what her potential constituents viewed as key issues in the lead-up to August’s election, she believed delivering better infrastructure, health and education outcomes in Arnhem would prove critical to the region’s prosperity.
“It’s an area I’ve always had a connection to and now, as an adult, I’ve got an adult perspective on what’s going on in the community and surrounding communities,” she explained.
“I want to do more than just talk – I want to see action happen.
“I’ve got the hard slog coming up next year.”
On the subject of Ms Lee, who claimed the seat with a 10.6 per cent margin flying Country Liberal Party colours in 2012 before embarking on a convoluted road to independence, Miss Uibo said she believed the electorate had missed out as the Member for Arnhem’s poor behaviour captured national headlines.
As an electorate, we haven’t been the foresight of the core business of the representative.
- Selena Uibo
In one instance, Ms Lee assaulted her niece by dragging her across a Katherine car park after an extramarital affair was discovered.
Miss Uibo said it was not good enough for an elected representative to allow their personal problems to erode their ability to serve their constituents.
“I guess because our location is so unique, the population is quite widely spread … and people really haven’t been given a voice in the last couple of years,” she said.
“I think there’s been a lot of distraction from the current member in terms of focusing on the people of the electorate.
“As an electorate, we haven’t been the foresight of the core business of the representative.
“I think it would be a positive thing to have change.”
