Michael Gravener is running as an Independent Candidate for the Lower House seat of Lingiari, demanding the Commonwealth gives the Northern Territory the respect and attention it deserves.  

Years of bipartisan polices have failed remote and regional Australia. This is truer than ever for the people of Lingiari, who have suffered through a culture of exclusion, inhumane and short-sighted policy impositions from Canberra, causing a deep poverty and community disharmony to become the norm. Michael’s demand for the region is simple: “Our Future in Our Hands”.  

Michael has been a champion of the Aussie “fair go” for his entire life. Shocked and angered by the treatment his intellectually disabled sister received, Michael was still a young adult when he first sought justice and brought lasting change for marginalized peoples.  

Michael’s fearless passion for justice has grown through 40 years of encounters with people in regions across Australia and Papua New Guinea. Michael has lived and worked in remote communities across the electorate of Lingiari for 15 years and has developed great love and passion for the people of the NT and an awareness of an incredible amount of untapped potential.  

Michael sees three key areas that if prioritized, will unlock all that the NT and its people have to offer: 

“We can become an economic and cultural powerhouse and the safest and most harmonious place in Australia to live and work” . 

• True investment in a road network that enables Territorians safe and accessible travel is an absolute priority, one that will boost manufacturing, agricultural, pastoral, mining, and tourist industries.  
• Increased investment in education and innovation in the housing, social and aged care sectors as a mandatory step to ensuring all people have a fair go at life, empowered through a liveable income source that understands the costs and benefits of remoteness.  

“There will be No Economy, without an Ecology” he adds. “The lack of urgency  to act on the Climate challenges by the major parties is a betrayal of all Australians today and generations to come.” 

• NT can become a booming economy, developing and exporting renewable energy to the National and Asia-Pacific regions. Job creation and economic stimulus for Territorians would be profound. 
• Net Zero carbon emissions by 2030; a cleaner world for us today, a better world for those coming tomorrow.  

“Environmental Justice is impossible without Aboriginal Justice” states Michael. “On the global stage Australia positions itself as a beacon for others to follow, all the while desperately covering up the entrenched poverty far too many Australians live in. 

• Funding must be directed to those working ‘on the ground’; the  best placed to develop and run programs are the people who are familiar with the diverse issues.   
• Treaty process with First Nations Peoples must be accelerated to allow true self-determination, with full cultural consultation process embraced, including the Statement from the Heart.  

Michael is adamant that these three areas will provide the groundwork for a NT that can become the envy of the nation. “Our Future should be in Our Hands” he states. “Then, we can empower every resident of the NT to become the best, and share in all they have to offer!”