The voice of Territorians in Canberra is barely a whisper: just four NT pollies are in the national Parliament.

Only one of them, Labor Senator Malarndirri McCarthy, is on the Government front bench.

We asked her for an interview on June 2 or 3 about Territorians likely to have a very specific take on the $368b AUKUS fiasco.

Already home to one nuclear target, Pine Gap, will the NT get a second one with nuclear powered submarines docking in the Top End?

The response from the Senator’s minder: “The Minister is not available due to previous commitments.”

A crowd funded initiative, tongue-firmly-in-cheek calling itself a “public inquiry” and its members “commissioners,” may point to a way of dealing with arrogant and pampered politicians. And it’s not costing the taxpayer a penny.

In the first 72 hours after the inquiry was launched in Parliament House this week it raised $85,000 in donations.

Senator McCarthy is the Minister for Indigenous Australians, who in the NT make up 26.3 per cent of the population, according to the 2021 Australian Census.

If Territorians want to explore how Government decisions will specifically affect them, or if they want to get a message through to our national decision makers, Senator McCarthy is clearly the obvious choice.

It would surely be part of earning her salary, about $415,000 a year, plus perks, of course.

This is made up of the parliamentary base salary (just over $240,000) plus the additional Cabinet minister loading.

We would have liked to ask her: What exactly has been the expenditure paid to the USA so far for the second-hand subs? How does that compare to what is being spent easing the housing crisis in the NT? What are the considerations about two used and one new sub versus three used ones?

What will be the final cost and is that set in concrete?

The public inquiry is led by former rock star and Federal minister Peter Garrett who says: “AUKUS is by far the most expensive and complex undertaking ever entered into by any Australian Government and yet the opportunity to question, debate and decide has been taken out of the hands of the Parliament and the people.

“A public Inquiry into this massive spend of taxpayer’s money is long overdue.”

His fellow Commissioners are Admiral (Retd) Chris Barrie AC, Co-CEO of the Australia Institute Leanne Minshull, Yankunytjatjara woman Karina Lester, and Carmen Lawrence, premier of Western Australia from 1990 to 1993, the first woman to become the premier of an Australian state.

The opening was hosted by Tasmanian independent MP Andrew Wilkie and ACT independent Senator David Pocock.

The inquiry wants to know:

• Does AUKUS genuinely enhance Australian security, or does it increase our exposure to great-power conflict with China?
• Is AUKUS locking Australia further into the US war machine at the expense of our independence as a middle power?
• Does the transfer of nuclear technology set a dangerous precedent? Where will high-level nuclear waste be stored?
• What are the long-term environmental risks of operating nuclear-powered submarines in Australian waters?
• Were credible and less costly alternatives to AUKUS properly assessed before the decision was made in secret?

What is the power of the inquiry which, unlike government inquiries, does not have the use of subpoenas?

Says spokesman Phil Davey: “To have a robust inquiry, allowing the Australian community to ask questions about the wisdom of AUKUS and have them answered.”

This article appeared on Alice Springs News on 5 June 2026.