Not every political candidate has a crocodile and stuffed lion in their campaign office.
But it’s a reflection of who Colombian zoologist Giovanna Webb is.
“I migrated here 20 years ago with very little English,” she told SBS.
“I did zoology back home, so I’m really conservationist with a business mind. I’m very much pro-development but at the same time we really need to preserve and conserve the beautiful parks and nature places that we have around.”
Mrs Webb is running for the Darwin electorate of Casuarina in the upcoming Northern Territory election.
With about 5,000 voters to convince, she has been campaigning at local shops and roadsides throughout the campaign. Her feet are blistered and she’s aggravated a muscle in her right shoulder from all the waving.
She’s running on a platform of improving Darwin’s economy to give jobs to more young people in her electorate, while looking after Casuarina’s seniors, infrastructure and conservation areas.
Her party, the Country Liberals, has faced four years of controversies, leadership spills and resignations. It’s been compounded over the last few months by questions over why it made the decision to lease Darwin’s port to a Chinese company and the abuse of young boys at the Don Dale detention centre.
“Both governments, they have issues, they have problems,” she said.
“This is why 18 out of 25 seats in the Country Liberals are totally new [candidates] and I’m really looking forward to working with a new team.”
The woman trying to stop Giovanna Webb is Casuarina incumbent, and Labor spokeswoman on multicultural affairs, Lauren Moss.
Giovanna Webb, Country Liberals candidate for Casuarina, in her campaign office. Source: Myles Morgan, SBS
“People have had enough with constant reshuffles,” she told SBS at a roadside campaign stop.
“They’ve had enough with that instability, infighting and the focus not being on the issues that they care about the most.”
As the Northern Territory’s youngest ever politician, the 29-year-old said age is no barrier to knowing what the issues are.
“We’ve got Charles Darwin University here, the hospital and the largest shopping centre; they’re all areas that create jobs for local people,” she said.
Darwin’s teachers are also a priority for her.
“We need to make sure that we put money back into the school system and replace the teachers that have been cut by the CLP.”
NT Labor had a fairly straightforward election strategy in letting the Country Liberals do most of the talking, political commentator and former Labor politician Ken Parish told SBS.
“The Opposition, especially since Michael Gunner has taken over, has run a very careful, disciplined small target strategy saying as little as possible to distract attention from the ongoing chaos and division in the Country Liberals,” he said.
“We’ve had a situation where the Country Liberals Government has gone from a majority of 16 in a parliament of 25 down to a minority government with 12 seats and six independents and seven Labor.”
But the Country Liberals’ woes won’t automatically turn NT voters to Labor, he said.
“I think it [Labor] is the lesser of two evils,” he said.
“[Labor have] trotted out some policies that are largely feel good ones that don’t have any major impact.”
Adam Giles will spend the rest of the campaign – and potentially final hours as Chief Minister - in his electoral home of Alice Springs.
But, he left Darwin with a warning.
“Make no mistake, if the Country Liberals are voted out on Saturday, the Territory will go into recession,” he told the ABC’s AM program.
“There's no doubt about it.”
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Seats to watch at the NT Election
