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The 2023 Territory Labor Party leadership election was held on 20 December 2023 to elect a new leader of the Territory Labor Party and a Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, following the resignation of Natasha Fyles as Chief Minister. [1]
Eva Lawler was elected unopposed on 20 December. The only other declared candidate, Nicole Manison, chose to support Lawler and decided to move to the backbench following the election. [2]
The Country Liberal Party of the Northern Territory (CLP), commonly known as the Country Liberals, is a centre-right political party in Australia's Northern Territory. In local politics, it operates in a two-party system with the Australian Labor Party (ALP). It also contests federal elections as an affiliate of the Liberal Party of Australia and National Party of Australia, the two partners in the federal coalition.
The chief minister of the Northern Territory is the head of government of the Northern Territory. The office is the equivalent of a state premier. When the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly was created in 1974, the head of government was officially known as majority leader. This title was used in the first parliament (1974–1977) and the first eighteen months of the second. When self-government was granted the Northern Territory in 1978, the title of the head of government became chief minister.
The premiers and chief ministers of the Australian states and territories are the heads of the executive governments in the six states and two self-governing territories of Australia. They perform the same function at the state and territory level as the Prime Minister of Australia performs at the national level. The King of Australia and the state governors are the formal repositories of executive power; however, in practice they act only on the advice of state premiers and ministers except in extreme circumstances, such as a constitutional crisis.
The leader of the Australian Labor Party is the highest political office within the federal Australian Labor Party (ALP). Leaders of the party are chosen from among the sitting members of the parliamentary caucus either by members alone or with a vote of the party’s rank-and-file membership. The current leader of the Labor Party, since 2019, is Anthony Albanese, who has served as the prime minister of Australia since 2022. There have been 21 leaders since 1901 when Chris Watson was elected as the inaugural leader following the first federal election.
Michael Patrick Francis Gunner is an Australian former politician who was the 11th Chief Minister of the Northern Territory from 2016 to 2022. He was a Labor member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly, holding the seat of Fannie Bay in Darwin from the retirement of then Chief Minister Clare Martin at the 2008 election until his resignation in July 2022.
Delia Phoebe Lawrie is an Australian politician. She was a member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly from 2001 to 2016, representing the electorate of Karama. She was a Labor member from 2001 to 2015, and served as party leader and Leader of the Opposition from 2012 to 2015. On 10 October 2015, following her loss of Labor preselection to recontest her seat at the 2016 election, she resigned from the party to sit as an independent.
The 2016 Northern Territory general election was held on Saturday 27 August 2016 to elect all 25 members of the Legislative Assembly in the unicameral Northern Territory Parliament.
Natasha Kate Fyles is an Australian politician and former teacher who served as the 12th Chief Minister of the Northern Territory and Minister for Health. She was the leader of the Northern Territory branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from May 2022 until her resignation in December 2023. She is a member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly (MLA) for the division of Nightcliff, a position she has held since August 2012. She previously served as 22nd attorney-general of the Northern Territory and the territory’s minister for Justice from 2016 to 2020.
Nicole Susan Manison is an Australian politician. She has been a Labor Party member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly since 2013, representing the electorate of Wanguri. She previously served as Deputy Chief Minister from 2016 to 2023, serving under both Michael Gunner and Natasha Fyles. She was also Treasurer from 2016 to 2020.
Eva Dina Lawler is an Australian politician who is currently the 13th Chief Minister of the Northern Territory from the 21st of December 2023. She is a Labor member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly since 2016, representing the electorate of Drysdale. She was Minister for Education in the Gunner Ministry from September 2016 until June 2018, when she was made Minister for Environment and Natural Resources and Minister for Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics.
The First Gunner Ministry was the first ministry of the 11th Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, Michael Gunner. It came into operation on 31 August 2016, succeeding the Giles Country Liberal ministry, and ended on 7 September 2020, succeeded by the Second Gunner Ministry.
The Territory Labor Party, officially known as the Australian Labor Party (Northern Territory Branch) and commonly referred to simply as Territory Labor, is the Northern Territory branch of the Australian Labor Party. It is the current ruling party in the Northern Territory and is led by Natasha Fyles, who has concurrently served as chief minister of the Northern Territory since 2022, and previously Michael Gunner from 2016 to 2022.
Mark Monaghan is an Australian politician who serves as MP for the Australian Labor Party in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly for the electoral division of Fong Lim as of 2020. He is currently the 14th Speaker of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly after being elected on 23 May 2022 following the appointment of the previous Speaker Ngaree Ah Kit to cabinet.
The 2024 Northern Territory general election is scheduled to be held on 24 August 2024 to elect all 25 members of the Legislative Assembly in the unicameral Northern Territory Parliament.
The Fyles Ministry is the current ministry of the 12th Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, Natasha Fyles. It came into operation on 13 May 2022 and succeeded the Second Gunner ministry.
A by-election in the seat of Fannie Bay in the Northern Territory was held on 20 August 2022, following the resignation of Michael Gunner, the MLA for Fannie Bay and former chief minister, on 27 July 2022. Early voting started on Monday 8 August.
Brent Potter is an Australian politician, representing the electoral division of Fannie Bay in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly since 20 August 2022.
A leadership election was held in May 2022 to determine the successor to Michael Gunner as leader of the Territory Labor Party and Chief Minister of the Northern Territory. Gunner announced his pending resignation on 10 May, following the birth of his second son and announcement of the 2022/23 Northern Territory budget. The leadership was confirmed unopposed; Natasha Fyles was elected as Leader, with Nicole Manison, a member of the right faction, remaining as Deputy Leader.
The Lawler Ministry is the incoming ministry of the 13th Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, Eva Lawler. It will come into operation on 21 December 2023 and succeed the Fyles ministry.