Delia Lawrie

Last updated

Northern Territory Legislative Assembly
Delia Lawrie
Delia Lawrie in 2001.jpg
10th Leader of the Opposition in the Northern Territory
In office
29 August 2012 –20 April 2015
YearsTermElectoral divisionParty
2001 –2005 9th Karama Labor
2005 –2008 10th Karama Labor
2008 –2012 11th Karama Labor
2012 –2015 12th Karama Labor
2015–2016Changed allegiance to: Independent

After Territory Labor won the second-largest majority government in the history of the Territory at the 2005 election, Lawrie was promoted to Chief Minister Clare Martin's cabinet as Minister for Family and Community Services and Minister for Sport and Recreation. In a 2006 cabinet reshuffle, she dropped Sport and Recreation and added Lands and Planning, Transport, and Multicultural Affairs.

Martin retired in 2007, and was succeeded by Paul Henderson. Following the resignation of Deputy Chief Minister Marion Scrymgour, Henderson named Lawrie deputy leader and hence Deputy Chief Minister. She also served as Treasurer, Attorney-General and Minister for Justice. Following 25 August 2012 territory elections at which Labor was defeated, Henderson resigned as party leader and Lawrie was elected as his replacement. [3]

In 2012, the Henderson Labor government granted Unions NT a rent-free ten-year lease of the historic Stella Maris site in Darwin. An inquiry into the circumstances of the grant was initiated by the CLP government after the 2012 territory election, and commissioner John Lawler found that the process was not transparent, and that the conduct of Lawrie (then treasurer) and Gerry McCarthy (then lands minister) in relation to the grant was "not accountable or responsible". [4] Lawrie claimed she had been denied procedural fairness, and took the case to the NT Supreme Court, which dismissed her case on 1 April 2015. [5] Attorney-general John Elferink then referred Lawrie to the Northern Territory Police for investigation of "possible breaches of the criminal law". [6] After the failure of the Supreme Court case, the Labor caucus announced it had lost confidence in Lawrie's leadership, and passed a spill motion. Michael Gunner announced that he would challenge Lawrie for the leadership. However, on 19 April, Lawrie announced she was resigning as leader to focus on the legal investigation, leaving Gunner to take the leadership unopposed. [7] Lawrie is the first Territory Labor leader who did not take the party into an election.

She declined a place in Gunner's shadow ministry and became the only backbench member of the eight-member ALP Caucus. [8]

In October 2015, the NT branch of the Labor Party disendorsed Lawrie due to concerns that her legal issues were harming Labor's election chances. Labor instead preselected Ngaree Ah Kit as its candidate in Karama at the next election. [9] A few days after being disendorsed, Lawrie resigned from the Labor Party, and stated that she would consider recontesting her seat as an independent candidate at the next election. [2] She was narrowly defeated by Ah Kit at the election on preferences.

In May 2019, leaked text messages suggested that Lawrie was behind a move to oust Michael Gunner, the man who ousted her as Labor leader, as Chief Minister and replace him with Infrastructure Minister Eva Lawler. Lawler denied any moves to oust Gunner. [10] Lawrie ruled out running as an independent in the 2020 election after becoming NT manager of the non-government organisation Child Wise. [11]

In March 2020, she became the senior adviser to Terry Mills, leader of the Territory Alliance party. [12]

Personal life

Delia Lawrie is the daughter of former Northern Territory politician Dawn Lawrie. [13]

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References

  1. ↑ The Hon. Delia Phoebe LAWRIE MLA, Parliament@Work.
  2. 1 2 "Former Northern Territory Labor leader Lawrie quits party". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 10 August 2015. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  3. ↑ "Ex-NT chief minister takes backbench role". ninemsn.com.au. Retrieved 29 August 2012.[ permanent dead link ]
  4. ↑ Di Stefano, Mark (23 June 2014). "Inquiry finds gifting of Darwin's Stella Maris site to Unions NT 'not transparent', recommends claim on site be relinquished". ABC News. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  5. ↑ Smee, Ben (1 April 2015). "Opposition leader Delia Lawrie has lost her NT Supreme court Case against Stella Maris lawyer John Lawler". The NT News. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  6. ↑ "Delia Lawrie: NT Labor leader being investigated by police for 'possible breaches of the criminal law'". ABC News. 18 April 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  7. ↑ "Delia Lawrie: NT Opposition Leader resigns in face of police investigation, Michael Gunner takes over". ABC News. 10 April 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  8. ↑ "NT Labor announces new frontbench". Archived from the original on 21 July 2015. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
  9. ↑ "Northern Territory Labor disendorses former leader Delia Lawrie". ABC News. 3 October 2015. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  10. ↑ "Leaked messages show former Labor minister trying to 'oust' Gunner". Sky News. 16 May 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  11. ↑ Cunningham, Matt (24 September 2019). "Delia turns back on politics after joining NGO". NT News. p. 4.
  12. ↑ Cunningham, Matt (24 March 2020). "Delia teams with Mills". NT News. p. 11.
  13. ↑ Karama, Northern Territory Votes 2012, ABC.
Northern Territory Legislative Assembly
Preceded by Member for Karama
2001–2016		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Leader of the Opposition
2012–2015		Succeeded by
Party political offices
Preceded by Leader of the Labor Party in the Northern Territory
2012–2015		Succeeded by
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