Eva Lawler | |
---|---|
13th Chief Minister of the Northern Territory | |
Assumed office 21 December 2023 | |
Deputy | Chansey Paech |
Administrator | Hugh Heggie |
Preceded by | Natasha Fyles |
Member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly for Drysdale | |
Assumed office 27 August 2016 | |
Preceded by | Lia Finocchiaro |
Personal details | |
Born | 17 August,1961 Darwin,Northern Territory,Australia |
Political party | Labor Party |
Spouse | Tom Lawler |
Children | Kirby and Lindsay |
Occupation | Teacher,Hockey Coach and Chief Minister of the Northern Territory |
Eva Dina Lawler (born 17 August,1961) [1] 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. [2]
Eva Lawler was born on 17 August,1961 in Darwin into a family deeply involved in the trucking and earthmoving industries,servicing materials for government projects. [3] At age 10 in 1972,she started playing hockey for the Palmerston RSL’s hockey club,the Palmerston Saints. She and her family were evacuated after Cyclone Tracy in 1974,but returned to Darwin. She became a pioneer of women’s hockey in the NT,playing in a number of inaugural NT women’s hockey teams,such as the first NT schools team in 1977,women’s under-19 side and NT senior women’s team in 1980. [4]
Lawler completed a Bachelor of Education at the then Darwin Community College. She taught at Berry Springs Primary School,Gray Primary School and Humpty Doo Primary School all in the surrounds of Darwin. She was promoted to assistant principal,working at Anula Primary School and then Principal at Jingili Primary School. While teaching,she continued her landmark hockey career playing for the NT,as well as coaching with the Palmerston Saints Hockey Club (PSHC). Her groundbreaking efforts were recognised with the Northern Territory Hockey Association (NTHA)’s Award of Merit and life membership of the PSHC in 1990,before inevitably being selected in the first ever Australian women’s national hockey team in 1993,progressing eventually to selector and high performance roles in the NTHA setup in 1996-97 and 2009 respectively. [5] This fitted around her education career focusing on curriculum development and professional development of teachers,as well as work in event management in the Department of Sport. [3]
She later gained master's degrees in education and international management,a diploma in project management and a graduate diploma in public sector management from Charles Darwin University,before embarking into the world of politics. [6]
With husband Tom,Eva has two children Kirby and Lindsay.
Lawler seemingly faced long odds when she was nominated as Labor candidate in Drysdale for the 2016 election. The seat's then-Country Liberal Party incumbent,Lia Finocchiaro,opted to contest the new seat of Spillett after that seat absorbed much of her old base. Even after the redistribution,the downtown Palmerston seat still had a CLP majority of 11.5 percent,making it a comfortably safe Country Liberal seat on paper. Labor had only won the seat once,in its 2005 landslide when it took two seats in Palmerston—the only time it had won seats there prior to 2016. However,Labor had its majority in Drysdale redistributed away in 2008. [7]
Years | Term | Electoral division | Party | |
---|---|---|---|---|
2016 –2020 | 13th | Drysdale | Labor | |
2020 –present | 14th | Drysdale | Labor |
However,by the time the writs were dropped for the 2016 election,the CLP's support in Palmerston had collapsed. One poll had the CLP on only 37 percent support in an area that had been a CLP stronghold for the better part of four decades. On election night,the CLP's primary vote collapsed by over 20 percent,and Lawler took the seat on a swing of over 16 percent.
On 11 September 2016,Lawler was named to cabinet as Minister for Education. She was re-elected in 2020 with a small swing in her favour,becoming the first Labor MP to win a second term in a Palmerston-based seat.
On 20 December 2023,Lawler was elected unopposed to succeed Natasha Fyles,who resigned after a controversy regarding undisclosed shares. Chansey Paech was elected as Deputy Chief Minister. [8]
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.
Palmerston is a planned satellite city of Darwin,the capital and largest city of Australia's Northern Territory. The city is situated approximately 20 kilometres from Darwin and 10 kilometres from Howard Springs and the surrounding rural areas. Palmerston had a population of 33,695 at the 2016 census,making it the second largest city in the Northern Territory.
A general election was held in the Northern Territory,Australia,on 18 June 2005. The centre-left Labor Party,led by Chief Minister Clare Martin,won a second term with a landslide victory,winning six of the ten seats held by the opposition Country Liberal Party in the 25-member Northern Territory Legislative Assembly,bringing their total to 19. It was the second largest victory in any Northern Territory election. The only larger majority in the history of the Territory was in the first election,in 1974. In that contest,the CLP won 17 of the 19 seats in the chamber,and faced only two independents as opposition.
Nightcliff is an electoral division of the Legislative Assembly in Australia's Northern Territory. It was first created in 1974,and takes its name from the suburb of the same name. Nightcliff is one of the smallest electorates in the Territory,covering only 4.28 km²and taking in the Darwin suburb of Nightcliff,most of Rapid Creek and a small area of Coconut Grove. There were 5,621 people enrolled in the electorate as of August 2020.
Blain is an electoral division of the Legislative Assembly in Australia's Northern Territory. It was first created in 1997 and is named after Adair Blain,the second member for the federal Northern Territory electorate,and the only Australian sitting federal MP to ever become a prisoner of war. Blain is an urban electorate,covering 4 km²and taking in Palmerston suburbs of Bellamack and Woodroffe,and most of the suburb of Rosebery and a small section of the suburb of Moulden. There were 5,695 people enrolled within the electorate as of August 2020.
Drysdale is an electoral division of the Legislative Assembly in Australia's Northern Territory. It was first created in 1997,and is named after Fred Drysdale,a former member of the Legislative Council. It is an urban electorate covering 5 km²in north-western Palmerston including the CBD and the suburbs of Driver,Gray,Yarrawonga and most of Moulden. There were 5,828 people enrolled within the electorate as of August 2020.
The Division of Solomon is an Australian Electoral Division in the Northern Territory. It is largely coextensive with the Darwin/Palmerston metropolitan area. The only other division in the territory,the Division of Lingiari,covers the remainder of the territory.
General elections were held in the Northern Territory of Australia on 9 August 2008. Of the 25 seats in the Legislative Assembly,23 were contested;two safe Labor seats were uncontested. The incumbent centre-left Labor Party (ALP),led by Chief Minister Paul Henderson won a narrow third term victory against the opposition centre-right Country Liberal Party (CLP),led by Terry Mills. Labor suffered a massive and unexpected swing against it,to hold a one-seat majority in the new parliament.
Adam Graham Giles is an Australian former politician and former Chief Minister of the Northern Territory (2013–2016) as well as the former leader of the Country Liberal Party (CLP) in the unicameral Northern Territory Parliament. Giles is the first Indigenous Australian to serve as a head of government in Australia.
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.
Kezia Dorcas Tibisay Purick is an Australian politician. She is an independent member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly,having held her seat of Goyder since the 2008 election. Prior to entering Parliament,Purick was the CEO of the NT Minerals Council for 16 years. Originally elected as a member of the Country Liberal Party,she became an independent in 2015.
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 Louise Griggs is an Australian former politician and the administrator of the Australian Indian Ocean Territories from 2017 to 2022.
Lia Emele Finocchiaro is an Australian politician. She has been a Country Liberal Party member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly for the seat of Spillett since her election in 2016. She became Leader of the Opposition in the Northern Territory after the resignation of Gary Higgins on 1 February 2020. She was previously the member for Drysdale from 2012 to 2016.
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.
Spillett is a division of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly in Australia. It was created in 2016,for the 2016 general elections,and surrounds Palmerston. It is named for Peter Spillett,a historian and former member of Darwin City Council.
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.
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.
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.