Matthew John Gardiner (born 16 May 1971) is an Australian former trade unionist. He was the Secretary of the Northern Territory Branch of United Voice and was also President of the Northern Territory Branch of the Australian Labor Party.
In 2015 he went to Syria to fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. He was detained upon his return to Australia but released without charge.
Gardiner served in the Australian Army for around a decade and was deployed to Somalia in 1993 [1] as a combat engineer. [2]
In United Voice he oversaw the growth of the branch to become the largest union in the Northern Territory. The union in the Northern Territory represents workers with occupations in many varied industries in the Northern Territory including miners, firefighters, prison officers, [3] childcare workers, healthcare workers, cleaners, security guards and workers at Indigenous organisations. The union grew between 5-10% per annum under his term of office and he had been re-elected unopposed to continue his tenure till 2018. He served until January 2015. [4]
Gardiner was President of the NT Branch of the Australian Labor Party. In 2007 he stood for pre-selection for the Federal seat of Solomon only to narrowly lose to Damian Hale, who won the seat in the 2007 election. [5] He was the second endorsed ALP candidate for the senate in the 2010 Federal election, although he didn't win a seat. [6]
Gardiner had been a vocal advocate for Territory issues included the proposed nuclear waste dump, [7] Indigenous jobs, [8] the NT Intervention and remote health. [9] He was a member of the Council of Charles Darwin University from June 2009 to April 2015. [10] He was Branch Secretary of the Northern Territory Branch of the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union from 2007. [11] He was also selected as one of the entrants to the Who's Who in Australia 2010 edition.
In November 2013, he was linked to a plan by the Northern Territory Labor Government and Unions NT to take a lease on the Stella Maris property at Darwin's Waterfront for ten years for no rent. [12] A Parliamentary Inquiry was established on 5 December 2013 into the deal. [13] After his appearance it was found there was no case to answer. [14]
In January 2015, it was reported that Gardiner had traveled to Syria to fight against Islamic State [15] with Kurdish forces of People's Protection Units. [16] He resigned from his role as secretary of United Voice. [17] He was stood down as the head of the Labor Party's NT branch and his membership was suspended. [18]
On 5 April 2015 Gardiner returned to Darwin, and was detained and questioned by the Australian Federal Police. [1] He was released without charge. [19]
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.
Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. With a population of 139,902 at the 2021 census, the city contains most of the sparsely populated Northern Territory's residents. It is the smallest, wettest, and most northerly of the Australian capital cities and serves as the Top End's regional centre.
David William Tollner is an Australian politician. He was the Country Liberal Party member for Solomon in the Australian House of Representatives from 2001 to 2007, and then served in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly as the member for Fong Lim from 2008 to 2016. He was the Deputy Chief Minister of the Northern Territory under chief minister Adam Giles from 2013 to 2014. During his time in federal parliament, he sat with the Liberal Party.
Johan Wessel Elferink is an Australian politician. He is a former member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly for the Country Liberal Party.
Crime in the Northern Territory is managed by the Northern Territory Police, the territory government's Department of the Attorney-General and Justice and Territory Families.
Many sports are played in the Northern Territory of Australia.
Malarndirri Barbara McCarthy is an Australian politician and former journalist who has been a Senator for the Northern Territory since 2016. She is an Assistant Minister in the Albanese Government, and previously served in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly.
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 was 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.
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.
The Northern Standard, also known by the uniform title Northern standard , was a newspaper published in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, from 1920 or 1921 to 1955. The paper was published by the North Australian Workers' Union from 1928 to 1955.
Natasha Kate Fyles is an Australian politician and former teacher serving as the 12th and current chief minister of the Northern Territory and minister for Health. She has been the leader of the Northern Territory branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) since May 2022 and a member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly (MLA) for the division of Nightcliff 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.
Francis Xavier Kurrupuwu, also known as Maralampuwi Kurrupuwu, is an Australian politician. He was a member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly from 2012 to 2016. He was originally elected for the Country Liberal Party (CLP), but quit the party in April 2014 to sit as an independent. He briefly joined the Palmer United Party (PUP) before returning to the CLP in September 2014.
Larisa Antonia Lillian Lee is an Australian politician. She was elected to the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly as the Country Liberal member for Arnhem at the 2012 territory election. She left the CLP on 4 April 2014, sat as independent until 27 April, when she joined the Palmer United Party, resigned from that party on 29 November, and sat as an independent until her defeat at the 2016 election.
Stella Maris is a heritage site on McMinn Street in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
Chanston James "Chansey" Paech is an Australian politician. He is a Labor Party member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly since 2016, representing the electorate of Namatjira until 2020 and Electoral division of Gwoja thereafter. He is of Arrente, Arabana and Gurindji descent.
Yingiya Mark Guyula is an Australian politician and a Yolŋu man of the Djambarrpuyŋu clan and the Liya-Dhälinymirr people. He is an independent member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly for the seat of Mulka in north-east Arnhem Land. He previously represented Nhulunbuy from 2016 to 2020. He is the only independent Indigenous member of parliament in the Northern Territory and campaigned on a platform of self-determination for Yolŋu people.
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 Fypes, who has concurrently served as chief minister of the Northern Territory since 2023, and previously Michael Gunner from 2016 to 2023.
The COVID-19 pandemic in the Northern Territory is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.
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