Country Liberal Party leadership spill, 2015
|
|||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
A leadership spill of the Country Liberal Party in the Northern Territory occurred 2–3 February 2015.
Minister for Primary Industry and Mines Willem Westra van Holthe announced in a late night press conference on 2 February that the CLP had rolled incumbent Adam Giles and selected Westra van Holthe as its new leader, and hence Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, with 9 votes to 5. Attorney-General John Elferink had been named as deputy leader, and hence Deputy Chief Minister.
However, Giles refused to resign, and the Administrator of the Northern Territory, John Hardy, declined to sack Giles. Hardy cited perceived irregularities in the spill process and doubt over whether Westra van Holthe would be able to maintain the confidence of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly. While Westra van Holthe appeared to have the support of the majority of the CLP party room, there was no guarantee he could command a majority on the floor of the Assembly—and with it, enough support to govern.
Under pressure from the CLP's organisational wing, the CLP party room met on the afternoon of 3 February to break the impasse. At that meeting, an agreement was reached between the Giles and Westra van Holthe factions whereby Giles would continue as leader, and Westra van Holthe would become his deputy. Westra van Holthe ruled out another leadership challenge against Giles.
Adam Giles became Chief Minister of the Northern Territory in March 2013, replacing long-term Country Liberal leader Terry Mills in a party-room coup while Mills was attending a trade mission in Japan, becoming the first Indigenous head of government in modern Australian history. Initially he was popular with the electorate, however a series of scandals and problems shook his authority, including the defection of MPs Alison Anderson and Larisa Lee, and the resignation under a cloud of Northern Territory police commissioner John McRoberts. Giles' style was frequently compared to that of Queensland Premier Campbell Newman, which became a liability when Newman lost his seat in the 2015 state election.
...
Wikipedia