Gerry Wood

Gerard Vincent "Gerry" Wood (born 5 April 1950) is an Australian politician. A former mayor of the Northern Territory shire of Litchfield, he has been an independent member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly since 2001, representing the electorate of Nelson.

Wood worked in Daly River and Bathurst Island as a young man, working in a number of careers, including running a tourist operation and working as the town clerk of Nguiu. In 1984, he relocated to Howard Springs, between Darwin and Palmerston. While at Howard Springs, he worked as a vegetable and poultry farmer, and became involved with local government, subsequently spending five years as the President of the Litchfield Shire Council. It was in this position that he emerged as a key figure in the fight against the damming of the Elizabeth River, with which he has been credited as having saved. This gave him a significant profile in his area when he decided to contest the seat of Nelson at the 2001 election.

Nelson had a long history of independent candidates, as independent Noel Padgham-Purich had held the seat for most of its history, and Country Liberal Party sitting member Chris Lugg had only narrowly won the seat from new independent candidate Dave Tollner at the 1997 election. In the leadup to the election, Wood was tipped to have a strong chance of ousting Lugg, and subsequently won 42% of the vote, which was enough to elect him with the help of Australian Labor Party preferences. In the immediate aftermath, there was a real possibility of a hung parliament, which would have likely left Wood with the balance of power in the Assembly. However, Labor managed to seize majority control with Mathew Bonson's narrow win in the electorate of Millner, which severely limited Wood's potential influence in the Assembly. Once the new Assembly began sitting, new ALP Chief Minister Clare Martin offered Wood the position of Deputy Speaker under fellow independent Loraine Braham, and Wood soon accepted.

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