The Northern Territory Labor party is heading to a “minor reshuffle” with no shadow portfolio expected for the former leader Delia Lawrie, who resigned on Sunday to focus on legal battles surrounding her involvement in a controversial union lease.
Lawrie announced her resignation in her home seat of Karama, just days into a leadership contest against the opposition whip and member for Fannie Bay, Michael Gunner, who became the opposition leader on Monday.
Gunner said earlier the shadow cabinet, including his deputy, would be decided at a caucus meeting on Thursday. Lawrie had requested more time to concentrate on her legal challenges and her home constituency, he said, when asked if she would hold any portfolio in the new lineup.
Outlining the future of the Labor opposition, Gunner told ABC radio on Monday the party would prioritise preventive health and early childhood education, and work on regaining the trust of Territorians after several weeks of controversy and disunity.
“The way we have handled the difficult circumstances recently will show Territorians that they can trust us to handle difficult things,” he said.
Gunner has not spoken to Lawrie but told media on Sunday he was confident the two could work together, and described the controversy as a “minor distraction”.
He would not specifically seek Lawrie’s endorsement and, when questioned at her resignation announcement on Sunday, Lawrie did not offer it.
Her resignation followed revelations police were investigating her for possible criminal acts during an inquiry into the granting of a 10-year, rent-free lease of the historic Stella Maris property to Unions NT in the final days of the former Labor government.
A 2014 inquiry determined Lawrie had “acted with bias over many years” and her subsequent supreme court application that she had been denied procedural fairness was dismissed, finding that she had deliberately sought to undermine the original inquiry.
The supreme court findings prompted a leadership spill, with a majority of the Labor caucus asking Lawrie to resign, Gunner told media on Wednesday. Lawrie refused, and under new Labor party rules brought in by former prime minister Kevin Rudd, a four-week process involving weighted ballots of the caucus and the rank-and-file membership began.
On Saturday police said the NT attorney general had referred the supreme court judgment to a special investigations unit, prompting Lawrie’s resignation and an end to the ballot process. With no challenger, Gunner automatically became the Labor leader.
Lawrie will now concentrate on working with her legal team during the investigation and is still considering an appeal of the supreme court findings. On Sunday she maintained she had done nothing wrong.
She said there was “every reason to protect [the Stella Maris] site” but would not be drawn on whether the process should have been more clearly explained to the public.
“I’m not really interested in navel gazing and talking about what could or should have happened. I’m really interested in just getting on with my job now.”
At his press conference later that day, Gunner said he understood the desire to protect the heritage site but “without doubt the process could have been better”.
The attorney general, John Elferink, has said Lawrie should resign from parliament.
