A Northern Territory minister has resigned “for family reasons” and the police association has rejected an apology from the chief minister for suggesting collusion between a senior officer and a cabinet member, as fallout from last week’s failed leadership spill continues.
The chief minister, Adam Giles, has taken over the portfolios for tourism, sport, the arts, housing, central Australia, transport and infrastructure following the resignation of the transport minister, Matt Conlan, who was part of the failed attempt to roll Giles last week.
“I have made this decision today with my family in mind,” Conlan said. “It is no secret I have a young family and it has been a difficult balancing act, weighing the demands of being a minister with a parent to my five-year-old son, Harvey, and three-year-old daughter, Cleo.”
Giles said he met Conlan on Monday night “to discuss his ministerial future” and Conlan “has decided he will be moving to the backbench for family reasons”.
“I would like to thank Matt for all his hard work as a local member, minister and opposition MLA,” Giles said.
Conlan’s departure has been expected since Giles survived the farcical attempted coup.
The political stoush began with a late-night media conference by the mines minister, Willem Westra van Holthe, declaring he had the support to roll Giles. But the chief minister refused to resign the next day, saying his challenger had made a “tactical error”.
Amid negotiations at a late-night party room meeting, Conlan reportedly said he would support whichever side would give him the tourism portfolio back, but a spokeswoman told Guardian Australia she could not confirm the NT News’s report.
The coup failed and Giles survived as the chief minister, with Westra van Holthe appointed as his deputy. The education minister, Robyn Lambley, was sacked last week, accused of organising the spill and rallying the nine Country Liberal party (CLP) parliamentary wing members to replace Giles with Westra van Holthe.
On Monday Giles apologised for airing allegations that unnamed senior police officers and “alleged politicians” had plotted “in cahoots” to remove him from office and to remove the then police commissioner, John McRoberts, who subsequently resigned.
After his remarks to a CLP branch meeting that he had “good evidence” were reported in the Australian, Giles apologised, saying: “I should have passed them straight on to the judiciary before airing them. I do apologise, and I particularly apologise to police that there have been some allegations made,” he said, adding that he had “full confidence” in the executive arm of the force and NT officers.
But the NT Police Association (NTPA) labelled the apology “half-hearted”.
“The reported comments of the chief minister are disappointing,” the NTPA’s president, Vince Kelly, said.
“The chief minister did not fully retract his comments, he simply stated he should not have made them public. The recording of the chief minister at an Alice Springs Country Liberal party (CLP) branch meeting makes it clear he maintains he has evidence of political collusion between an unnamed senior police officer and a member of his cabinet.”
Kelly called on Giles to provide evidence to the police minister if he had any, and to retract his statements in full and apologise if he did not.
On Tuesday the opposition police spokeswoman, Lynne Walker, called for Giles to remove himself from any involvement in setting the terms of reference for an independent judicial inquiry which is set to investigate the allegations against McRoberts. McRoberts resigned following accusations he had interfered in a criminal investigation, understood to be relating to fraud charges against the head of NT Crimestoppers, Alexandra Kamitsis.
Walker said: “Adam Giles has said he will make available his emails, phone records and text messages when he announced the judicial inquiry would be established. If even he has identified he’s the subject of rumours then he has a clear conflict of interest and should stand aside from any involvement in establishing the inquiry.”
“We have a government embroiled in political infighting and a chief minister who shoots from the hip with unsubstantiated, outrageous allegations. That is no way to run the Territory,” Walker said.
“If they can’t run themselves, they certainly can’t run the Territory.”
The CLP government “can’t control themselves,” the shadow minister for government accountability, Natasha Fyles, said on Tuesday.
Fyles accused Giles of “doing things just to protect Adam Giles. It’s all about him, it’s not about Territorians”.
She said the Labor opposition was “considering every option we have before us” including censure motions and votes of no confidence when parliament resumes next week. Plans would be discussed when caucus met, she said.
“Territorians want an end to this and we’ll work as hard as we can to achieve that. People are sick and tired of this government focusing on themselves.”
Giles’s office has been contacted for comment.
