David William Tollner (born 31 January 1966) is an Australian politician. He was the

Country Liberal Party The Country Liberal Party of the Northern Territory (CLP), commonly known as the Country Liberals, is a centre-right and conservative political party in Australia's Northern Territory. In territory politics, it operates in a two-party system wi ...

member for

Solomon Solomon (), also called Jedidiah, was the fourth monarch of the Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy), Kingdom of Israel and Judah, according to the Hebrew Bible. The successor of his father David, he is described as having been the penultimate ...

in the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Australian Senate, Senate. Its composition and powers are set out in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. ...

from 2001 to 2007, and then served in the

Northern Territory Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory (also known as the Parliament of the Northern Territory) is the unicameral legislature of Australia’s Northern Territory. The Legislative Assembly has 25 members, each elected in single-member ...

as the member for Fong Lim from 2008 to 2016. He was the

Deputy Chief Minister of the Northern Territory The deputy chief minister of the Northern Territory is a role in the Government of the Northern Territory assigned to a responsible Minister in the Northern Territory. It has second ranking behind the chief minister of the Northern Territory ...

under chief minister

Adam Giles Adam Graham Giles (né Romer; born 10 April 1973) 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 T ...

from 2013 to 2014. During his time in federal parliament, he sat with the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

Early life and federal politics

Tollner was born in Biloela, Queensland, and worked as a manager and company director before entering politics. He contested the 1997 territory election as an independent, narrowly losing to CLP candidate

Chris Lugg Christopher Dennis Lugg (born 17 May 1948) is an Australian former politician. He was the Country Liberal Party member for Nelson in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly from 1997 to 2001. He succeeded long-serving independent Noel Pad ...

in the seat of

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

. He subsequently won the new federal seat of

for the CLP at the 2001 federal election, and was re-elected at the 2004 election. He was narrowly defeated by Labor candidate Damian Hale at the 2007 election. Tollner sat with the

in federal parliament during his time as member for Solomon.

Territory politics

Tollner then contested the 2008 territory election, winning the new seat of Fong Lim and defeating Labor minister Matthew Bonson. He was re-elected at the 2012 election, and upon the CLP's victory was appointed Minister for Health, Minister for Alcohol Rehabilitation and Policy, and Minister for Housing. In March 2013, Mills expelled Tollner from his cabinet after a heated disagreement between the two at a party meeting. According to former MLA Daryl Manzie, Tollner swore at Mills and threw a stack of cabinet papers at him before walking out of the room. Tollner was appointed deputy chief minister of the Northern Territory on 13 March 2013. He caused controversy in August 2014 when he referred to the gay son of fellow CLP MP Gary Higgins as a "pillow biter" and "shirt lifter". As a result, it was announced that Tollner's resignation as deputy leader of the CLP had been accepted. Despite that, Tollner said a few days later that he wanted to be restored to his former position or he would quit the party, leaving it in a precarious position on the floor of the Legislative Assembly. On 1 September, Chief Minister Adam Giles threw open the leadership and deputy leadership to a party room ballot. Giles was re-elected as CLP leader, and Peter Chandler was voted in as his deputy. He has also been accused of making racist comments; in 2014 he was accused of calling two women "lubras", which is a

racial slur The following is a list of ethnic slurs, ethnophaulisms, or ethnic epithets that are, or have been, used as insinuations or allegations about members of a given ethnic, national, or racial group or to refer to them in a derogatory, pejor ...

targeted at Indigenous women. A redistribution ahead of the 2016 election all but erased Tollner's majority in Fong Lim, slashing it from a fairly safe 7.3 percent to an extremely marginal 0.2 percent. Tollner tried to transfer to the newly created seat of Spillett, which had absorbed much of the eastern portion of Fong Lim. However, he lost a November 2015 preselection battle to

Lia Finocchiaro Lia Emele Finocchiaro (; born 20 September 1984) is an Australian politician who has served as the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory since August 2024. A member of the Country Liberal Party (CLP), she has represented the seat of Spillet ...

, the member for neighbouring Drysdale. His senior advisor, Tim Dixon, was pre-selected for Fong Lim, but lost the seat to Labor.

Notes

External links

Personal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tollner, Dave 1966 births Living people Deputy chief ministers of the Northern Territory Country Liberal Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Solomon Members of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly People from Biloela Country Liberal Party members of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Australian MPs 2001–2004 Australian MPs 2004–2007