Gerard Maley (born 1970) is an Australian politician who serves as an MLA for

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 ...

as a member of 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 ...

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 ...

. He has been the Deputy Leader of the Country Liberal Party since September 2020 and

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 ...

since 9 September 2024, following the

2024 Northern Territory general election The 2024 Northern Territory general election was held on 24 August 2024 to elect all 25 members of the Legislative Assembly in the unicameral Northern Territory Parliament. Members were elected through full preferential instant-runoff voting ...

Pre-politics

Early life

Maley's father was a policeman, and the family lived in Darwin where Maley was born, then settled in Howard Springs when he was 4 years old.

Professional life

Maley studied to be a mechanic after leaving high school in year 11, and then became an inspector and public relations agent for the Department of Transport & Works. Following this, he returned to study law at

Charles Darwin University Charles Darwin University (CDU) is an Australian public university with two campuses in Darwin and six satellite campuses in metropolitan and regional areas of the Northern Territory. It was established in 2003 after the merger of Northern Ter ...

, and after graduating, joined his brother, Peter, at Maleys Barristers & Solicitors. He manages the rural office in Coolalinga. He currently lives on the same family block in Howard Springs that he grew up on.

Politics

Maley was selected for the Country Liberals to contest the seat

in the

2016 Northern Territory general election The 2016 Northern Territory general election was held on Saturday 27 August 2016 to elect all 25 members of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly, Legislative Assembly in the unicameral Northern Territory Parliament. Legislation was pass ...

which he lost to long time independent member Gerry Wood. He recontested the seat in the 2020 election following Wood's retirement, and won the seat. He tallied 50.6 percent of the primary vote, enough to win the seat without the need for preferences. Ultimately, he won 59.2 percent of the two-candidate vote. However, for most of its existence, Nelson has been a comfortably safe CLP seat in "traditional" two-party matchups against

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

, so Maley's win was not considered an upset. Indeed, he now sits on a "traditional" two-party majority of 23.3 percent after picking up a healthy swing of 16.3 percent against Labor. The election of 2020 saw only one member of the CLP returning to parliament, leader

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 ...

. As such there was a need to promote new parliamentarians into leadership roles. Maley was elected as Deputy Leader of the CLP, and hence Deputy Leader of the Opposition. He was also given the portfolios of Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Multicultural Affairs, Defence Industries, Recreational Fishing, and National Resilience.

Political views

Maley opposes the

Indigenous Voice to Parliament The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice, also known as the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, the First Nations Voice or simply the Voice, was a proposed Australian federal advisory body to comprise Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal a ...

References

1970 births Living people Members of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly Country Liberal Party members of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly Charles Darwin University alumni People from Darwin, Northern Territory 21st-century Australian politicians {{Australia-politician-stub