The leader of the opposition is an official role usually occupied by the leader of the second largest party 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 ...

. In the event that party wins an election, the leader of the opposition will most likely become the

chief minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union ter ...

. While the Legislative Assembly was created in 1974, there was no parliamentary opposition for the first three-year term, as every seat was held by the government, with the exception of two that were won by independents. Even though the leader of the government between 1974 and 1978 was known as majority leader, the position of leader of the opposition was always named as such for the leader of the opposing party and never as minority leader.

2020 opposition leadership dispute

On 18 March 2020 Terry Mills claimed to have become Opposition Leader on the basis of the

Territory Alliance Territory Alliance (TA) was an Australian political party based in the Northern Territory. It was founded in 2019 by Terry Mills, an incumbent member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly and former Chief Minister of the Northern Territo ...

now having three MLAs to the Country Liberal Party's two. No motion acknowledging a change in the office was passed by the Assembly. On 24 March 2020 Mills presented a shadow Cabinet to the Assembly and was initially referred to as leader of the opposition, without formal motion. However, later that day

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 ...

moved that the office of leader of the opposition be declared vacant as it was "unclear" who the "official opposition" was, and that a secret ballot between the two be held to determine Opposition Leader status. The motion was passed and Finocchiaro won the ballot 5–3, with Labor MLAs present not voting.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leader Of The Opposition (Northern Territory)

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...