Another Labor state or territory leader quits suddenly in Australia
Northern Territory (NT) Chief Minister Natasha Fyles has unexpectedly resigned this week, marking the fourth Australian state or territory Labor Party leader to do so since June. Fyles’ departure came with only a two-day notice, setting the record for the fastest exit among the recent resignations.
The catalyst for Fyles’ resignation was a report by online news outlet NT Independent, which revealed that she had failed to disclose a small shareholding in a mining company that she had supported against air pollution concerns. This disclosure provided an opportunity for Labor Party’s internal powerbrokers, who have been grappling with declining support both within the NT and nationally, to remove Fyles from her position.
Fyles’ resignation came shortly after Annastacia Palaszczuk’s departure as Queensland premier with just five days’ notice, along with the resignations of Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan in June and Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews in September. This series of swift exits indicates a growing political crisis for the trade union-backed Labor governments across the country. The party’s diminishing support among workers and youth, exacerbated by issues such as the cost-of-living, housing, and social crises, contribute to their discreditation.
A recent poll conducted by Redbridge Group in the NT showed that Labor only had a primary vote of 19.7 percent. With an NT election approaching in just eight months, Labor factional leaders reportedly seized on the information regarding Fyles’ shares to remove her from office. An unnamed senior Labor figure expressed regret by saying, We should have done this six months ago.
Fyles served as chief minister for a brief 19 months following her predecessor Michael Gunner’s sudden departure in May 2022. While Fyles belonged to Labor’s so-called Left faction, she continued and intensified the anti-working-class policies implemented during Gunner’s administration. Gunner had been in power since Labor took office in 2016, making Fyles a significant figure in his cabinet.
During a press conference on Tuesday, Fyles admitted that she had fallen short of her own standards by failing to disclose her shares in South32, the world’s biggest manganese producer and majority owner of the open-cut mine on Groote Eylandt off the NT’s northeast coast. Earlier this year, Fyles dismissed concerns regarding potential air pollution from the mine, rejecting Aboriginal peoples’ worries.
While Fyles’ shareholding in South32 amounted to less than $2,500, it symbolized Labor’s alignment with lucrative mining projects and gas industries, often disregarding environmental and indigenous opposition. This support for contentious projects has coincided with inadequate conditions in areas such as schools, public health, and social housing.
Fyles had also been compelled to divest her shares in Woodside Energy, a major gas miner. This move followed claims of a conflict of interest as her government planned to expand the onshore gas industry in the NT.
In May, Fyles’ government approved gas fracking exploration in the Beetaloo Basin, despite vehement objections from scientists, indigenous leaders, environmental groups, and cattle industry pastoralists. Additionally, Fyles strongly advocated for $3.5 billion in federal funding from the Albanese government to establish a new gas hub on Darwin Harbour’s Middle Arm for exporting Beetaloo gas. It recently surfaced that Fyles’ political advisor Gerard Richardson served as a lobbyist for Beetaloo gas company Tamboran.
When Fyles initially assumed the position of chief minister in May 2022, her reputation as health minister allowed her to leverage her efforts in protecting the NT’s population, particularly indigenous communities, from COVID-19. However, like all federal and state governments, the Fyles administration lifted safety restrictions, leading to subsequent waves of infections.
Under both Gunner and Fyles, the Labor government failed to rectify critical issues in public hospitals, resulting in understaffing and underfunding. Additionally, public schools continued to operate under a punitive attendance-based funding model. As a consequence, some school buildings lacked basic amenities such as power and water, and many remote indigenous communities lacked access to secondary education, leading to high dropout rates and social problems.
Incarceration rates for Aboriginal individuals also increased under Labor’s watch, with indigenous people comprising 84 percent of adult prisoners and 96 percent of youth detention, significantly disproportionate to their representation in the NT population. Much of the government’s designated indigenous expenditure in the NT is allocated towards running prisons accommodating indigenous inmates.
In January, in response to media scrutiny of youth crime, Fyles joined the Albanese government in reimposing alcohol and other restrictions on indigenous communities. This decision effectively reintroduced police-state measures reminiscent of the socially disastrous 2007 police-military intervention in the NT.
In November, a High Court case shed light on the dire housing conditions prevalent under both Labor and the former Country Liberal Party (CLP) administrations in the NT. The NT housing department had consistently refused to address critical faults in indigenous social housing, endangering residents’ lives. This revelation emerged from a case brought by 70 tenants from Ltyentye Apurte/Santa Teresa, located approximately 85 kilometers from Alice Springs.
These circumstances undermine the claims made by Labor governments regarding the advantages an indigenous Voice assembly inserted into the Australian Constitution would bring to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people while saving costs. The defeat of the constitutional referendum dealt a significant blow to the Albanese government, as it sought to present a progressive image while pursuing war-related initiatives and austerity measures.
The political upheavals in the NT reflect the wider crisis faced by the ruling class throughout Australia. The Labor governments and their associated union apparatuses have long played a crucial role in suppressing the mounting discontent among workers and the youth. However, this capacity is diminishing, and a change in Labor leadership within the NT is unlikely to reverse the declining support. Yesterday, there were reports of bitter infighting to replace Fyles without involving a Labor membership ballot. Following this, the Labor members of parliament unanimously voted for Treasurer and Education Minister Eva Lawler as the new chief minister, with Attorney-General Chansey Paech as her deputy.
Lawler’s ascension is not a significant departure, as she has been a minister in different portfolios since Labor’s assumption of office in the NT in 2016.
