Dumped Labor member Ken Vowles tells why he had to quit politics

DUMPED Labor member Ken Vowles has revealed to the NT News why he had to quit politics, saying his ousting ‘had taken its toll’

Ousted Labor member Ken Vowles has left politics. Picture: Justin Kennedy

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KEN Vowles has quit politics.

His resignation will force a by-election in Johnston, the seat he has held since 2012.

Mr Vowles’ final day as a Territory MLA will be January 31, just over a year since he and two others were told via a phone call they had been thrown out of the Labor caucus for dissent.

He announced his decision to quit in Parliament on Thursday evening.

The former cricketer was booted when he refused to back Chief Minister Michael Gunner’s leadership after emails he sent to Labor MLAs critical of the party’s economic policy were leaked to the NT News.

He was stripped of his ministerial roles and expelled from caucus and has operated as an independent while retaining his Labor membership.

Mr Vowles said he made the decision to walk away because that expulsion left him unable to represent his electorate.

“While I am being ostracised and not in caucus, the people of Johnston who voted me in don’t have their voice,” he said.

Mr Vowles said the past year of political limbo had been “terrible”.

“It’s been tough, not just on me but my family as well,” he said.

“It has been difficult – mentally, physically. It has taken its toll.”

But he has no regrets over the decision to lash his own party and said the Langoulant report, which revealed the Territory was in major financial strife, vindicated his position.

“It was exactly what I was worried about,” he said.

“We’re still (facing) huge financial issues. In the coming years the debt ratio is going to be astronomical.”

Unions NT boss and ex-Richmond star Joel Bowden is expected to run for Labor in the by-election. Mr Vowles won’t be endorsing Mr Bowden, whom he referred to as a “union hack”.

“There’s a couple of things that have happened,” he said.

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“Joel and I have got on pretty well but people do strange things in preselection and leading up to it. At the end of the day, you’ve got to start how you finish and I’m sure he doesn’t want to start like this, with what’s been going on.”

He declined to give further details.

Mr Vowles told the NT News he had “no plans” for his life post-politics.

“I’ve got a shitload of jobs to do around the house. I have no plans whatsoever,” he said.

“I’d love to be involved in Aboriginal economic development opportunities. I think we are really missing out in remote communities where there is 80-95 per cent unemployment.

“I’d love to see all the remote communities go onto renewable energy and get them off the diesel and get opportunities for them to get out of unemployment.”

Originally published as Dumped Labor member Ken Vowles tells why he had to quit politics