Litchfield Mayor Doug Barden speaks out against attempted leadership coup, incited by his deputy

Litchfield mayor Doug Barden says an attempted coup against his leadership orchestrated by his deputy mayor was “baseless” and driven by personal ambition. Read the details.

Stephen Hoyne (Litchfield Council CEO), Chris Civitarese (Litchfield Council Councillor) , Doug Barden (Litchfield Council Mayor), Jinson Charls (Minister for People, Sport and Culture), Michael Bowden (SDFC player), Andrew Mackay (Member for Goyder), Kevin Mulvahil (SDFC President), Gerard Maley (Deputy Chief Minister and Member for Nelson) at the Norbuilt Oval lights development announcement.

Litchfield mayor Doug Barden says an attempted coup against his leadership that was orchestrated by his deputy mayor was “baseless” and driven by personal ambition.

It comes after Litchfield’s deputy mayor Mark Sidey motioned a vote of “no confidence” in Mr Barden at the council’s latest meeting.

Mr Sidey said the reasoning was because Mr Barden did not live in the Litchfield area anymore, but rather at a unit at the Darwin Waterfront.

The motion was understood to have been written before the council meeting, but Mr Sidey chose to not raise it with the mayor until the meeting had begun.

The motion was immediately refuted by Mr Barden.

“I don’t accept the motion … it’s insulting what you’re saying,” he said.

Litchfield deputy mayor Mark Sidey.

Mr Sidey interjected, saying they were “not debating the motion now, it’s whether it’s accepted as a notice of motion or not”.

The motion was later moved into the confidential part of the meeting.

While limited in what he could say due to confidentiality restraints, Mr Barden told The NT News the allegations were “baseless”.

“I live in Berry Springs. I have a partner in Darwin, and I visit her quite regularly,” he said.

“All of my photos of my parents, who are deceased, are in Berry Springs; all of my memorabilia is in Berry Springs; I have a life membership to the Berry Springs Bushfire Brigade; I spend most nights in Berry Springs.

“I voted in the Lingiari electorate; I handed out how to vote cards at the Berry Springs School; I scrutineered at the Berry Springs School for the Lingiari election; I’ve lived in the Lingiari electorate since it was created.

Litchfield Mayor Doug Barden. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

“The allegations are baseless as far as I’m concerned.”

And with local government elections less than three months away, Mr Barden claimed the attempt came because Mr Sidey, who has run for mayor in the past, was again “after the top job”.

“He told me that in February or March that he was going for the mayor position, and he’s within his rights to do it,” he said.

But regardless of Mr Sidey’s leadership aspirations, Mr Barden says the attempt is overall “really disappointing”.

“We’ve got to try work as a team; I’ve always tried to work as a team,” he said.

“I’m very disappointed with his allegations; but anyway, that’s life, we move on.

“We’ve got more important things to do than fight.”

Originally published as Litchfield Mayor Doug Barden speaks out against attempted leadership coup, incited by his deputy