Speaker Kezia Purick accused of trying to spoil Terry Mills’ party as rift deepens

A STAFF member from Speaker Kezia Purick’s office contacted a Qld businessman inquiring about the registration of the North Australia Party in the NT, in a move that has deepened the rift between Ms Purick and former chief minister Terry Mills

Then CLP Opposition Leader Terry Mills in 2008 with his deputy at the time, Kezia Purick. Picture: Brad Fleet

A STAFF member from Speaker Kezia Purick’s office contacted a Queensland businessman inquiring about the registration of the North Australia Party in the Northern Territory, in a move that has deepened the rift between Ms Purick and former chief minister Terry Mills.

Mr Mills and fellow independent Robyn Lambley have signalled their intention to establish the North Australia Party in the NT.

But earlier this month, Ms Purick’s executive officer Martine Smith contacted a Queensland businessman, who had previously registered the North Australia Party business and domain names.

The message, obtained by Sky News, says: “There may be a political party registering in the NT who want to use a business name you have registered — if so there would be a time period in which you could lodge an objection with the NT Electoral Commission. I’m sure that someone will let you know if this occurs.”

The businessman at first says he would be interested in speaking with the people from the Northern Territory, before saying he would object to the registration without his consent.

Ms Smith then replied: “All good. If you could keep my name out of how you became aware, that would be great. Happy to keep you updated if I hear anything that you should be made aware off (sic). I would contact the NT Electoral Commission.”

Ms Smith and Ms Purick have not responded to repeated requests for comment about the messages.

But Ms Lambley called for the chief minister to intervene.

“There is actual proof that Kezia’s secretary made the inquiries into registering the North Australia Party in the NT. Using the NT Legislative Assembly resources for this purpose is wrong. How many other Legislative Assembly staff were involved?”

“The Chief Minister must intervene.”

Mr Mills questioned the motivation behind the messages.

“It can only be spite,” he said.

Mr Mills last month floated the idea of establishing a North Australia Party in the Northern Territory and Ms Lambley has sent a list of 26 questions to the Chief Minister asking about how opposition status would be decided if a new party with two members — the same number as the CLP — was formed.

Tensions boiled over during the last sittings of parliament with Mr Mills forced to apologise to Ms Purick and withdraw comments he made on Mix FM accusing the Speaker of being part of a secret deal to hand the CLP opposition status.

Bad blood has existed between Ms Purick and Mr Mills for years.

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Ms Purick was Mr Mills’ deputy when they were part of the CLP Opposition between 2008 and 2012, but he dumped her in favour of Ms Lambley after the CLP won power in 2012.

Leaked emails later revealed Ms Purick had fed embarrassing information to the Labor Party in the chaotic months before Mr Mills was rolled as chief minister.

In one email, obtained by the NT News, Ms Purick suggested that Labor should question then-transport minister Adam Giles in parliament about whether car rego fees would be increased by 15 per cent.

“Leave the rest to Adam, who will deflect to (Treasurer Robyn) Lambley,” the email says.

“We have our reasons, which you know so that’s all I (will) say for now. The increase is set to be much higher, which is a real pisser on top of power prices.”