Ken Vowles says NT Labor must dump Chief Minister Michael Gunner

THE only way for Labor to have any hope of retaining government post 2020 is to dump Michael Gunner as leader, outgoing MLA Ken Vowles says

Chief Minister Michael Gunner, left, celebrates with Ken Vowles on the night Labor took government in the NT in 2016

• DUMPED Labor member Ken Vowles quits politics
• GUNNER under pressure to bring Vowles back into Labor fold
• VOWLES needs to make ‘reparations’ for his wrongdoings: Gunner

THE only way for Labor to have any hope of retaining government post 2020 is to dump Michael Gunner as leader, outgoing MLA Ken Vowles says.

Mr Vowles likened the challenge facing Labor now to that it faced federally in 2013.

“We had Julia Gillard and Rudd put his hand up and we saved a lot of seats federally,” he said.

“It’s going to be catastrophic for us at the next election if there’s no change. People have stopped listening to us. They’ve stopped listening to Michael. They’ve stopped listening to the senior ministers. They have no respect or confidence in our senior ministers whatsoever.”

But Mr Vowles declined to nominate his pick to take over the top job.

As well as dealing with the bruising end of his political career, Mr Vowles said he was still coming to terms with the deep personal hurt he felt from his treatment by his Labor colleagues and the loss of his friendship with Mr Gunner.

The relationship between the two men soured when Mr Gunner reneged on a deal cut during the plot to knife then-Labor leader Delia Lawrie in 2015.

“Michael came to my wedding,” Mr Vowles said.

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“There’s a friendship that has been lost there. Ego and power have just destroyed that relationship.”

He advocated for a kinder, gentler brand of politics.

“People say to me ‘Kenny, you just got done by politics’. We need to change that. It’s not just politics.

“You bullied me out, you segregated me.

“We’ve got to get away from this ‘it’s just politics’. It’s not just politics, it’s people’s lives, it’s people’s careers. And all for power. That’s wrong.”