Labor continuing to suffer from irritable Vowles syndrome

LABOR’s candidate for Johnston Joel Bowden will come up against the same personality clashes which doomed Ken Vowles, the outgoing MLA says

Outgoing Labor MLA Ken Vowles said his card was marked from the day Chief Minister Michael Gunner saw him as a threat to his leadership. Picture: Keri Megelus

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LABOR’s candidate for Johnston Joel Bowden will come up against the same personality clashes that doomed Ken Vowles, the outgoing MLA says.

Speaking to the NT News earlier this week, Mr Vowles said his card was marked from the day Chief Minister Michael Gunner saw him as a threat to his leadership.

“Michael just had it in his head that I was the alternate (leader),” he said.

“It was ridiculous.”

Mr Vowles is one of three Labor members booted from the party caucus for dissent late last year.

He said Mr Gunner was determined to smother any hint of leadership ambition from other Labor MLAs.

“Even Natasha (Fyles) still doesn’t have her own media adviser,” he said.

“She hasn’t worked out that’s because Michael wants to control her.”

He predicted his anointed successor, outspoken footy star Joel Bowden would encounter the same problems that brought his political career to a premature end.

Joel Bowden is the new Labor candidate for Johnston after Ken Vowles announced he was quitting politics

Mr Bowden, whose Johnston candidacy was signed off on by Labor administration on Friday, said he didn’t know whether to put stock in Mr Vowles’s warning.

“I’m not sure, I haven’t worked in the Labor caucus so I don’t have a line of sight,” he said.

“But what I can say is I am a team player. I spent 14 yeas playing AFL football and what I know about the fans is they expect 100 per cent commitment and effort and that’s what I’ll be bringing if I’m lucky enough to be elected.”

The NT News understands the Unions NT boss was the only person to nominate for preselection in Johnston.

When asked if he was disappointed by Mr Vowles’s refusal to pass on his endorsement for the seat, Mr Bowden said the pair had previously had a friendly relationship.

“I haven’t spoken to him in a while. I’ll need to catch up with him. I haven’t wanted to bother him in recent days,” Mr Bowden said. 

Meanwhile, Labor caucus chair Sandra Nelson confirmed on Friday that she never gave sacked trio Ken Vowles, Jeff Collins and Scott McConnell written notice of plans to expel them from the parliamentary Labor Party.

“I didn’t send an email about that,” she said.

“Whether somebody else sent an email to them with written notice that this was going to happen, I don’t know, but I can confirm that (if they did) they didn’t send the email to me.”

Party rules say a vote to expel a caucus member can only happen after they have had an opportunity to explain their actions.

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Mr Collins and Mr McConnell say they were only informed of the decision to hold the meeting when they were called by Deputy Chief Minister Nicole Manison about 20 minutes before it began.

Mr Vowles said he was notified by a text message from Sanderson MLA Kate Worden about 30 minutes before the meeting and after Mr Gunner had already called him to tell him he’d been sacked from the Cabinet and the caucus.

Others in the Government have refused to directly answer questions about this issue, saying only that “the proper process has been followed”.

But Ms Nelson’s admission appears to confirm claims made by the sacked trio that Labor broke its own caucus rules when it expelled them.