Delia Lawrie has refused to step down as Labor leader, will bring on five-week long campaign battle

FANNIE Bay MLA Michael Gunner is challenging Delia Lawrie to the Labor leadership and claims she refused to resign when confronted with the numbers.

2PM

FANNIE Bay MLA Michael Gunner has challenged Delia Lawrie for the Labor leadership, claiming he has the majority support of caucus.

At a press conference this afternoon, Mr Gunner said Ms Lawrie had refused to resign when confronted with the numbers.

Mr Gunner said those MLAs believed Ms Lawrie had lost the ability to hold ther CLP to account because of the recent damaging NT Supreme Court findings, which had reduced her credibility.

Mr Gunner said he did not believe the Supreme court was part of any such conspiracy.

“We respect the Supreme Court, it was a significant and serious finding,” he said.

This surely has to be the main point of consideration for labor party members #laborpains https://t.co/A0jIDwQpN8

— Kathleen Bruyn (@kathleenbruyn) April 15, 2015

1PM

OPPOSITION leader Delia Lawrie is refusing to stand aside while the party goes through a month- long leadership ballot.

Ms Lawrie will retain full use of the resources of the Opposition Leader’s office and admits she will hold discussions with party members during an official trip to Alice Springs this week.

During a defiant press conference, Ms Lawrie repeatedly refused to acknowledge that she had lost the faith of five of her seven colleagues.

She also rejected suggestions that having lost support the ballot process will be damaging for Labor.

“It’s a fair process, it’s a democratic process and I look forward to having a conversation with Labor Party members,” she said.

The leadership will now be decided by evenly weighted ballots of party members and Labor MLAs.

Ms Lawrie said she is embracing the political process.

“It really is about settling this issue once and for all,” Ms Lawrie said.

“We all signed up to a democratic process in our party and I’m absolutely confident that will be done with respect we can show each other.

“The Labor Party has a democratic process to determine the leader and that’s what we’re doing. What is wrong with giving people a say about what they want?”

NT Opposition Leader says she is best to lead Labor in spite of losing caucus support @SkyNewsAust pic.twitter.com/49BqAB7QpG

— Dan Bourchier (@Dan_Bourchier) April 15, 2015

Ms Lawrie said there was no showing of hands at the caucus meeting and denied reports that she has lost the support of her party, colleagues and constituents.

She remains confident that she is the strongest option to lead Labor.

“What I’m hearing from people is that they want me to stay on as leader,” she said.

“I have to say I’ve had overwhelming support from my party and people from across the Northern Territory community.

“The people I work with on a day-to-day basis, I get a lot of support from.”

Ms Lawrie said she has still not made a decision about the Supreme Court case appeal.

“What I stand by and very strongly is that we did nothing wrong in trying to save a historic site,” she said.

Ms Lawrie is flying to Alice Springs this afternoon to discuss funding cuts.

 

9.40AM

TERRITORY Labor will go through a five-week leadership ballot after Delia Lawrie refused to stand aside at this morning’s showdown caucus meeting.

Despite the urging of several colleagues, Ms Lawrie will fight on.

It is understood she agreed to sign a letter - along with all members of the Labor wing - to set in motion a formal leadership spill.

BREAKING: Source says split of 5 to @fanniebay and 3 to NT Opp Ldr Delia Lawrie after secret caucus mtg @SkyNewsAust

— Dan Bourchier (@Dan_Bourchier) April 15, 2015

The votes of caucus - where she cannot muster more than three votes - will be weighted equally against a ballot of rank-and-file members.

It is understood party is split five to three with her deputy Gerry McCarthy and Natasha Fyles the only members backing her.

Michael Gunner is expected to announce his candidacy later on Wednesday.

Under rules introduced by former prime minister Kevin Rudd, the election of a new leader has to be shared by the caucus and party members.

A challenger with five votes to Ms Lawrie’s three would need almost 40 per cent of the party’s support to be successful.

This process, will take about five weeks, which could mean increasing instability for the party and no guarantee of a leadership change if the majority of the rank and file membership support Ms Lawrie.

Candidates have not yet declared their hands. But the process will leave Labor with an interim leader during parliamentary budget sittings.

Ken Vowles yesterday broke Labor’s silence over Ms Lawrie’s leadership to tell Mix 104.9 radio he had been approached to stand.

“There comes a time when you need to show some leadership. People have asked me to do that, and if caucus wants to support me in that it’s certainly something I’m willing to consider,” he said.

The simmering troubles within Labor even prompted its former president Matt Gardiner, who has just returned from mystery activities abroad with Kurdish forces fighting ISIS, to tweet: “Thought I was having a hard week #ntspill #stillnottalking.”

READ: VOWLES STRIKES FIRST BLOW IN LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE

All Labor MLAs, bar Michael Gunner and Mr Vowles, had been on Groote Eylandt for a team meeting and returned last night to waiting media.

They stayed on message – there would be a discussion of the leadership at today’s caucus meeting – but only Natasha Fyles pledged her support for Ms Lawrie should there be a challenge.

Ms Lawrie said there was no talk of leadership on Groote Eylandt and the MLAs were “basically getting around and doing what we wanted to do”.

Lauren Moss stayed tight-lipped about the leadership debacle. Picture: Elise Derwin

Mr Gunner remains the obvious leadership contender but again offered no comment last night. When asked on radio if Mr Gunner was a candidate, Mr Vowles said: “that is a decision for Michael Gunner what he will do”.

“I have no doubt that ... that Michael has very good leadership qualities.”

Recently retired party elder Kon Vatskalis yesterday pleaded for Ms Lawrie to resign in a leaked letter to all MLAs.

READ: DELIA’S DESPERATE BID ‘WILL SPLIT LABOR’

“I believe the best thing to happen is for you to resign with dignity putting the interest of the party above all,” Mr Vatskalis wrote.

“This will also give you the opportunity to come back in the future since you are young and have a long time career in politics. Or you can stubbornly decide to have a battle and create a month long instability and certainly division in the party – and of course you will be a ‘sitting duck’ as a leader of a caucus that resents you being the leader and will look for the next opportunity to challenge you.”

Ms Lawrie last night would not say if she would fight on or step down to avoid a potentially bruising month-long process of campaigning for rank and file votes.

NT Labor Party member Gerry McCarthy listening to Delia Lawrie speak. Picture: Elise Derwin

“I’m going to sit down and have a conversation with my caucus colleagues,” she said. “I’m very clear if there’s any intent of going to a new leadership then that’s up to the party and we’ll go through the real democratic process that Labor has.”

Deputy Leader Gerry McCarthy was the only MLA to stand behind Ms Lawrie as she was being interviewed but he stopped short of offering his vote.

“I’m looking forward to the caucus meeting and I’ve got a lot to say at caucus – you’ll have to wait for that one I’m afraid,” he said.

READ: DELIA REFUSES TO STAND DOWN

Experienced Nhulunbuy MLA Lynne Walker is tipped as a potential deputy leader should Mr Gunner or Mr Vowles win a vote.

“I don’t know what will happen (today) but what I do know is that we have a process in place, we don’t stab one another in the back, we don’t hold midnight press conferences,” she said.

“We will caucus (today). I can’t say what the outcome of that caucus meeting will be but if we go to the next stage of the process we know that it’s about rank and file of the party.”

Nicole Manison said: “Playing it out in the media is not the way to do it.”