Chief Minister of the Northern Territory
Coat of arms of the Northern Territory
Flag of the Northern Territory
Incumbent Eva Lawler since 21 December 2023
Department of the Chief Minister
Style	The Honourable
Status	Head of government
Abbreviation	CM
Member of	Parliament National Cabinet Cabinet Executive Council
Reports to	Parliament
Seat	Darwin, Northern Territory
Appointer	Administrator of the Northern Territory by convention, based on appointee's ability to command confidence in the Legislative Assembly
Term length	At the Administrator's pleasure contingent on the chief minister's ability to command confidence in the house of Parliament
Constituting instrument	None (constitutional convention)
Formation	19 October 1974 as Majority Leader 1 July 1978 as chief minister
First holder	Goff Letts as Majority Leader Paul Everingham as chief minister
Deputy	Deputy Chief Minister of the Northern Territory
Salary	A$325,392[1]
Website	www.chiefminister.nt.gov.au

The chief minister of the Northern Territory is the head of government of the Northern Territory. The office is the equivalent of a state premier. When the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly was created in 1974, the head of government was officially known as majority leader. This title was used in the first parliament (1974–1977) and the first eighteen months of the second. When self-government was granted the Northern Territory in 1978, the title of the head of government became chief minister.

The chief minister is formally appointed by the administrator, who in normal circumstances will appoint the head of whichever party holds the majority of seats in the unicameral Legislative Assembly. In times of constitutional crisis, the administrator can appoint someone else as chief minister, though this has never occurred.

Since 21 December 2023, following the resignation of Natasha Fyles, the chief minister is Eva Lawler of the Labor Party. She is the third female chief minister of the Northern Territory.

History

The Country Liberal Party won the first Northern Territory election on 19 October 1974 and elected Goff Letts majority leader. He headed an Executive that carried out most of the functions of a ministry at the state level. At the 1977 election Letts lost his seat and party leadership. He was succeeded on 13 August 1977 by Paul Everingham (CLP) as Majority Leader. When the Territory attained self-government on 1 July 1978, Everingham became chief minister with greatly expanded powers.

In 2001, Clare Martin became the first Labor and female chief minister of the Northern Territory. Until 2004 the conduct of elections and drawing of electoral boundaries was performed by the Northern Territory Electoral Office, a unit of the Department of the chief minister. In March 2004 the independent Northern Territory Electoral Commission was established.

In 2013, Mills was replaced as chief minister and CLP leader by Adam Giles at the 2013 CLP leadership ballot on 13 March to become the first indigenous Australian to lead a state or territory government in Australia.^[2]

Following the 2016 election landslide outcome, Labor's Michael Gunner became chief minister; he was the first Chief Minister who was born in the Northern Territory. On 10 May 2022, Gunner announced his intention to resign.^[3] On 13 May 2022, Natasha Fyles was elected to the position by the Labor caucus.^[4] On 19 December 2023, Fyles resigned following controversy over undeclared shares in mining company South32.^[5] On 21 December 2023, Eva Lawler replaced Fyles by a unanimous decision of the Labor caucus.

List of chief ministers of the Northern Territory

From the foundation of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly in 1974 until the granting of self-government in 1978, the head of government was known as the majority leader:

No.	Portrait	Name Electoral division (Birth–death)	Election	Term of office			Political party	Executive	Administrator
				Term start	Term end	Time in office
1		Goff Letts MLA for Victoria River (1928–2023)	1974	19 October 1974	12 August 1977	2 years, 297 days	Country Liberal	Letts	Jock Nelson (1973–1975)
									None (1975–1978)
2		Paul Everingham MLA for Jingili (born 1943)	1977	13 August 1977	30 June 1978	321 days	Country Liberal	Everingham
									John England (1978–1981)

From 1978, the position was known as the chief minister:

No.	Portrait	Name Electoral division (Birth–death)	Election	Term of office			Political party	Ministry	Administrator
				Term start	Term end	Time in office
1		Paul Everingham MLA for Jingili (born 1943)	—	1 July 1978	15 October 1984	6 years, 106 days	Country Liberal	Everingham	John England (1978–1981)
			1980
									Eric Johnston (1981–1989)
			1983
2		Ian Tuxworth MLA for Barkly (1942–2020)	—	16 October 1984	13 May 1986	1 year, 209 days	Country Liberal	Tuxworth
3		Stephen Hatton MLA for Nightcliff (born 1948)	—	14 May 1986	12 July 1988	2 years, 59 days	Country Liberal	Hatton
			1987
4		Marshall Perron MLA for Fannie Bay (born 1942)	—	13 July 1988	24 May 1995	6 years, 315 days	Country Liberal	Perron
									James Muirhead (1989–1993)
			1990
									Austin Asche (1993–1997)
			1994
5		Shane Stone MLA for Port Darwin (born 1950)	—	25 May 1995	7 February 1999	3 years, 258 days	Country Liberal	Stone
			1997
									Neil Conn (1997–2000)
6		Denis Burke MLA for Brennan (born 1948)	—	8 February 1999	27 August 2001	2 years, 200 days	Country Liberal	Burke
									John Anictomatis (2000–2003)
7		Clare Martin MLA for Fannie Bay (born 1952)	2001	27 August 2001	26 November 2007	6 years, 91 days	Labor	Martin
									Ted Egan (2003–2007)
			2005
									Tom Pauling (2007–2011)
8		Paul Henderson MLA for Wanguri (born 1962)	—	26 November 2007	28 August 2012	4 years, 276 days	Labor	Henderson
			2008
									Sally Thomas (2011–2014)
9		Terry Mills MLA for Blain (born 1957)	2012	29 August 2012	13 March 2013	196 days	Country Liberal	Mills
10		Adam Giles MLA for Braitling (born 1973)	—	14 March 2013	30 August 2016	3 years, 169 days	Country Liberal	Giles
									John Hardy (2014–2017)
11		Michael Gunner MLA for Fannie Bay (born 1976)	2016	31 August 2016	13 May 2022	5 years, 255 days	Labor	Gunner
									Vicki O'Halloran (2017–2023)
			2020
12		Natasha Fyles MLA for Nightcliff (born 1978)	—	13 May 2022	21 December 2023	1 year, 222 days	Labor	Fyles
									Hugh Heggie (since 2023)
13		Eva Lawler MLA for Drysdale	—	21 December 2023	Incumbent	119 days	Labor	Lawler