NT chief minister Gunner chooses family over politics and unexpectedly resigns

It’s not often a leader delivers a budget speech in which they also announce their retirement, but Michael Gunner did just that this morning.

NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner with his family after resigning (Image: (AAP/Aaron Bunch)

Northern Territory chief minister Michael Gunner, one of NT Labor’s most successful leaders, has announced his resignation after delivering his latest budget, saying his heart is no longer in the job and he wants to spend more time with his young family.

Gunner intends to stay on as an MP but has expressed no interest in a ministerial portfolio.

The 46-year-old has a two-year old and his second son was born in April. He says he is unable to give 100% to the job and anything less was “short-changing” Territorians.

“There is never a perfect time to step back, to walk away, to give others a go,” he said. “But for me, for my family, this feels like the right time.”

He had a heart attack immediately before the pandemic in 2020.

Gunner cemented the ALP as the natural party of government in the NT after ousting a shambolic, deeply divided Country Liberal government in 2016.

Labor’s Clare Martin had broken the CLP stranglehold on the Top End in 2001 but the CLP had returned to power in 2012. In 2016 Gunner virtually obliterated the conservative party, leaving it with just two seats, and won convincingly again in 2020 on the back of his successful handling of the pandemic.

With a replacement to be chosen by the ALP caucus later this week, it’s unclear what impact Gunner’s departure might have on the federal election. Both Lingiari (vacated by Labor’s Warren Snowdon) and Solomon (held by Labor’s Luke Gosling) are considered up for grabs.