| Post: | Chief Minister |
| Body: | the Northern Territory |
| Insignia: | Northern Territory Coat of Arms.svg |
| Insigniasize: | 120px |
| Insigniacaption: | Coat of arms of the Northern Territory |
| Flag: | Flag of the Northern Territory.svg |
| Flagsize: | 120px |
| Flagcaption: | Flag of the Northern Territory |
| Incumbent: | Eva Lawler |
| Incumbentsince: | 21 December 2023 |
| Department: | Department of the Chief Minister |
| Style: | The Honourable |
| Status: | Head of government |
| Abbreviation: | CM |
| Reports To: | Parliament |
| Seat: | Darwin, Northern Territory |
| Appointer: | Administrator of the Northern Territory |
| Appointer Qualified: | by convention, based on appointee's ability to command confidence in the Legislative Assembly |
| Termlength: | At the Administrator's pleasure |
| Termlength Qualified: | contingent on the chief minister's ability to command confidence in the house of Parliament |
| Formation: | 1 July 1978 as chief minister |
| First: | 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.
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.
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:
| 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | Country Liberal | Tuxworth | ||||
| 3 | Stephen Hatton MLA for Nightcliff (born 1948) | — | 14 May 1986 | 12 July 1988 | Country Liberal | Hatton | ||||
| 1987 | ||||||||||
| 4 | Marshall Perron MLA for Fannie Bay (born 1942) | — | 13 July 1988 | 24 May 1995 | 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 | Country Liberal | Stone | ||||
| 1997 | ||||||||||
| Neil Conn (1997–2000) | ||||||||||
| 6 | Denis Burke MLA for Brennan (born 1948) | — | 8 February 1999 | 27 August 2001 | Country Liberal | Burke | ||||
| John Anictomatis (2000–2003) | ||||||||||
| 7 | Clare Martin MLA for Fannie Bay (born 1952) | 2001 | 27 August 2001 | 26 November 2007 | 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 | Labor | Henderson | ||||
| 2008 | ||||||||||
| Sally Thomas (2011–2014) | ||||||||||
| 9 | Terry Mills MLA for Blain (born 1957) | 2012 | 29 August 2012 | 13 March 2013 | Country Liberal | Mills | ||||
| 10 | Adam Giles MLA for Braitling (born 1973) | — | 14 March 2013 | 30 August 2016 | Country Liberal | Giles | ||||
| John Hardy (2014–2017) | ||||||||||
| 11 | Michael Gunner MLA for Fannie Bay (born 1976) | 2016 | 31 August 2016 | 13 May 2022 | Labor | Gunner | ||||
| Vicki O'Halloran (2017–2023) | ||||||||||
| 2020 | ||||||||||
| 12 | Natasha Fyles MLA for Nightcliff (born 1978) | — | 13 May 2022 | 21 December 2023 | Labor | Fyles | ||||
| Hugh Heggie (since 2023) | ||||||||||
| 13 | Eva Lawler MLA for Drysdale | — | 21 December 2023 | Incumbent | Labor | Lawler | ||||