Name Paul Everingham | Nationality Australian | |
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Born 4 February 1943 (age 81) ( 1943-02-04 ) Books Toward Statehood: Alaska, Hawaii and the Northern Territory : Address, Northern Territory of Australia 1982 Previous offices Member of the Australian Parliament (1984–1987), Chief Minister of the Northern Territory (1977–1984) | ||
Paul Anthony Edward Everingham AO (born 4 February 1943) was the head of government of the Northern Territory from 1977 to 1984, serving as the second and last Majority Leader (1977–1978) and the first Chief Minister of the Northern Territory from 1978 to 1984.
He was a member of the Country Liberal Party, representing the northern Darwin seat of Jingili in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly from 1974 to 1984. He briefly served as Deputy Majority Leader (the equivalent of a deputy premier in the states) under Goff Letts from 1974 to 1975. He remained on the backbench for the remainder of the First Assembly
Just months after being reelected to the legislature, he was named leader of the CLP and Majority Leader after Letts was unexpectedly defeated in his own electorate despite the CLP comfortably winning another term in government. He thus oversaw the transition to self-government, which occurred in 1978. At that time, he became Chief Minister with greatly expanded powers.
As the second and longest-serving head of government in the Territory, he led the CLP to comprehensive election victories in 1980 and 1983. During his tenure, the Northern Territory was essentially a one-party state; he never faced more than seven opposition MLAs.
In mid-1984, Everingham resigned as CLP leader and from the Legislative Assembly to seek election to the Australian House of Representatives as the member for the Division of Northern Territory. He won, and served from 1984 to 1987. He set a precedence in his time in the House of Representatives when he chose to sit with the Liberals. Federal CLP members had long been expected to sit with the Nationals, since the CLP has full voting rights with the Nationals and observer status with the Liberals. Since Everingham's tenure, however, subsequent CLP members of the House of Representatives have sat with the Liberals, but CLP Senators have continued to sit with the Nationals in the Senate.
After his time in the House of Represntatives, Everingham had a stint as President of the Queensland Liberal Party.