Adam Giles

Adam Graham Giles (né Romer; born 10 April 1973 ) is an Australian former politician and former Chief Minister of the Northern Territory (2013–2016) as well as the former leader of the Country Liberal Party (CLP) in the unicameral Northern Territory Parliament.

Giles is the first Indigenous Australian to serve as a head of government in Australia.

His grandmother discovered that she had indigenous ancestry during the 1980s, but has said she did not regard herself as Aboriginal.

When his parents split up, Adam's mother remarried, and he took his surname from his stepfather.

Giles studied accounting and real estate after leaving Blaxland High School, working in property management before moving into public housing management for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC).

He then moved to Canberra to work in the Australian Public Service as a social and economic policy advisor for the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (2001–2007), and was the Liberal Party candidate for Fraser in the 2004 federal election.

As a member of the Northern Territory's Indigenous Economic Taskforce, Giles travelled and worked throughout the Territory before settling in Alice Springs.

There he stood as a CLP candidate for Lingiari at the 2007 federal election, losing to Labor incumbent Warren Snowdon.

Giles became a CLP member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly seat of Braitling at the 2008 election.

Following the retirement of Loraine Braham, the CLP-turned-independent member for the Alice Springs-based seat of Braitling, Giles was preselected as CLP candidate for the 2008 Northern Territory election.

He won with 2,052 primary votes, or with 70% (2,475 votes) after preferences were distributed—thus reverting Braitling to its traditional status as a comfortably safe CLP seat.

The Terry Mills-led CLP opposition defeated the Paul Henderson-led Labor government at the 2012 election, winning 16 of 25 seats.

Following the 2012 Northern Territory election, Giles became the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government.

Another poll conducted for Northern Territory News a week before the writs were issued showed the CLP on 36 percent of the two-party vote—a swing of over 20 percent from 2012.

Giles was elected by the CLP party room to replace Mills as Chief Minister and CLP leader less than a year later at the 2013 CLP leadership ballot.

Giles replaced Terry Mills as Chief Minister of the Northern Territory and party leader at the 2013 CLP leadership ballot on 13 March while Mills was on a trade mission in Japan.

Giles was sworn in as Chief Minister on 14 March, becoming the first indigenous head of government of an Australian state or territory.

When the CLP introduced mandatory alcohol rehabilitation for recidivist problem drinkers to replace a banned drinker register, Giles dismissed critics of the policy as "lefty welfare-orientated people".

Giles was defeated at the 2015 CLP leadership ballot but managed to survive in the aftermath.

Multiple defections saw the CLP reduced to minority government a few months later.

Willem Westra van Holthe challenged Giles at the 2015 CLP leadership ballot on 2 February and was elected leader by the party room in a late-night vote conducted by phone.

However, Giles refused to resign as Chief Minister following the vote.

On 3 February, ABC News reported that officials were preparing an instrument that would allow the Administrator to use his reserve power to sack Giles and commission Westra van Holthe in his place.

The swearing-in of Westra van Holthe, which had been scheduled for 11:00 local time (01:30 UTC), was delayed.

After a meeting of the parliamentary wing of the CLP, Giles announced that he would remain as party leader and Chief Minister, with Westra van Holthe as his deputy.

After four defections during the parliamentary term including Kezia Purick, Alison Anderson, Larisa Lee and Robyn Lambley, the CLP was reduced to minority government by July 2015.

Giles raised the possibility of an early election on 20 July stating that he would "love" to call a snap poll, but that it was "pretty much impossible to do".

Crossbenchers dismissed the notion of voting against a confidence motion to bring down the government.

In October 2015, the then Country Liberal-controlled Northern Territory Government under Giles granted the Chinese-owned Landbridge Group company a 99-year lease for A$506 million of Port Darwin.

Concerns have been expressed over this leasing arrangement due its strategic significance, Landbridge being owned by a billionaire with close ties to the Chinese Communist Party, and the port being adjacent to facilities in active use by both Australian and U.S. military forces.

For instance, a poll conducted by ReachTEL and commissioned by The Australian which surveyed 1036 residents via robocall on the afternoon of Sunday 1 March 2015 across all 18 electorates in Darwin, Palmerston and Alice Springs–almost three-fourths of the legislature–indicated a landslide 17.6% two-party swing against the incumbent CLP government since the last election.

At the 2016 election on 27 August, his government was heavily defeated by the Labor Party, suffering the worst defeat of a sitting government in Territory history.

Giles also lost his seat of Braitling to Labor, becoming the second sitting head of government in the Northern Territory to lose his own seat.

Legislation passed in February 2016 changed the voting method of single-member electorates from full-preferential voting to optional preferential voting.

The 2016 election was held on 27 August.

The CLP went into the election as a decided underdog.

Polls showed the CLP in danger of losing seats where it had never been seriously threatened.

After leaving politics, Giles has hosted a Sunday night current affairs program, The Adam Giles Show, on Sky News Australia since May 2018.

Giles was born Adam Graham Romer in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney.

His mother is Anglo-Saxon and his father was descended from the Kamilaroi people through Giles' grandmother.