Paul Everingham

Paul Anthony Edward Everingham AO (born 4 February 1943) was the head of government of the Northern Territory of Australia 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.[1]

Paul Everingham AO
Member of the Australian Parliament for Northern Territory
In office 1 December 1984 – 5 June 1987
Preceded by	John Reeves
Succeeded by	Warren Snowdon
1st Chief Minister of the Northern Territory
In office 1 July 1978 – 15 October 1984
Deputy	Marshall Perron (1978–1983) Nick Dondas (1983–1984)
Preceded by	Himself as Majority Leader
Succeeded by	Ian Tuxworth
2nd Majority Leader of the Northern Territory
In office 1977–1978
Deputy	Marshall Perron
Preceded by	Goff Letts
Succeeded by	Himself as Chief Minister
Member of the Northern Territory Parliament for Jingili
In office 19 October 1974 – 22 October 1984
Preceded by	First member
Succeeded by	Rick Setter
Personal details
Born	(1943-02-04) 4 February 1943 Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Political party	Country Liberal Party
Children	4 kids
Profession	Barrister, solicitor
Cabinet	Everingham Ministry

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.[2]

Just months after being re-elected 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.[3]

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 was initially heavily favoured against Labor incumbent John Reeves. However, Reeves significantly closed the gap during the campaign. On election day, the race was very close, but Everingham's first-count lead proved too much for Reeves to overcome. He was elected on the fourth count, winning by 1,800 votes.[4][5]

Everingham set a precedent during his single term in Canberra when he chose to sit with the Liberals. Federal CLP parliamentarians 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.[6]

Upon his election to Federal Parliament in December 1984 and reflecting on his service as Northern Territory Chief Minister, Everingham was immediately appointed to the Opposition frontbench by Liberal leader Andrew Peacock as Shadow Minister for Local Government and Northern Development.

He was a member of the Shadow Ministry until September 1985 when Peacock was replaced as Liberal leader by John Howard.[7]

After his time in the House of Representatives, Everingham had a stint as President of the Queensland Liberal Party from 1990 to 1994.

Everingham resigned as Queensland Liberal President in 1994 in abrupt circumstances.

Prior to his resignation Everingham had supported a merger of the Liberal and National Parties in Queensland but negotiations on this broke down. Liberal officials however denied this was the reason for his resignation.[8]

The two parties would eventually merge in 2008 into the Liberal National Party.