{"id":425095,"date":"2026-01-20T08:48:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T08:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/425095\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T08:48:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T08:48:16","slug":"three-federal-politicians-demand-incoming-nt-administrator-david-connolly-apologise-for-offensive-posts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/425095\/","title":{"rendered":"Three federal politicians demand incoming NT administrator David Connolly apologise for ‘offensive’ posts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Past social media posts by the incoming Northern Territory administrator have been labelled “reprehensible” and “offensive” by a trio of federal politicians, who have also demanded he apologise for his comments.<\/p>\n

Warning: This story contains content that may offend some readers.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, three Labor representatives \u2014 Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy and NT-based MPs Marion Scrymgour and Luke Gosling \u2014 released a joint statement in response to David Connolly’s past X (formerly Twitter) posts, which have emerged in the media in recent days.<\/p>\n

Those posts include comments on Indigenous Australians, female athletes and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.<\/p>\n

Some of the posts from Mr Connolly’s recently-deleted X account have been labelled “racist” by Northern Land Council chair Matthew Ryan<\/a>, while others have sparked concern about Mr Connolly’s level of political neutrality and views about women<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Land council ‘appalled’ at ‘racist’ tweets by incoming administrator<\/a><\/p>\n

David Connolly is set to be sworn in as NT administrator next month, but the emergence of past social media posts have led to calls for his appointment to be blocked.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr Connolly was nominated by Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro in December to be the NT’s administrator \u2014 a position equivalent to a state governor, which is supposed to be politically neutral.<\/p>\n

He is scheduled to be sworn into the role next month.<\/p>\n

In their joint statement, the three politicians called Mr Connolly’s past social posts as “reprehensible and offensive”.<\/p>\n

“He should apologise,” they said.<\/p>\n

“The NT administrator plays an important role in the functioning of our democracy.<\/p>\n

“More than that, they should stand as a unifying figure above party politics and represent all Territorians.”<\/p>\n

\"Chief<\/p>\n

NT Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro endorsed David Connolly for the administrator position last year. (Supplied: NT government)<\/p>\n

Mr Connolly released a statement on Monday in which he said it was never his “intention to cause offence”.<\/p>\n

“I fully understand and appreciate the expectations of the community and my role as administrator,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I have always been a fierce advocate for the bush and will now be a fierce advocate for all Territorians.<\/p>\n

“My former social media posts are exactly that, and were done at a time when having the honour and privilege of being the administrator was not even in my wildest dreams.”<\/p>\n

The NT’s Country Liberal Party government has said it does not have plans to reconsider Mr Connolly’s appointment, as has been suggested by the NT Labor opposition<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What did the social posts say?<\/p>\n

The X posts from Mr Connolly that have been reported in the media were made between 2020 and 2024.<\/p>\n

They included comments about Indigenous Australians that Mr Ryan has described as “appalling”.<\/a><\/p>\n

Those posts included criticism of elders being paid for Welcome to Country ceremonies, and of traditional Aboriginal burning practices.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

One thread on X included posts referencing the NRL team’s decision to cancel Welcome to Country ceremonies. (Source: NT Independent)<\/p>\n

Mr Connolly also claimed Indigenous people were fast-tracked in the medical system and joked that he was “indigenous to Australia”.<\/p>\n

\"Screenshots<\/p>\n

David Connolly previously made social media posts about Indigenous people and racial bias. (Source: NT Independent)<\/p>\n

In other posts centred on Mr Albanese, Mr Connolly described the prime minister a “boofhead”, and reposted a separate tweet with a caption describing the prime minister as the “largest arsehole in the world”.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

David Connolly reposted an image which labelled Anthony Albanese as having the “largest a***hole”. (Sourced: NT News)<\/p>\n

During the 2025 federal election campaign, Mr Connolly also shared a Liberal Party post spruiking its cost-of-living relief plan.<\/p>\n

\"Screenshots<\/p>\n

Old social media posts show David Connolly slamming Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and showing support for the Liberal Party. (Supplied: X)<\/p>\n

Speech from 2024 criticises Labor<\/p>\n

A 2024 speech Mr Connolly made while president of the NT Cattlemen’s Association (NTCA), at a conference held by the organisation in Alice Springs, also surfaced in the media on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

In it, he was critical of the Labor party and Mr Albanese, particularly in regards to the 2011 decision on live cattle exports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The Australian government banned live cattle exports in 2011, a decision Mr Connolly expressed criticism over. (Supplied:\u00a0Northern Territory Livestock Exporters Association)<\/p>\n

“Anthony Albanese lied when elected in saying that no matter how you voted, the government he led would respect all of the people every day,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Well, he was lying then and he continues to lie about this case today.<\/p>\n

“The action of this government on this issue are about power and about votes. It is a sordid, grubby little business.”<\/p>\n

When making remarks about the Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum, Mr Connolly described the prime minister’s conduct as “arrogant, ignorant, threatening and so wrong”.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Anthony Albanese campaigned in favour of the Voice to Parliament, but the referendum was ultimately unsuccessful. (ABC News: Bill Ormonde)<\/p>\n

Speaking about the 2024 NT election, Mr Connolly said the former Territory Labor government’s “soft policies on crime” and a “weak judiciary” were causing rising crime rates.<\/p>\n

He also referenced comments from former Labor chief minister Eva Lawler about crime being linked to Australia’s colonial history.<\/p>\n

“[Former NT] chief minister Lawler has stated ‘let’s not forget the history of Australia was built on us being colonised by a detention facility from England, so we have had young people in trouble with the law for the whole history of Australia’,” Mr Connolly said.<\/p>\n

“Hang on a minute. Let’s speak honestly about this for once. The main group of people perpetrating these criminal actions have been in Australia for 60,000 years.<\/p>\n

“The English didn’t send them here. They are the product of failed policy and a soft-on-crime attitude.”<\/p>\n

Former NTCA chief executive criticises appointment<\/p>\n

The NT News published a letter to the editor on Tuesday from former NTCA chief executive Ashley Manicaros, which called the appointment of Mr Connolly by Ms Finocchiaro a “career-ending move” for the chief minister.<\/p>\n

Mr Manicaros in 2021 settled a legal case against the NTCA over his sacking<\/a>, receiving $25,000 after mediation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Ashley Manicaros says David Connolly’s appointment could have implications for the chief minister. (Facebook: Northern Territory Cattlemen’s Association)<\/p>\n

“My dislike of Mr Connolly is deeply personal, and I openly acknowledge it,” Mr Manicaros said in the letter.<\/p>\n

“The very real problem for the chief minister, and none of her staff would have the courage to say it, is that should more stories surface or he messes up with a ‘hot microphone’ or ‘inappropriate comment’ after he’s sworn in then Lia [Finocchiaro] will suffer the consequences.<\/p>\n

“She will be held responsible with her job.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Past social media posts by the incoming Northern Territory administrator have been labelled “reprehensible” and “offensive” by a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":425096,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2324,76356,64,63,35264,223316,222683,1788,44,1098,183359,17188,223317,223319,223320,6895,2966,223318,1314],"class_list":["post-425095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-anthony-albanese","tag-apology","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-clp-government","tag-dave-connolly","tag-david-connolly","tag-labor","tag-news","tag-nt","tag-nt-administrator","tag-nt-government","tag-old-tweets","tag-political-bias","tag-pressure-to-apologise","tag-prime-minister","tag-racism","tag-resurfaced-tweets","tag-social-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}