{"id":468484,"date":"2026-02-09T12:45:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T12:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/468484\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T12:45:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T12:45:14","slug":"greens-politician-kat-mcnamara-quits-nt-parliament-18-months-after-historic-nightcliff-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/468484\/","title":{"rendered":"Greens politician Kat McNamara quits NT parliament 18 months after historic Nightcliff win"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first Greens politician in the Northern Territory parliament is quitting 18 months after being elected to the seat of Nightcliff.<\/p>\n

Kat McNamara is leaving the role effectively immediately due to “ongoing health challenges”, according to a statement released on Monday.<\/p>\n

“I have made the extraordinarily difficult decision to resign as the member for Nightcliff,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I cannot stress enough how difficult this decision has been to come to.<\/p>\n

“It has been an enormous privilege to serve the people of Nightcliff and to be the first Greens member elected to the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“This has been something beyond my wildest dreams, and I have shouldered the immense responsibility of the role with pride every day.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Kat McNamara won the seat of Nightcliff in the August 2024 NT election, marking the Greens first win in the NT. (ABC News: Andie Smith)<\/p>\n

McNamara said she could no longer give the job her all.<\/p>\n

“I am someone that likes to commit 150 per cent to everything I do,” she said.<\/p>\n

“This community deserves to continue to have someone who can give them that, and unfortunately, I cannot anymore.<\/p>\n

“As anyone in parliament will tell you, the responsibility of the role bears a significant toll on us all, particularly for those of us with young children.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Kat McNamara has been vocal on environmental and integrity issues, and also spoke out about the NT’s new administrator. (ABC News: Pete Garnish)<\/p>\n

During her time in parliament, McNamara has championed environmental<\/a> and integrity issues<\/a>.<\/p>\n

McNamara also called for a ban<\/a> on gifts from corporate bookmakers to members of the NT’s gambling commission.<\/p>\n

She was one of seven crossbench and opposition MLAs who walked out of Question Time last week<\/a> in protest over the appointment of David Connolly as NT administrator.<\/p>\n

In October, McNamara was referred to the privileges committee for an investigation into the alleged misuse of an electorate office for electioneering.<\/p>\n

The referral from the CLP government came one day after McNamara brought a parliamentary censure motion against Deputy Chief Minister Gerard Maley, for alleged disrespect, aggression and intimidation against women in the chamber.<\/p>\n

\"Kat<\/p>\n

Kat McNamara was banned from NT Parliament for 24 hours, after protesting the government’s administrator appointment. (ABC News: Pete Garnish)<\/p>\n

McNamara’s exit will trigger a by-election in the Darwin-based Nightcliff seat, one of the territory’s most progressive.<\/p>\n

Nightcliff was held by Labor for 24 consecutive years, before McNamara beat former chief minister Natasha Fyles to win it for the Greens in 2024.<\/p>\n

The by-election will be the first test for Labor Opposition Leader Selena Uibo since the party was thumped at the 2024 election.<\/p>\n

Labor was left with just four remote-based seats in the 25-seat parliament.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

In her statement, Kat McNamara said she hopes the next member for Nightcliff will reflect the electorate’s “progressive” character. (ABC News: Pete Garnish)<\/p>\n

In her statement, McNamara said she hoped her successor honoured the progressive “values and spirit” of the electorate.<\/p>\n

“Nightcliff is uniquely progressive, engaged, and full of hope, and must be represented by someone who truly listens and is led by this community,” she said.<\/p>\n

“That is something I have strived to do every day as the member for Nightcliff, and I hope that my successor honours the values and spirit of this wonderful place.”<\/p>\n

‘Paved the way’<\/p>\n

NT Greens party convenor Jonathan Parry said McNamara had made an “enormous contribution” to the Nightcliff electorate.<\/p>\n

Greens make history with first NT politician<\/a><\/p>\n

The Greens are set to claim an historic victory in the Northern Territory election, winning their first ever territory seat in what was once Labor’s safest electorate.<\/p>\n

“Supporting and listening to constituents, hosting regular community dinners, film nights, policy information sessions, and starting Nightcliff’s first community pantry,” he said.<\/p>\n

“In parliament, they have been a strong advocate for climate action, gambling reform, integrity, social justice, renters’ rights, and for raising awareness of the ongoing genocide in Palestine.<\/p>\n

“They have re-imagined what it means to be a member of the Legislative Assembly and have paved the way for strong progressive representation into the future.”<\/p>\n

NT Speaker Robyn Lambley said the NT’s acting administrator and chief minister had been advised of McNamara’s resignation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first Greens politician in the Northern Territory parliament is quitting 18 months after being elected to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":468485,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,239398,38323,239399,239396,44,239400,239401,239397,239404,239403,239402],"class_list":{"0":"post-468484","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-australian-greens","11":"tag-by-election","12":"tag-greens-mla","13":"tag-kat-mcnamara","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-nightcliff-darwin","16":"tag-nt-by-election","17":"tag-nt-greens","18":"tag-nt-greens-mla","19":"tag-nt-politics","20":"tag-quitting-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468484","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=468484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/468485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}