{"id":506229,"date":"2026-02-26T22:21:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T22:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/506229\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T22:21:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T22:21:12","slug":"newly-uncovered-posts-from-nt-administrator-david-connolly-labelled-denigrating-of-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/506229\/","title":{"rendered":"Newly uncovered posts from NT Administrator David Connolly labelled ‘denigrating of women’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Newly uncovered past social media posts from incoming Northern Territory Administrator David Connolly have been labelled as “denigrating of women” and of a nature that “trivialises sexual violence”.<\/p>\n

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

The series of posts from 2019 and 2020, unearthed by the ABC from Mr Connolly’s now-deleted X (formerly Twitter) account, show him engaging with a post appearing to make light of drugging women and using disparaging, gendered language.<\/p>\n

It comes after dozens of other past posts from Mr Connolly were reported in the media in recent weeks, including criticisms of Indigenous cultural practices and women in sport \u2014 some of which have been labelled “racist”<\/a> and offensive to women<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Letter calls for PM to ‘urgently rescind’ NT administrator pick<\/a><\/p>\n

Politicians, advocates and civil society leaders have made a last-ditch plea for Anthony Albanese to intervene ahead of the swearing-in of incoming NT administrator David Connolly.<\/p>\n

The ABC contacted Mr Connolly for comment about the newly discovered posts on Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Later that night he issued an apology in which he said he deeply regretted his past social media posts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“I am genuinely sorry for the hurt they may have caused members of the community. These posts are no reflection of my personal core values,” he said in the statement.<\/p>\n

But women’s advocates have said his apology does not go far enough and that his position as administrator is “untenable”.<\/p>\n

In one newly uncovered post from late 2019, while in conversation with another user of X (formerly Twitter), Mr Connolly said he had a “relaxinf [sic] effect on women”.<\/p>\n

The other user replied: “giving chicks Rohypnal [sic] in there [sic] drinks, isn’t a relaxing effect DC”.<\/p>\n

Mr Connolly ended the thread by adding: “Haha busted!!!!”.<\/p>\n

\"Screenshots<\/p>\n

David Connolly made the comments in conversation with other users on social media. (Source: X)<\/p>\n

In another post\u00a0from 2019, Mr Connolly\u00a0shared a picture of a road train, accompanied by the words: “More a ‘Lusty Wench’ than a ‘big slut'”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

David Connolly referred to a truck as a “big slut” in this 2019 post. (Source: X)<\/p>\n

In a third post, Mr Connolly wrote: “I’ve been to Twitter Jail. Wasn’t too bad, food was okay, no man on man love, soft pillows.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

David Connolly tweeted about being in “Twitter Jail” in another 2019 post. (Source: X)<\/p>\n

Mr Connolly will be sworn in as NT administrator \u2014 a role equivalent to a state governor \u2014 on Friday.<\/p>\n

Women’s advocates slam posts\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chay Brown, a specialist domestic, family and sexual violence researcher based in Alice Springs, said the comments in the newly uncovered posts were “denigrating of women”.<\/p>\n

“It indicates that Mr Connolly perceives women as being less than,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I think if anyone claims it’s a joke, I’d like them to explain to me what is funny about making light of sexual assault and rape.”\"A<\/p>\n

Chay Brown says there’s nothing funny about sexual assault. (ABC News: Xavier Martin)<\/p>\n

Dr Brown said Mr Connolly’s comments failed to consider the scale of the domestic violence crisis in the territory<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“We can’t be a jurisdiction with a head of state that makes light of sexual assault,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I think it just pulls the entire government’s credibility into question.”<\/p>\n

Chief executive of the Katherine Women’s Information and Legal Service, Hannah George, said the posts were “harmful” and “particularly troubling when associated with someone appointed to high public office”.<\/p>\n

Controversial NT administrator apologises<\/a><\/p>\n

Just a day\u00a0before being sworn in as the Northern Territory\u2019s new representative for King Charles III, NT Administrator David Connolly has apologised over a social media furore.<\/p>\n

“Language that trivialises sexual violence or demeans women does not exist in a vacuum,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It reinforces harmful attitudes, normalises disrespect, and contributes to the broader cultural conditions in which gendered violence is allowed to persist.”<\/p>\n

Ms George urged “all public figures to reflect on the influence of their words and to contribute to a culture that supports the safety, dignity and rights of women and girls”.<\/p>\n

Dr Brown said Mr Connolly’s apology did not go far enough and had arrived far too late.<\/p>\n

“I welcome the apology as a first step in acknowledging the harm he has caused to Territorians, but I believe his position is untenable,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Despite his protestations, I absolutely believe he has shown us who he is.”<\/p>\n

Governor-general pleased with ‘full apology’<\/p>\n

This morning, Governor-General Sam Mostyn, who will attend Mr Connolly’s swearing-in on Friday, said she was pleased to see he had given a “full apology”.<\/p>\n

“I read the administrator’s comments and I thought it was a very good thing that he had done,” she told ABC Radio Darwin.<\/p>\n

\"Sam<\/p>\n

Governor-General Sam Mostyn will attend Mr Connolly’s swearing-in. (Supplied: Prime Minister’s Office)<\/p>\n

“I think he understands, going into this role, that he has to be a very different person in the role than he might have been before, and anyone stepping into vice-regal roles actually learns that.”<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, a group of politicians, advocates and community groups wrote to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese asking him to “urgently rescind” the appointment<\/a> of Mr Connolly.<\/p>\n

NT Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro has consistently defended Mr Connolly’s nomination, saying on Tuesday the appointment had been politically weaponised by the opposition and crossbench.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Newly uncovered past social media posts from incoming Northern Territory Administrator David Connolly have been labelled as “denigrating…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":425096,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[254218,64,63,222683,254215,39043,30376,44,183359,254216,239403,254219,254217,72333],"class_list":["post-506229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-administrator-appointment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-david-connolly","tag-david-connolly-administrator","tag-domestic-violence","tag-lia-finocchiaro","tag-news","tag-nt-administrator","tag-nt-administrator-tweets","tag-nt-politics","tag-racist-tweets","tag-sexist-tweets","tag-sexual-violence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506229","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=506229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506229\/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=506229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=506229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=506229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}