{"id":506637,"date":"2026-02-27T02:47:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T02:47:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/506637\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T02:47:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T02:47:17","slug":"protestor-arrested-as-nt-administrator-david-connolly-sworn-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/506637\/","title":{"rendered":"Protestor arrested as NT Administrator David Connolly sworn in"},"content":{"rendered":"

A man has been arrested amid chaotic scenes outside of the NT Parliament, where David Connolly has been sworn in as the jurisdiction’s new administrator.<\/p>\n

The role \u2014 which is the NT’s equivalent of a state governor \u2014 is meant to be politically neutral and gives Mr Connolly the ability to wield significant power<\/a>, but several community leaders and groups have publicly opposed the appointment.<\/p>\n

A group of at least 100 protesters gathered near NT Parliament in Darwin this morning, with shouts of “not my administrator” heard as Mr Connolly arrived ahead of the ceremony.<\/p>\n

Protest attendees included federal Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy, federal MP Marion Scrymgour, independent NT member for Mulka Yingiya Guyula, member for Johnston Justine Davis, NT Opposition Leader Selena Uibo and NT Deputy Opposition Leader Dheran Young.<\/p>\n

\"David<\/p>\n

David Connolly arrived at his swearing in at parliament house to a military brass band. (ABC News: Marcus Kennedy)<\/p>\n

NT police arrested Larrakia Traditional Owner Eric Fejo at the demonstration, where a red carpet had been rolled out to welcome officials to NT Parliament House.<\/p>\n

Mr Connolly was president of the NT Cattlemen’s Association from 2021 to 2024 then, in December last year, the Country Liberal Party announced him as their pick for the NT’s 24th administrator.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

The arrest took place during a protest outside NT Parliament. (ABC News: Matt Garrick)<\/p>\n

The appointment has been subject to controversy for more than a month, after old social media posts \u2014 dating back to 2019 \u2014 from Mr Connolly’s now-deleted X (formerly Twitter) account resurfaced in January<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Several NT politicians have questioned if the new administrator is fit for the politically-neutral job<\/a>, with some of the views previously expressed by Mr Connolly online since described by community leaders as “racist”<\/a> and “denigrating of women”<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"About<\/p>\n

Protesters gathered near NT Parliament in Darwin this morning, ahead of David Connolly being signed into the role. (ABC News: Jane Bardon)<\/p>\n

This week an open letter was penned to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese<\/a> by 23 concerned Territorians asking him to “urgently rescind” the controversial appointment, and earlier this month four Labor politicians and three crossbenchers staged an NT Parliament walk-out in protest<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Independent Indigenous politician Mr Guyula told the ABC he had not been invited to Mr Connolly’s swearing-in, while NT Opposition Leader Ms Uibo said she would boycott the ceremony \u2014 the chief minister said “an invitation wasn’t afforded” because the politicians had walked out<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Police<\/p>\n

Protesters were trying to intervene and stop the man’s arrest. (ABC News: Matt Garrick)<\/p>\n

An eleventh-hour apology was released publicly by Mr Connolly<\/a> just before 8:30pm on Wednesday evening, which said he “deeply regret the past social media posts” and had “never intended to cause offence”.<\/p>\n

Governor-General Sam Mostyn, who travelled to Darwin for Mr Connolly’s formal swearing-in ceremony, responded positively and said she was pleased to see his “full apology”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Loading…<\/p>\n

She told ABC Radio Darwin they pair had recently spoken about the “restraint required” of the role but said it would be “most inappropriate for me to offer a political or personal view” on his appointment.<\/p>\n

Ceremony continues despite protest<\/p>\n

Following an opening address by the Governor-General, NT Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro and a video from Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann AM, Mr Connolly began his first address as administrator by paying his respects to the Larrakia people \u2014 the traditional owners of the Darwin region.<\/p>\n

He said he had started his day with a sunrise saltwater Welcome to Country at Mindil Beach, a type of ceremony which one of Mr Connolly’s X posts from 2024 had previously criticised<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

David Connolly previously tweeted about an NRL team’s decision to cancel Welcome to Country ceremonies at games. (Source: NT Independent)<\/p>\n

Mr Connolly said he never aspired to be the administrator, or even thought he would be considered for the role.<\/p>\n

“The bell has been rung and I have answered the call,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I am a lot of things, and none of them perfect, but I am not one to step back when asked to step forward.”<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Governor-General Sam Mostyn travelled to Darwin for Mr Connolly’s swearing-in ceremony. (ABC News: Marcus Kennedy)<\/p>\n

Mr Connolly told NT Parliament that “fairness doesn’t require sameness” and said his focus now was “getting on with the job”.<\/p>\n

The new administrator said his work would be forward-looking with “impartiality and with respect and care for every Territorian.”<\/p>\n

The time a future NT administrator shoved a protester<\/a><\/p>\n

Nearly three years ago, a cattleman shoved an environmental activist. Now, one of them is the NT’s next administrator.<\/p>\n

In response to the controversy surrounding his appointment, Mr Connolly said: “Judge me not by the first headlines, but by the months and years of service to the NT and it’s people that I have committed to”.<\/p>\n

“I bring energy to this role because this territory deserves effort \u2014 not complacency, not noise for spectacle but for steady, purposeful work,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Above all I bring respect \u2014 respect for First Nations people and their enduring custodianship of this land for tens of thousands of years, respect for the law and our institutions that hold us together, respect for those who agree with me and those who do not.<\/p>\n

“And respect for every Territorian no matter where they live, how they vote, or how they see the world.”\"Chief<\/p>\n

NT Chief Minster Lia Finocchiaro has continued to back David Connolly despite backlash. (Supplied: NT government)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A man has been arrested amid chaotic scenes outside of the NT Parliament, where David Connolly has been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":506638,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[53605,45387,64,63,254389,223316,254386,222683,254388,44,1098,183359,2647,215533,254387,13323],"class_list":{"0":"post-506637","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-administrator","9":"tag-arrest","10":"tag-au","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-darwin-arrest","13":"tag-dave-connolly","14":"tag-david-connelly","15":"tag-david-connolly","16":"tag-deleted-tweets","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-nt","19":"tag-nt-administrator","20":"tag-protest","21":"tag-social-media-controversy","22":"tag-swearing-in","23":"tag-twitter"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506637","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=506637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506637\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/506638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=506637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=506637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=506637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}