Chief Minister Natasha Fyles has resigned following the NT Independent revealing her secret shareholdings in the company that runs the Groote Eylandt manganese mine, which she refused as Health Minister to investigate earlier this year after health issues suspected to be related to the mine were raised by Indigenous Territorians.

Ms Fyles told the public last month that she had declared all conflicts of interest and shareholdings on her public register, however the NT Independent viewed copies of the South32 share register last week that showed she had 754 shares in the company worth less than $2500 that she had not publicly disclosed, breaching various rules for politicians.

Ms Fyles flew back from Sydney Tuesday morning amid mounting pressure from her Labor party room, with members reportedly counting the numbers to roll her as leader.

She said at a press conference this afternoon that the failure to disclose the South32 shares was an “oversight” after BHP created the company as a spinoff in 2015, which gave Ms Fyles the shares as she was a BHP shareholder.

“[The failure to disclose] was an error on my behalf, and I don’t have any excuse,” she said. “It was not deliberate, it was not intentional, but it’s unacceptable.

“I can assure Territorians that no decision I’ve ever made has been influenced by that small shareholding, but high standards are expected from people holding high office, as they should be. It is clear that I failed to meet the standards that I set for myself and I’m not going to make any excuse for that.

“I believe the honourable course of action is to resign as Chief Minister.”

Ms Fyles said she would formally leave the role on Thursday, but did not explain why she was sticking around for two days. She also said she would remain the Member for Nightcliff.

“I care too much about the Territory,” she said. “And after a short break in the new year, I will return as a fierce and forceful member of the Territory Labor team and get back to my first job in politics.”

She added she would seek re-election for the seat at next August’s election.

Her resignation as chief minister has now officially kicked off factional warfare within Territory Labor for the next leader, with the right faction backing Deputy Chief Minister Nicole Manison and the left faction backing Infrastructure Minister Joel Bowden and possibly Attorney General Chanston Paech.

If a new leader cannot be chosen unanimously, the party would have to go through a long process to elect the next leader through a vote that includes the party’s rank-and-file.

Ms Fyles came under fire last month, when the NT Independent first revealed that she had shares in Woodside Energy that created a conflict of interest, with Woodside having interests in a carbon capture and storage facility at the proposed Middle Arm industrial precinct, which Ms Fyles had promoted across the country at taxpayer expense.

She first defended those shares before divesting them after growing pressure.

She also found herself facing scrutiny over her senior adviser Gerard Richardson’s consultancy company being the registered lobbyist for Tamboran Resources, a gas company the Fyles Government pre-approved to frack the Beetaloo Basin and the company the government offered land to at Middle Arm for a proposed massive LNG plant.

Ms Fyles and Mr Richardson were referred to the ICAC by independent MLA Mark Turner last week for the conflicts of interest, as well as the murky contract under which Ms Fyles hired Mr Richardson with taxpayer money.

Leadership void creates uncertainty: Opposition

Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro said Ms Fyles’ resignation would mean “uncertainty and destabilization across our public service” until a new leader is chosen, adding that Labor ministers would now be more focused on fighting for their jobs and selecting a new leader than being focused on the problems facing Territorians.

“It is very clear to Territorians that Labor don’t have a plan and as they move forward onto their third chief minister, it shows that this government is more interested in jobs for themselves than in the job they are doing for Territorians,” she said.

Asked if she believed Ms Fyles’ failure to disclose the shares in South32 was an “oversight”, Ms Finocchiaro said Ms Fyles had a track record of misleading Territorians.

“What we know is that this is just one incident in a long series of behaviours from Natasha Fyles, where she has shown through her actions, that she is willing to mislead Territorians,” she said.

“This is a government that clearly is more focused on managing optics than it is on managing the Territory and all of the Territory indicators show that we’re worse off under Labor than we’ve ever been. Territorians are leaving, there’s a total lack of certainty.”

Ms Fyles was selected as chief minister in May 2022, following the resignation of Michael Gunner. She was in the role for 585 days, making her the second shortest-serving chief minister behind former CLP leader Terry Mills.