Four weeks after putting her hand up to be the Territory’s next chief minister, Nicole Manison has announced she will retire from politics at the August election to spend more time with her family, telling ABC Radio on Monday that she has not had discussions about future jobs to date, but left the door open.

“I’m hoping whatever I do [post politics] that I continue working to make the Northern Territory a stronger place … but I certainly haven’t had any conversations about jobs, about offers, about things like that and right now I’m very much so focused on the Wanguri electorate,” she told ABC Radio.

While a popular local member, Ms Manison leaves behind a chaotic political legacy as the former minister for police during a crisis in leadership, as tourism minister following the COVID pandemic and as the former treasurer who oversaw substantial budget blowouts leading to record debt and deficit. Ms Manison was forced as treasurer to admit the Territory was in a financial crisis with no plan to fix its problems in late 2018.

After being moved out of those roles, Ms Manison most recently served as Minister for Mining and Industry where she reportedly endeared herself to the mining industry.

“Unfortunately for our industry, Nicole Manison has now decided to step down from cabinet,” Minerals Council NT chief executive Cathryn Tilmouth told the NT News late last month.

“We’re disappointed to lose her but respect her choices.”

Ms Manison said on Monday that she does not have a new job lined up, however many political observers expect one will come with industry. According to the ministerial code of conduct, ministers must wait six months before taking a job in an industry connected to their portfolio, which Michael Gunner did in 2022 before taking a job with Fortescue Future Industries along with some of his ministerial advisers.

Ms Manison was foiled by her caucus colleagues in two attempts to become chief minister in the last two years. She first attempted to replace Michael Gunner in May 2022, but her caucus colleagues voted for Natasha Fyles, with Ms Manison being offered the opportunity to stay on as deputy chief minister.

When Ms Fyles resigned just before Christmas following a series of stories in the NT Independent about secret shares, undisclosed conflicts of interest and questionable hiring practices of advisers with links to the gas industry, Ms Manison issued a public statement while on holiday in Bali hours later, indicating her intention to run for chief minister as the most “experienced” member. But party sources said the move was “politically naive” and “would have angered caucus with its arrogance”, before she had the numbers.

One party source at the time said recent poor polling figures and a desire to wipe the slate from the “disastrous Gunner years” would have also driven caucus members to back Eva Lawler over Ms Manison, as well as anger over the recent Cabinet reshuffle, their own “self-interest” and different political deals made in the caucus room for the leadership.

On Tuesday, December 19, Ms Manison had said she wanted to be chief minister but the next day claimed she was leaving Cabinet to put her family “first”, following caucus’s vote to install Ms Lawler as chief minister. She again said on Monday she was leaving to spend more time with her husband and three young children.

Sources at the time of the leadership spill said she had threatened to leave the party if she was not selected as leader.

Asked by ABC Breakfast presenter Adam Steer if she would have stayed in politics if she had been selected as chief minister, Ms Manison took a long pause before responding.

“What I will say Adam is that we’ve got a new Chief Minister in Eva and I really do mean this: I think she is going to do a fantastic job,” she said.

Ms Manison was first appointed deputy chief minister by Mr Gunner following Labor’s landslide 2016 election victory. Her decision to leave politics at the next election ends the Gunner power base in Territory Labor that was responsible for the last seven-plus years of political turmoil, however Ms Fyles indicated during her resignation speech that she would seek re-election in Nightcliff at the next election.

Manison leaves chequered past as minister

Ms Manison told Nine News Darwin on Friday that she did not “get everything 100 per cent right” as a minister, but was not asked to elaborate, and said she had made all her decisions in the best interests of Territorians “with integrity and honesty”.

During her time in office, Ms Manison was one of a number of Labor MLAs who charged taxpayers for the Australian Institute of Company Directors course but did not finish the program, despite costing thousands of dollars to fly interstate for the week of training.

As Treasurer, she also signed off on the creation of the failed $200 million Infrastructure Development Fund that was intended to attract private investment to the Territory but had instead made only one investment in the failed NT Beverages water bottling company that went bankrupt months after receiving more than $10 million of taxpayer money that has never been recouped or properly investigated.

She also oversaw ongoing turmoil in the NT Police while minister that the former head of the police union described as a “crisis” with low morale and record attrition rates following the charging of then-constable Zach Rolfe with murder in the Yuendumu shooting incident in 2019.

Ms Manison also appears to be leaving politics with unanswered questions about when she first became aware of former Labor party secretary Kent Rowe’s historical sexual assault of a young female relative spanning many years.

Nicole Manison and Kent Rowe at undated Labor event. (Photo: Facebook).

Rowe was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison in November 2022 for his crimes. Ms Manison claimed in Parliament in late 2022 that she only became aware of his crimes “when the media reported on it”.

However, Ms Manison was police minister at the time Rowe was first arrested and political insiders say procedure is to prepare a brief for the minister about a politically sensitive matter involving a prominent political figure like Rowe being charged. Media could not report his name until he was committed to stand trial.

It was also revealed during Rowe’s trial that Ms Manison’s brother Luke Manison was made aware of Rowe’s sex crimes in 2013 – four months after Ms Manison was first elected as the Member for Wanguri following Paul Henderson’s retirement.

Rowe had worked closely with Ms Manison and Mr Manison to get her elected just four months earlier and was later promoted to the position of party secretary.

Ms Manison’s former electorate officer wrote a reference letter for Rowe ahead of sentencing for his sex crimes against a child to help him get a reduced sentence.

She has repeatedly refused to answer questions about the Rowe matter.

Ms Manison said on Monday that she was announcing her departure now to provide Territory Labor time to campaign in the electorate with their new candidate, but did not say who that would be, stating preselection would be decided by the party.

“I’ve made the decision to finish up now, to announce that I’m gonna go, because I wanted to give that new candidate as much time to knock on the doors as possible,” she told ABC Radio. “And I’m looking forward to joining them and hitting the doors so I can say thanks and farewell to all of my amazing constituents as well.”

She added it would most likely be her last ABC Radio interview, but said “you know, maybe after August, we’ll see what I end up doing”.