Labor’s candidate for Wanguri Shlok Sharma has released a list of endorsements from high-profile Labor powerbrokers, including a couple who wrote a character reference letter for a convicted paedophile two years ago, a gas lobbyist with a secret client list and a fifth floor staffer who helped run Labor’s 2020 election campaign that misused taxpayer money.

The strange list of endorsements was circulated recently throughout the electorate, with no indication of the people’s links and history with the party, only photos of them, their names and their praise for the candidate.

But the endorsements have brought to the surface a recent dark chapter for Territory Labor, involving the 2022 conviction of former party secretary Kent Rowe for the repeated rape of a child over many years.

Mr Sharma included an endorsement from former Labor deputy chief minister Syd Stirling and his wife and long-time Labor electorate officer Jenny Djerrkura, who said they had “always been impressed by Shlok’s strong links to the community”.

“Shlok is a good bloke and will be a great local representative,” they said in the endorsement. “He is reliable and will look after our local seniors.”

The pair also wrote a character reference for convicted paedophile Kent Rowe in late 2022, to help him get a reduced sentence for the continued predatory rape of a female relative when she was a child over many years, which Chief Justice Michael Grant found Rowe had repeatedly lied about, failed to show any remorse for and that his actions had caused a “profound and longstanding impact” on the victim.

Ms Djerrkura wrote the letter to the courts on behalf of herself and Mr Stirling after the full graphic details of the offences were made public, to say the pair considered Rowe a friend who “deserves a second chance”, in part because of his “commitment and drive to the party and its members” and because he “gives so much to the community”.

Rowe was sentenced to five years in prison – suspended after two-and-a-half years – and is due to be released in March. Six months after the references were tendered in court for Rowe, the Labor Government passed laws banning character references for sex offenders by people seeking to assist them to get reduced sentences.

Shlok Sharma with Kent Rowe and Alasdair Henderson in happier times.

Mr Stirling and Ms Djerrkura have previously refused to explain their support for a convicted paedophile. Mr Stirling sits on the Remuneration Tribunal that determines politicians’ salaries and benefits and was appointed chair of Thoroughbred Racing NT by the Labor Government.

Questions around who in the party was aware of Rowe’s offending before he was charged in 2021 have also never been fully answered, however outgoing Member for Wanguri and former deputy chief minister Nicole Manison, who was also one of five party figures to endorse Mr Sharma, appeared to mislead Parliament in 2021 when she claimed she only knew about Rowe’s crimes when the media reported them.

She was Police Minister at the time Rowe was charged and it was revealed during the trial that her brother was made aware of the crimes when he and Rowe were helping Ms Manison get elected in Wanguri in 2013. The court also heard of an unidentified woman accusing Rowe of “inappropriate sexual behaviour” in 2016 – believed to be a Labor Party member – but Chief Justice Michael Grant said the conduct had fallen short of criminal.

Mr Sharma worked closely with Rowe on the 2016 and 2020 Labor election campaigns in his party backroom role and the two are close friends.

Gas lobbyist, fifth floor staffer also on list of Shlok endorsements

Mr Sharma’s list of party endorsements also included former chief minister and current gas lobbyist Paul Henderson, one of the key architects of the proposed Middle Arm industrial precinct, who has never disclosed his client list as a lobbyist, which is understood to include the biggest gas producers in the Northern Territory.

Both Labor and the CLP have pledged to introduce a lobbyist register if elected, in direct response to the issue involving Mr Henderson.

Independent candidate for Wanguri Graeme Sawyer said he wasn’t surprised Labor was attempting to use their own powerful figures to back one of their favourite candidates and to further their agenda.

“They only want to talk to the electorate to get elected so they can implement their agenda,” he said.

“It will be interesting to see if the community is as fed up as they appear to be and if that changes the way they vote.”

Mr Sharma rounded out his endorsement list with Chris Grace, who was quoted saying that Mr Sharma is a “true local who grew up in the area”.

The party would not say what Mr Grace’s campaign role is in this election, but in 2020 he identified himself as Labor’s “bush seats coordinator” in internal documents. The party and former chief minister Michael Gunner were investigated by the ICAC for three years over the use of taxpayer money during the caretaker period to fly Mr Gunner to remote communities in marginal electorates on polling days.

While the ICAC chose not to make adverse findings against the party or Mr Gunner citing confusion over caretaker rules and while disregarding overwhelming evidence of the misuse of public funds during the caretaker period, he pledged another report to the Chief Minister focused solely on Labor staffers’ misuse of public resources by June 30, but that report was never delivered.

Mr Grace is currently the community outreach officer in the Office of the Chief Minister on a hefty pay packet.

Mr Sharma was also endorsed by former fifth floor staffer and current Darwin alderman Vim Sharma.

Shlok Sharma did not answer questions about the people endorsing him – or if he supports a lobbyist register – but said in an email that they all have “a long time connection to the Wanguri electorate” and some had “also served in public life for many years”.