Speculation Chief Minister Natasha Fyles will announce a Cabinet reshuffle later this week was kicked into overdrive after Federal Labor Member for Solomon Luke Gosling let slip on radio that “change is coming” involving “new leadership within the NT team”.

Multiple sources have also told the NT Independent the reshuffle will happen on Friday, following this week’s parliamentary sittings.

The reshuffle would come 10 months out from the Territory general election scheduled for August 24, and comes 17 months after Ms Fyles became leader of the scandal-plagued Labor Government that has not been able to find much clear air amid an out-of-control crime crisis, a lagging economy, staggering debt and overall integrity issues with Ms Fyles and her Cabinet colleagues.

Mr Gosling was on Mix 104.9 on Tuesday discussing alcohol and crime policies when he was asked about the NT Government ignoring frontline police’s calls for more powers for dealing with problem drinkers. He said frontline workers should always be listened to before ending the interview by suggesting “new leadership within the NT Team” was coming.

“Let’s see what the government comes up with. It’s not the end of the year. As I understand it, there is change coming,” he said.

“There’s some new leadership within the NT team that are really listening to the community and saying they expect change…”

One source told the NT Independent the reshuffle amounted to “clearing the decks ahead of the election, which provides Fyles with a fresh-look”.

Beleaguered Police Minister Kate Worden and Attorney General Chanston Paech are tipped to be demoted from their senior portfolios, sources said.

Ms Worden has overseen what the NT Police Association has described as a “complete crisis” in police, while also struggling to get a grip on the crime crisis, which made national headlines in January after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was forced to attend Alice Springs for crisis talks.

The crime issues in Alice Springs were widely understood to be the result of the removal of the Stronger Futures Legislation with nothing to replace it, which party insiders say was Mr Paech’s call. The Fyles Government repeatedly called the bans on alcohol in remote communities “racist policy” but were forced to reinstate the bans by the Prime Minister.

Mr Paech, who is also Local Government Minister, has also faced recent criticism for his delay in sacking the Barkly Regional Council after learning about dysfunction and chaos in the council last year, but not moving to address the problems until last week.

Widely expected to finally be given a portfolio in the reshuffle is backbench Member for Johnston, Joel Bowden, who was first elected in a by-election in February 2020, which sources said would appease the left faction of the party who have turned sour on Ms Fyles.

It is unclear whether political neophyte and backbencher Brent Potter – who was preselected through a captain’s pick for the Fannie Bay by-election last year by Ms Fyles, as his sister-in-law is Ms Fyles’s chief of staff – will be promoted.

It was also unclear what might be done with Business Minister Paul Kirby, Environment Minister Lauren Moss and Aboriginal Affairs and Local Decision Making Minister Selena Uibo, who have all failed to make any great strides in their portfolios.

Treasurer, Education and Infrastructure Minister Eva Lawler could be moved out of her powerful portfolios after a lacklustre performance in the roles, sources said, with speculation that could lead to her not seeking re-election in August. Ms Lawler was recently under fire nationally after a series of stories by The Australian explored the crumbling state of the NT’s remote education system.

Calls for a reshuffle have been coming for weeks, including by Federal Labor Member for Lingiari Marion Scrymgour who last week called for a “fundamental shift” in how the Fyles Government’s ministers undertake their roles in the wake of the Voice referendum failing and the NT being held up as a failed state.

“There’s got to be some fundamental shifts and the NT Cabinet ministers are elected to listen and to act on behalf of Territorians,” she said last week.

“I think that [they] have stopped listening and acting and they will get cranky with me for [saying] that, but I think that all of us are not above criticism.”

Ms Fyles promised Territorians she would “put my own mark on the role” when the Labor caucus elected her as Chief Minister following Michael Gunner’s resignation in May 2022, but many have criticised her for following Mr Gunner’s vision for the Territory too closely, including moving ahead with the controversial Middle Arm industrial precinct, which upset the left faction of the party.

She also raised eyebrows by recently hiring Mr Gunner’s former campaign adviser Gerard Richardson 12 months out from the election under a mysterious contract which was widely seen as part of a political rebrand for Ms Fyles.

Ms Fyles indicated recently that she would be leaving the health portfolio, but it was unclear what portfolios she might give herself in the reshuffle.

Political analysts suggested that Ms Fyles’s address to the National Press Club in August was the start of her hitting the “reset button” on her chief ministership.

Ms Fyles’s office did not respond to a request for comment about the reshuffle.