Chansey Paech | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 20thDeputy Chief Minister of the Northern Territory | |
| In office 21 December 2023 – 28 August 2024 | |
| Chief Minister | Eva Lawler |
| Preceded by | Nicole Manison |
| Succeeded by | Gerard Maley |
| Attorney-General of the Northern Territory | |
| In office 23 May 2022 – 28 August 2024 | |
| Chief Minister | Natasha Fyles Eva Lawler |
| Preceded by | Selena Uibo |
| Succeeded by | Gerard Maley |
| 12th Speaker of theNorthern Territory Legislative Assembly | |
| In office 23 June 2020 – 7 September 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Kezia Purick |
| Succeeded by | Ngaree Ah Kit |
| Member of theNorthern Territory Legislative Assembly forGwoja | |
| Assumed office 22 August 2020 | |
| Preceded by | New seat |
| Member of theNorthern Territory Legislative Assembly forNamatjira | |
| In office 27 August 2016 – 22 August 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Alison Anderson |
| Succeeded by | Bill Yan |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Chanston James Paech November 1987 (age 37–38) Alice Springs,Northern Territory, Australia |
| Political party | Labor Party |
Chanston James "Chansey"Paech (/ˈtʃænzipeɪk/,CHAN-zeePAYK; born 1987) is an Australian politician. He is aLabor Party member of theNorthern Territory Legislative Assembly since 2016, representing the electorate ofNamatjira until 2020 andGwoja thereafter. He is ofArrente, Arabana andGurindji descent.[1]
Chanston James Paech was born in 1987 inAlice Springs, in theNorthern Territory of Australia. His mother isAboriginal, of theArrernte andGurindji peoples, and his father of German descent.[2]
He is the great-great-grandson of Central Australian pioneer,Topsy Smith, and the great-great nephew of bushmanWalter Smith.[3] Paech is the only openly gay male MP in the NT Legislative Assembly, and before entering politics, he was a prominentLGBT rights activist.[citation needed]
Paech was educated in Alice Springs and participated in many youth programs, including the inaugural National Indigenous Youth Parliament.[citation needed] He went on to study atCharles Darwin University in the fields of environmental and land management, conservation, and horticulture.[citation needed]
Paech was elected to the Alice Springs Town Council in 2012.[4]
Paech was sworn in as the Northern Territory Attorney General in May 2022 and committed to overhauling the Northern Territory's Justice and Correctional systems, in October 2022 Paech introduced a suite of laws raising the age of criminal responsibility and reforming adult mandatory sentencing.[5]
Paech also introduced a suite of amendments to the Northern Territory's anti-discrimination laws to give better protections for vulnerable people and minority groups.[6]
In February 2022, Paech, having responsibility for the Northern Territory'ssacred sites legislation, tabled a decision in Northern Territory parliament to reject an application to expand the controversial McArthur River mine.[7]
In theGunner Ministry Paech was sworn in as the Minister for Remote Housing, Homelands and Town Camps. He opposed the federalMorrison Government for failures to deliver remote housing on homelands and town camps.[8]
Paech has condemned theNorthern Territory Emergency Response, commonly known as the Intervention, and the succeedingStronger Futures policy.[9]
| Years | Term | Electoral division | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016–2020 | 13th | Namatjira | Labor | |
| 2020–present | 14th | Gwoja | Labor | |
Paech was preselected as the Labor candidate for Namatjira for the2016 Territory election. The seat's incumbent since 2005 (dating to when the seat was known asMacDonnell), independentAlison Anderson, was retiring after three terms. On paper, Paech faced daunting odds. The seat had a notionalCountry Liberal Party majority of 20.8 percent, and a redistribution had seemingly consolidated the CLP's hold on the seat by pushing it into Alice Springs.[10] However, Anderson, who had served under four banners during her tenure (Labor, CLP, independent,Palmer United and independent again) endorsed Paech as her successor; she is a longtime Indigenous activist, and retained substantial goodwill in the area.[11] TheABC's election analystAntony Green believed that Anderson's endorsement made Namatjira "a certain Labor gain."[12]
Paech won the seat resoundingly, taking 59 percent of the two-party vote on a swing of over 29 percent, the second-largest swing of the election—enough to revert Namatjira to its traditional status as a safe Labor seat. He was subsequently made Deputy Speaker and Chairman of Committees.[13]
Paech is the first openly gay Indigenous MP in Australia.[14] He gave hismaiden parliamentary speech on 19 October 2016, in which he said he entered the chamber "eternally proud of who I am and where I come from ... I am young, I am gay, I am black; a true-blue Territorian. I am a proud face of the diversity and future of the great Australian Labor party."[15] He added: "I look forward to the day when this country will recognise my rights as equal rights, when I too can marry in my country, on my country, as a recognised first Australian."[15][2]
In June 2020, Paech was electedSpeaker of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly, making him the first Aboriginal and openly gay speaker of an Australian Parliament,[16] replacingKezia Purick, who resigned after findings of corrupt conduct against her by the Northern Territory Independent Commissioner Against Corruption. Ahead of the2020 Territory election, a redistribution erased Paech's majority in Namatjira and made it a notional CLP seat. Paech believed this made Namatjira impossible to hold and ran for re-election in neighbouringGwoja, winning easily.[17]
He resigned as Speaker in September 2020 to join theGunner Ministry as Minister for Local Government; Minister for Central Australia Economic Reconstruction; Minister for Remote Housing and Town Camps; Minister for Indigenous Essential Services; and Minister for Arts and Culture.[citation needed]
In May 2022, Paech was sworn in as the Northern Territory Attorney General; Leader of Government Business; Minister for Racing, Gaming and Licensing; Minister for Arts and Culture and Minister for Local Government[18] in theFyles Ministry.
Paech is a member of the Labor Party'sLeft faction.[citation needed]
| Northern Territory Legislative Assembly | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member forNamatjira 2016–2020 | Succeeded by |
| New seat | Member forGwoja 2020–present | Incumbent |
| Preceded by | Speaker of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly 2020 - 2020 | Succeeded by |
CurrentAustralian attorneys-general (federal, states and internal territories) | |
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