Deputy Chief Minister To Independent
Chief Minister Clare Martin resigned in November 2007 after having lost the support of her caucus, and was replaced by Paul Henderson. The newly elected Henderson appointed Scrymgour as his deputy, which was considered a surprise choice at the time. On 24 December 2007 Scrymgour spent several hours at the emergency department of Royal Darwin Hospital undergoing treatment for "an emotional and physical collapse". In January 2008 Scrymgour was appointed Acting Chief Minister of the Northern Territory while the incumbent Paul Henderson was on holiday, becoming the first Aboriginal government leader in Australian history. She served for two weeks.
Scrymgour had taken on the education portfolio upon her ascension to Deputy Chief Minister, but had been regularly criticised in the press for her performance, particularly after her controversial sacking of the head of the territory's Education Department in 2008. This culminated in Henderson's decision in February 2009 to remove Scrymgour from the portfolio, shifting her to the less politically difficult Attorney-General role. The following week, Scrymgour resigned from Cabinet and as Deputy Chief Minister, citing recurring problems with depression caused by the death of her father.
On 1 June 2009, Scrymgour publicly opposed the Government on its announced policy of concentrating indigenous development in 20 larger communities and discouraging "homeland" or "outstation" settlement, which she labelled as insulting. She said that she realised while recovering from surgery that she had lost touch with her constituents, and that "I feel strongly because we have lied to Aboriginal people". On 4 June, after a significant degree of speculation in the media, she resigned from the Labor Party, reducing it to minority government.
On 4 August 2009, after the defection of another minister, Alison Anderson, Scrymgour announced that she would rejoin the Labor Party. She retired from politics at the 2012 election.
Read more about this topic: Marion Scrymgour
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