Loraine Braham - Axing From The Country Liberal Party

Axing From The Country Liberal Party

With the 2001 election on the distant horizon, Braham made clear her intention to run for another term, and was initially preselected by the Alice Springs branch of the Country Liberal Party as the party's candidate for Braitling. However, the other decisions of the branch proved to be quite controversial - while Braham survived, sitting member for MacDonnell John Elferink was dropped, and prominent Araluen hopeful Jodeen Carney was overlooked. As a result, Elferink wrote a letter to the party's Central Council complaining about the situation, reportedly suggesting that Braham had used proxy votes to stack the Alice Springs branch pre-selection committee, and that five delegates, instead of being elected, had been appointed by Stuart branch president, MP aspirant and Braham staffer Tony Bohning.

The fallout from Elferink's letter was immense. On November 25, 2000, the Country Liberal Party's Central Council held a closed-doors meeting, and in a very rare move that was dubbed "the Night of the Long Knives" by the Alice Springs News, overruled most of the Alice Springs branch's preselection decisions. Amidst a swath of other changes, the Council reinstated Elferink, selected Carney for Araluen, and overturned Braham's preselection, giving the seat to Peter Harvey, who had previously been chosen over Carney in Araluen. In one sudden twist, Braham's career as a representative of the Country Liberal Party was over. While the CLP had dropped sitting MPs before, it was the first time in their history that they had dropped a sitting minister.

Chief Minister Burke initially refused to comment on whether Braham would remain in the ministry while serving out her term, but she was dropped three days later, with her portfolios being given to backbencher Dr Richard Lim. Speculation then turned to Braham's future; specifically, whether she would contest the seat as an independent. She left the question open for more than two months, until Burke set a deadline; Braham would have to announce her intentions by February 7, 2001, or be banned from meetings of the parliamentary party. On the day of the deadline, Braham resigned from the party, and announced that she would serve out her term as an independent. While it was briefly suggested that Braham may still resign at the election, potentially making way for Alice Springs Mayor Fran Kilgariff to run as an independent, it soon became clear that Braham intended to attempt to retain her seat.