The Northern Territory's domestic violence prevention spokesman has resigned from his shadow cabinet position after revelations he hired a former offender as an electoral officer and went into business with another perpetrator.
Revelations surfaced on Tuesday Country Liberal Party Member for Barkly Steve Edgington hired Darius Lee Plummer as an electoral officer despite the latter appearing in court more than 20 times for domestic violence-related offences.
One day later it was revealed Mr Edgington went into business with former Country Liberal Party president Jason Newman three months after Mr Newman pleaded guilty to committing aggravated assault against his wife.
At 5pm on Thursday Mr Edgington released a statement saying he had given up the portfolio.
"I will not let a job title distract debate on what is a critical crisis across the territory," he said.
"I have always been and will continue to be a strong advocate for driving down the shocking rates of domestic family and sexual violence which have increased by 83 per cent under the last eight years of Labor."
Opposition leader Lia Finocchiaro resisted calls to dump the long-standing MP on Wednesday, but on Thursday said she had accepted his resignation.
"Steve has been very clear that he is a fierce advocate for the prevention of domestic violence and the rehabilitation of offenders, representing one of the most impacted communities in the territory," she said.
He will remain as member for Barkly.
Mr Edgington and Newman were co-directors of a construction company called Edgington Newman Pty Ltd.
Newman pleaded guilty to assaulting his wife in 2016, was handed a good behaviour bond and no conviction was recorded.
Plummer spent a month in jail in June 2023 for breaching a domestic violence order before being hired by Mr Edgington two months later.
He had been pictured in a number of social media posts posing with Mr Edgington and Ms Finocchiaro.
Plummer has been stood down with pay while an investigation takes place.
Mr Edgington fronted media on Wednesday morning saying he knew about two offences, but was only made aware of the extent of criminal activities after media reporting on Tuesday evening.
"The matters that were raised with me were discussed at length with Mr Plummer," Mr Edgington said.
"Those matters included two breaches of domestic violence orders ... those matters involved consuming alcohol, those matters did not involve any form of domestic, family or sexual violence."
Mr Edgington said he had wanted to give Plummer a chance in his team.
"At what point should a person be excluded from ever having employment, what involvement can I have in helping somebody to rehabilitate to break the cycle of domestic violence?" he said.
The scandal overtook question time in the NT Legislative Assembly on Wednesday with Deputy Chief Minister Chansey Paech telling the chamber Mr Edgington had knowingly hired a "woman basher".
Chief Minister Eva Lawler said in a small town such as Tennant Creek, "it's impossible that Steve Edgington wasn't aware of those issues”.
“All the photos that they have on social media together show that the member for Barkly was condoning that behaviour by his electorate officer," she said.
Mr Edgington has been an outspoken critic of the territory government's handling of the crime crisis and rising domestic violence rates.
