The vice president of the Northern Territory's Country Liberal Party has resigned to run against one of the party's own federal election candidates — a move likely to fuel further speculation the NT opposition party is "divided".
Jed Hansen today confirmed he stood down from his role with the CLP at the weekend and will contest the federal seat of Solomon as in independent, citing unresolved "grave concerns" over the direction the party was taking.
Currently held by Labor's Luke Gosling, the decision to run for Solomon will put Mr Hansen in direct competition with the CLP's own candidate, Tina MacFarlane.
However, he denied his decision would destabilise her campaign.
"There's a great appetite in the Northern Territory to have a conservative with values and integrity to run in the Solomon seat," he said.
"I look around at how people are acting and how people are suffering and feel like federal members of Solomon, now and in the past … aren't interested in really helping."
Mr Hansen cited leaks of confidential party discussions to the media and the CLP's response to the government's wide-ranging vaccine mandate as reasons for his decision.
He said while he supports vaccines, the party's support for the policy was at odds with its values.
"I have made my concerns well-known about that; I've said it's wrong, it's against individualism and our core beliefs," he said.
"The fact that the CLP hadn't even questioned it — and they hadn't even raised a concern — and the fact that there are legitimate court cases ongoing around the mandate — not the vaccination itself — but around telling people they can't seek employment and can't travel — that's wrong."
The former vice president also said other party members shared his concerns, but they were overlooked by others within the party because of concern for political optics.
He has previously attracted controversy for speaking at a rally protesting the mandate despite the party's parliamentary wing saying it supported the policy.
Mr Hansen's announcement is the latest in a string of significant departures for the party that the NT Labor government has repeatedly attacked as being "divided, directionless and disintegrating".
Party stalwart Jamie de Brenni resigned from the party presidency for personal reasons in February, while senator Sam McMahon resigned to sit as an independent a month earlier, sparking questions over the party's validity.
Senator McMahon used a parliamentary speech yesterday to allege her resignation was "driven entirely" by alleged bullying from a staffer who was appointed to the party's decision-making body, the central council.
CLP says vaccine mandate 'incredibly divisive'
Party officials have previously brushed off questions about the CLP's internal issues, saying it remained confident it would run strong candidates at the upcoming election.
Asked today if the party is in chaos, Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro said she wasn't worried about the vote being split between Ms MacFarlane and Mr Hansen.
"Tina MacFarlane is an exceptional candidate and she's out there every single day, working incredibly hard," she said.
"We wish Jed the best of luck as he runs his election campaign as an independent, and I can assure Territorians I'll be putting my 100 per cent support behind Tina MacFarlane."
She said the vaccine mandate issue was "incredibly divisive" but did not directly respond to the question of whether the issue was creating widespread concern within the CLP.
New party president Fiona Darcy said she wishes Mr Hansen well.
