Jon Stanhope MLA & Paul Henderson MLA

Recent Speaker

Chief Ministers of ACT and NT

April 20, 2011

11.30am - 1.30pm

“Territories claim their right to govern - Australians are ready, willing and able”

“Territories claim their right to govern - Australians are ready, willing and able”

 Jon Stanhope, MLA Chief Minister of the ACT and  Paul Henderson MLA Chief Minister of the Northern Territory.

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Jon Stanhope        Paul Henderson

Jon Stanhope MLA, is the Chief Minister of the ACT. He is also the ACT's Minister for Transport, Minister for Territory and Municipal Services, Minister for Business and Economic Development, Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, and Minister for the Arts.

Mr Stanhope was first elected to the ACT Legislative Assembly in 1998 as a Member for Ginninderra and was elected Opposition Leader by the Labor Caucus in that year. He led the Labor Party to victory in the 20 October 2001 election, with a 16 per cent swing. He was elected Chief Minister of the ACT at a sitting of the Legislative Assembly on 12 November 2001.

In October 2004 Mr Stanhope led the Labor Party to victory for a second time, increasing its representation in the 17-member Assembly to nine and ushering in the first majority government in the history of the Assembly.

Prior to entering the ACT Legislative Assembly, Mr Stanhope worked as Senior Adviser and Chief of Staff for the Federal Attorney General, Michael Lavarch, and spent a period as an adviser on native title to then Federal Opposition Leader, Kim Beazley. Before this, Mr Stanhope was the Secretary of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, a position in which he initiated and managed the inquiry that led to Half Way to Equal, a detailed analysis of issues relating to equality for women. Before that, Mr Stanhope had served in a public service career, working as a legal officer for 15 years in various Commonwealth departments. He spent two years as Deputy Administrator and Official Secretary of Norfolk Island.

Jon Stanhope was born in Gundagai in 1951. One of nine children of schoolteacher parents, much of his junior education was spent at one-teacher schools in country NSW.

He attended Mullumbimby Public School and Bega High School before coming to Canberra to undertake studies at the Australian National University, graduating as a Bachelor of Laws.

He married Robyn, a palliative care nurse and counsellor, and they raised their four children in Belconnen. They are now proud grandparents of four.

Mr Stanhope has a long-standing interest in human rights issues and has served as President of the ACT Council for Civil Liberties and as ACT Convenor of the National Coalition for Gun Control. He was also the original co-convenor of Racial Respect in the ACT and served as President of the ACT Hospice and Palliative Care Society.

 

Paul Henderson was sworn in as Labor's second Chief Minister on 26 November, 2007.

One of his first achievements was to introduce middle years teaching – a major overhaul of the Territory's education system.

As Chief Minister, Paul Henderson has driven the Territory's growing economy and job sector through initiatives such as establishing a program to require developers of major projects like Darwin's LNG plant to use local companies.

Paul Henderson has also led a comprehensive and wide-ranging review of the NT police force, including delivering its largest ever resource boost.

Born in 1962 in France while his father was stationed there with NATO, Paul Henderson was raised in the United Kingdom. He is a qualified marine engineer and worked as a fitter in the shipping and mining industries before taking up a new career as an IT operator in Darwin.

Paul Henderson married his wife in 1982. He and his wife Stacey have three children.

He is a passionate supporter of the St Kilda Football Club and the vice patron of the St Mary's Football Club.