Garry Lambert

Garry Lambert is an Australian politician. He was the Lord Mayor of Darwin from 2007 to 2008. He is the current Country Liberal Party candidate for the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly seat of Fannie Bay in the 2008 election.

Lambert was an alderman on the Darwin City Council prior to his election as Lord Mayor, and begun his working life in the Territory as a teacher. He has lived in various locations throughout the Territory, and had first entered politics when he was made secretary of the Mataranka Progress Association.

Lambert was elected to the role of Lord Mayor on July 31, 2007, after the resignation of disgraced former mayor Peter Adamson, convicted of stealing from the Darwin City Council.cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/07/16/1980000.htm|title=Darwin Mayor stepping down|publisher=ABC News|date=July 16 2007|accessmonthday=February 3|accessyear=2008] Following the conviction on 16 July, 2007, the deputy mayor of the time, Allan Mitchell, acted as Lord Mayor for the remainder of the month. During this time the city council elected Lambert as their leader from their own ranks — an unprecedented event in Darwin's history, which usually votes for the mayor via public by-elections. [cite web|url=http://www.darcity.nt.gov.au/aboutcouncil/elected_members/documents/LordMayorsStatementonappointment.pdf| title=Lord Mayor's statement on appointment|publisher=Darwin City Council|accessmonthday=February 3|accessyear=2008] Lambert publicly described himself as the "caretaker" of the role during his reign, much of which was spent dealing with the troubled legacy of his predecessor, and did not contest the April 2008 mayoral election, when he was succeeded by Graeme Sawyer.

Lambert began expressing an interest contesting the 2008 territory election for the conservative Country Liberal Party not long after his retirement as Lord Mayor. He subsequently won preselection for the seat of Fannie Bay, a marginal seat being vacated by former Chief Minister Clare Martin. ["Scent of NT election sparks CLP in-fighting." "Northern Territory News", June 29, 2008.] He was immediately touted as a potential CLP leader, and as a potential challenger to current Opposition Leader Terry Mills. He declined to state at the time who he had voted for at the 2005 election, refusing to deny reports that he had had a sign for Labor minister Kon Vatskalis in his yard during that campaign. [Calacouras, Nick. "Lambert sharpening knife for tilt at Mills' job." "Northern Territory News", June 18, 2008.] He has been tipped as an early favourite in election betting, with SportingBet odds marking him as narrow favourite. [Calacouras, Nick. "Bookies predict the next race will be a close one." "Northern Territory News", June 12, 2008.]

Lambert's daughter, Stephanie, is the official ambassador for the 2008 Darwin Cup Carnival. [Bourchier, Daniel. "Dressed to impress in true NT style." "Northern Territory News", July 15, 2008.]

References

External links

* [http://www.darcity.nt.gov.au/aboutcouncil/elected_members/lord_mayor.htm Darwin City Council profile]