Garry Lambert is an Australian politician. He was the Lord Mayor of Darwin from 2007 to 2008. He was the unsuccessful

Country Liberal Party The Country Liberal Party of the Northern Territory (CLP) is a centre-right political party in Australia's Northern Territory. In local politics it operates in a two-party system with the Australian Labor Party (ALP). It also contests federal ...

candidate for the

Northern Territory Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory is the unicameral legislature of the Northern Territory of Australia. The Legislative Assembly has 25 members, each elected in single-member electorates for four-year terms. The voting method fo ...

seat of Fannie Bay in the 2008 election. Lambert was an alderman on the

Darwin City Council The City of Darwin is a local government area of the Northern Territory, Australia. It includes the central business district of the capital, Darwin City, and represents two-thirds of its metropolitan population. The City covers an area of a ...

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 31 July 2007, after the resignation of disgraced former mayor Peter Adamson, convicted of

stealing Theft is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal shorthand term for some ...

from the

. 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. 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 Graeme Sawyer (born 28 January 1957) is the former Lord Mayor of the City of Darwin, the capital of the Northern Territory, Australia. He became Lord Mayor at an election in April 2008, when he won 56.8% of the vote after preferences.

. Lambert began expressing an interest in contesting the 2008 territory election for the conservative

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 Clare Majella Martin (born 15 June 1952) is a former Australian journalist and politician. She was elected to the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly in a shock by-election win in 1995. She was appointed Opposition Leader in 1999, and won ...

. 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 Konstantine Vatskalis (born 4 April 1957) is a Greeks, Greek-Australian politician and the current List of mayors and lord mayors of Darwin, Lord Mayor of Darwin. Before becoming Lord Mayor in 2017 he was a Australian Labor Party (Northern Terr ...

in his yard during that campaign. He was tipped as an early favourite in election betting, with

SportingBet Sportingbet is a British online gambling operator, owned by GVC Holdings plc. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index prior to its acquisition by GVC. History The company was founde ...

odds marking him as narrow favourite. He was narrowly defeated by Labor candidate

Michael Gunner Michael Patrick Francis Gunner (born 6 January 1976) is an Australian politician and was the 11th Chief Minister of the Northern Territory from 2016 to 2022. He is a Labor member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly, having held his se ...

, in a result that was not known for several days. Gunner's victory over Lambert gave Labor the final seat it needed to retain government. Lambert's daughter, Stephanie, was the official ambassador for the 2008 Darwin Cup Carnival.Bourchier, Daniel. "Dressed to impress in true NT style." ''

Northern Territory News The ''Northern Territory News'' (also known and branded as the ''NT News'') is a morning tabloid newspaper based in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. Owned by News Corp Australia, it is published every week from Monday to Saturday. It prim ...

'', 15 July 2008.

References

External links

Darwin City Council profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lambert, Garry Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Mayors and Lord Mayors of Darwin