Marion Scrymgour

Marion Scrymgour MP
Member of the Australian Parliament for Lingiari
Incumbent
Assumed office 21 May 2022
Preceded by	Warren Snowdon
Deputy Chief Minister of the Northern Territory
In office 26 November 2007 – 8 February 2009
Preceded by	Syd Stirling
Succeeded by	Delia Lawrie
Member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly for Arafura
In office 18 August 2001 – 6 August 2012
Preceded by	Maurice Rioli
Succeeded by	Francis Xavier Kurrupuwu
Personal details
Born	Marion Rose Scrymgour (1960-09-13) 13 September 1960 (age 64) Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
Political party	Labor[a]
Other political affiliations	Independent (2009)
Spouse	David Dalrymple

Marion Rose Scrymgour (born 13 September 1960) is an Australian politician and the current member of parliament (MP) for the federal seat of Lingiari. She was a member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly from 2001 to 2012, representing the electorate of Arafura. She was the Labor Party Deputy Chief Minister of the Northern Territory from November 2007 until February 2009, and was the highest-ranked Indigenous Australian woman in government in Australia's history, as well as the first Indigenous deputy leader of an Australian government. She was also the first Indigenous woman to be elected to the Northern Territory legislature.^[1]

Scrymgour, a senior minister under former Chief Minister Clare Martin, had a rapid rise within the party throughout the 2000s, and despite a reputation for outspoken views on Indigenous issues, rose to become Deputy Chief Minister under Paul Henderson after the retirement of long-time deputy Syd Stirling in 2007. She had a controversial term as Education Minister under Henderson, and was shifted to the Attorney-General portfolio in February 2009, in a move widely seen as a demotion. Several days later, she resigned from Cabinet and as Deputy Chief Minister, citing "health reasons". Scrymgour remained on the Labor backbench until June 2009, when she resigned from the Labor Party over its stance on remote Indigenous communities. She sat in the Legislative Assembly as an independent, and held the balance of power; Labor had held only a one-seat majority before her departure. On 4 August 2009, Scrymgour rejoined the ALP.

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