The Northern Territory's opposition leader has resisted calls to sack her domestic violence prevention spokesman, despite revelations he hired a former offender as an electoral officer.
Country Liberal Party Member for Barkly, Steve Edgington, has admitted he knew his electoral officer, Darius Lee Plummer, had two strikes against him for domestic violence when he employed him.
But he had gone ahead with the decision because he had wanted to give him a chance, Mr Edgington said.
Opposition leader Lia Finocchiaro has now been forced to stand by her man after it was revealed that Plummer had actually faced court more than ten times for breaching domestic violence orders and bail conditions.
In fact, the 43-year-old had spent a month in jail in June, 2023, for breaching a domestic violence order before being hired by Mr Edgington two months later.
The government has demanded Mr Edgington's head roll as a result but Ms Finocchiaro has defended him.
"(Mr Edgington) has been very clear, had he had the information that's been made available today at the time of employing the staff member, he would never have been appointed in the first place," Ms Finocchiaro said on Wednesday afternoon.
Plummer has been pictured in a number of social media posts posing with Mr Edgington and Ms Finocchiaro.
She said Plummer had been stood down with pay while an investigation took place.
The local Tennant Creek member is also standing firm in rejecting calls that he resign as a result of the hiring debacle.
He fronted media on Wednesday morning saying he knew about two offences, but was only made aware of the extent of criminal activities after media reporting on Tuesday evening.
"The matters that were raised with me were discussed at length with Mr Plummer," Mr Edgington said.
"Those matters included two breaches of domestic violence orders ... those matters involved consuming alcohol, those matters did not involve any form of domestic, family or sexual violence."
Mr Edgington said he had wanted to give Plummer a chance in his team.
"At what point should a person be excluded from ever having employment, what involvement can I have in helping somebody to rehabilitate to break the cycle of domestic violence?" he said.
"My decision was to give him an opportunity to work with me and to break the cycle of domestic violence."
Mr Edgington's hiring decision overtook question time in the NT Legislative Assembly on Wednesday with Deputy Chief Minister Chansey Paech telling the chamber that Mr Edgington had knowingly hired a "woman basher".
Chief Minister Eva Lawler said that in a small town like Tennant Creek, "it's impossible that Steve Edgington wasn't aware of those issues".
"All the photos that they have on social media together show that the member for Barkly was condoning that behaviour by his electorate officer," she said.
Mr Edgington has been an outspoken critic of the territory government's handling of the crime crisis and rising domestic violence rates.
