He can’t stand by his Cabinet mates and stand up for the Territory. Who’s it going to be Nigel ... us or them?

SENIOR Country Liberals have questioned whether the party can continue to support Senator Nigel Scullion, who has disappeared amid growing concern around the impact of GST allocation cuts to the Territory.

The Sunday Territorian can reveal that Mr Scullion, who has refused interviews for two consecutive days, also ignored desperate phone calls from NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner and Treasurer Nicole Manison yesterday.

As the Territory’s only representative in the Federal Government and a Cabinet minister, pressure is mounting on Mr Scullion to come out from wherever he’s hiding and speak about the GST decision that will rip $2 billion from the NT over four years.

As a senior minister, Mr Scullion is obliged to support decisions made by Cabinet.

But as a representative of the Territory, constituents would expect Mr Scullion to fight for their interests.

The Sunday Territorian made it clear to Mr Scullion’s office on Friday afternoon it wanted to question the Senator about whether his position had become untenable.

Requests for an interview have been consistently refused or ignored since.

Prominent CLP members have been jockeying for the Senate seat occupied by Mr Scullion for the best part of two decades.

Rumours he would stand down have swirled consistently, despite Mr Scullion saying recently he intended to contest the next election.

A senior CLP figure said yesterday there was a growing mood in the party for a fresh face in Canberra.

“He should have gone after the failure in the closing the gap report,” one CLP figure said.

Another said they were bemused as to why the GST matter had not “piqued his interest”, a reference to Mr Scullion’s initial indifference to issues related to youth detention in the NT.

“We’re trying to rebuild the brand, and something like this just sets us back. If we’re not careful, the CLP could be on the outer for decades,” the CLP source said. “When was the last time anyone actually saw Nigel in Darwin?”

A source inside the Gunner Government said calls from the Chief Minister and the Treasurer on both Friday and yesterday went unanswered and have not been returned.

Yesterday Mr Scullion’s media adviser Russel Guse asked the Sunday Territorian to send an email detailing what it would like to talk to the senator about.

Mr Guse was told the interview would be about the Territory’s GST allocation.

He later sent a statement and said Mr Scullion was unavailable for an interview.

The previous evening Mr Guse sent an email saying “We are declining your interview request”.