Northern Territory chief minister Terry Mills has been dumped as leader while on an overseas trip, and been replaced by Adam Giles.
Mr Giles, who was born in NSW and moved to the Territory in 2007, will be Australia’s first indigenous head of government.
The change comes one week after Victorian premier Ted Baillieu resigned.
It follows a marathon meeting of the Country Liberals' parliamentary wing last week, where leadership tension came to the fore.
Mr Mills was in Yokohama when he was told the numbers had shifted and he no longer had the support of the party as leader.
"Not having sufficient support, I then stepped aside," he told the ABC.
He cancelled all his scheduled meetings in Japan and is planning to fly home as soon as possible.
