In an article in the NT News, he admitted turning up to work so drunk he couldn't fill in routine forms and to crawling round the Darwin Casino roof space.

In 1997, Elferink won Country Liberal preselection for the rural electorate of MacDonnell after incumbent Labor member Neil Bell announced his retirement.

However, the ALP preselected union organiser Mark Wheeler, thus prompting indigenous leader Kenneth Lechleitner to run as an independent and direct his preferences to the CLP.

In June 2003, Elferink resigned as Shadow Minister for Local Government and Indigenous Affairs[3] and publicly slammed Burke's leadership, labelling him "arrogant" and calling for him to be replaced by rival Mills.

[citation needed] By late 2004, Elferink was once again becoming a key member of the parliamentary party, and this was reflected when, on 12 October, he was made Opposition Whip.

However, facing star candidate and indigenous activist Alison Anderson, Elferink was heavily defeated, suffering a two-party swing of 20.6 percent.

In the years between his occupation of a seat in parliament, Elferink occasionally worked for the Centre for Democratic Institutions in the Pacific on a number of occasions.

[4] Elferink contested the seat of Port Darwin at 9 August 2008 Legislative Assembly general election,[5] and defeated Labor Party incumbent Kerry Sacilotto.

[12] Elferink also introduced controversial 'paperless arrest' laws that saw a substantial fall in the number of assaults occurring in the Darwin CBD.

The paperless arrest system was in part a response to the negative impact and overwhelming anti-social behaviour which plagued the Northern Territory.

[22] Elferink's reforms include introducing the Northern Territory Corrections Industry banner and the Sentenced to a Job program that saw prisoners trained and skilled ready for the work place which they entered while still serving time.

[24] On 25 July 2016, footage of abuse to children as young as 13 years old within Darwin's Don Dale Youth Corrections Centre was aired in a Four Corners exclusive on the ABC.

When Elferink was asked about the incidents by Four Corners journalists, he stated, in relation to the boy in the footage, Dylan Voller, that "Where there has even been a suggestion of criminality we've looked at it.

The release of the footage resulted in the appointment of the Royal Commission into Juvenile Detention in the Northern Territory and the dismissal of Elferink as Corrections Minister on 26 July.

“All of those things are indictable offences, none of that was found to be true.”[29] Elferink had ordered that Don Dale be shut down in 2014 and detainees were moved into a new facility.

[35] In 2015 Mr Elferink, then NT Attorney-General, reportedly told a Labor politician during a parliamentary debate he was "really tempted to give her a slap right now, figuratively speaking,".

There he established the Sabre Foundation to assist victims of sexual assault to pursue offenders using civil redress processes as well as a lawyer at Jones Elferink Barristers and Solicitors.