Lia Emele Finocchiaro (Italian pronunciation: [ˈliːa finokˈkjaːro]; born 20 September 1984[citation needed]) is an Australian politician who has served as the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory since August 2024.

A member of the Country Liberal Party (CLP), she has represented the seat of Spillett in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly since her election in 2016.

She became chief minister at the age of 39, the second-youngest head of government in the Territory's history after Paul Everingham, and is the first non-Labor woman to hold the post.

[3] She returned to Darwin in 2008, and was admitted as a legal practitioner in the Northern Territory, commencing work as a graduate clerk at the Clayton Utz law firm.

[4] In 2012, the Country Liberal Party preselected Finocchiaro for the central Palmerston seat of Drysdale in that year's election, instead of sitting CLP member Ross Bohlin, who unsuccessfully ran against her as a conservative independent.

[6][7][2] However, she was dropped from the ministry on 14 March after Adam Giles successfully challenged then-Chief Minister Terry Mills only a week later.

[8] Following a redistribution of electoral boundaries, Finocchiaro sought CLP preselection for the new seat of Spillett, taking in strong conservative suburbs between Darwin and Palmerston—including her base in Durack.

However, Finocchiaro weathered this massive Labor wave with only a small swing against her in Spillett, proving to be in the least danger of the CLP's elected members.

[9] Finnochiaro faced the task of helping the CLP recover from one of the worst defeats of a sitting government at the state or territory level in Australia.

The CLP was recognised as the Official Opposition after the Solicitor-General advised that the five independents could not realistically form an alternative government.

Along the way, the CLP took all but two seats in Darwin/Palmerston, including a near-sweep of Darwin's northern suburbs which have been Territory Labor's power base since the turn of the millennium.

With the CLP victory beyond doubt even though counting was still underway, Finocchiaro advised the Administrator, Hugh Heggie, that she could form a government with her new majority.