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Northern Territory (NT) Chief Minister Adam Giles is back in charge of his government on Wednesday a day after a coup leader declared he had been deposed.
The decision by Giles' Country Liberal (CN) party to reinstate Giles as the leader has thrown NT politics into a spin and left voters confused.
On Tuesday, Giles' rival Willem Westra van Holthe said in interviews that Giles had lost touch with the electorate and had to be removed.
But the NL party staged an emergency meeting Tuesday night and reversed the decision just 18 hours after members had voted to remove Giles.
Further confounding the situation is that Westra van Holthe was appointed on Wednesday as Giles' deputy, sparking speculation of further damaging instability in the government which rules an important part of the Australian economy.
The NT covers 1.35 million square km, with leading industries being mining, agriculture and tourism.
Both Giles and Westra van Holthe fronted a joint press conference to explain the situation.
"We do apologize to Territorians that we've been through this process," Giles told reporters. "We know it's quite painful for a lot of people, seeing a bit of instability has been quite challenging."
"The community will be saying some negative things about what happened in the last 18 hours. We'll deal with that," he said. "A week is a long time in politics and in the Territory, 18 hours is a long time."
Westra van Holthe said he was "very pleased" to be named the Deputy Chief Minister and was "100 percent ... in fact, 110 percent behind the Chief Minister."
He ruled out another coup, adding the frustrations which led him to stage the now failed revolt had been resolved.
