Indigenous leader and Labor senator Pat Dodson says NT Chief Minister Adam Giles is incompetent and should be called up to explain himself before the royal commission into the territory's juvenile justice system.
"The chief minister of the NT has demonstrated he's incompetent to deal with this matter and I don't think he should be in any way influencing (the royal commission)," he told the ABC on Sunday.
"He should be subpoenaed to appear before it and justify what his activities have been in relation to all the knowledge that's been readily available."
Senator Dodson stopped short of calling for Mr Giles' resignation, saying it was up to Territorians to decide whether they wanted to reinstate him.
However, he said it would be "an absolute travesty of justice" for Mr Giles to go on to a federal political career.
He was responding to speculation that Mr Giles might eventually replace Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion on the NT Country Liberals' Senate ticket.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said Territorians would get their chance to pass judgment on the "gaffe-prone, scandal-ridden Giles government" in the August election.
"There's a mood for change in the territory, I think it will be up to Territorians who they select," he told reporters in Arnhem land.
