Three months into the job, Northern Territory Administrator John Hardy finds himself confronted by a constitutional crisis.
Effectively the governor of the NT, Mr Hardy may be called upon to resolve the standoff between Chief Minister Adam Giles, who insists he remains leader, and Willem Westra van Holthe, who declared himself head of the Country Liberals government after a party-room coup late on Monday night.
Mr Hardy says it is up to parliament to resolve the matter, but when reporters asked if he had the power to call an election, he said: "I'll have to read up on that myself."
The Administrator's reserve powers are similar to those exercised by Governor-General Sir John Kerr in the dismissal of the Whitlam government in 1975, said Ken Parish, constitutional law specialist from Charles Darwin University.
He has the power to terminate the appointment of any minister at any time and appoint another in their place, but Westminster convention requires that he appoints ministers on the advice of the leader of the party with a majority in the Legislative Assembly.
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"The trouble at the moment is we don't know who the leader is, or if either of them could command a majority," Mr Parish told AAP.
"(Mr Hardy) could decide to sack Adam Giles despite the fact that Giles isn't resigning and appoint Willem Westra van Holthe in his place, but I suspect he might wait and see who, if anybody, has the confidence of parliament."
Parliament is due to resume in a fortnight, but Mr Hardy could also recall it early, Mr Parish said.
He said Mr Giles is playing hardball by refusing to resign, but says it was outrageous that he was deposed during a meeting at which only six members were present.
"He's clearly lost the support of the majority of his colleagues, but what he's effectively saying is, `are you feeling lucky, punks? Test your numbers on the floor of parliament if you've got the guts'."
A CLP parliamentary wing meeting has been called for later on Tuesday afternoon.
