What happened to the NT's CLP this term?

The past four years in NT politics could well be the rowdiest of any Australian parliament in history. What happened to a government that should have had it all?

It only took seven months for things to begin falling apart for the CLP, returned to power with 16 of 25 seats after almost 12 years of Labor rule.

But in March 2013, Chief Minister Terry Mills was dumped while on a trade trip to Japan, following growing unhappiness that a party elected on a cost-of-living platform would put up power prices by 30 per cent.

Under new leader Adam Giles, things remained rocky.

Frustrated Aboriginal voters in remote electorates had swung their vote behind the CLP and the party gained five bush seats, but in April 2014 Aboriginal MLAs Alison Anderson, Larisa Lee and Francis Xavier Kurrupuwu walked out, citing racism and broken promises to bush communities.

In February 2015 came the "midnight coup", in which Member for Katherine Willem Westra van Holthe called a 1am press conference to announce he had toppled Mr Giles, only to back down when Mr Giles refused to quit. He stayed as leader and installed his challenger as his deputy.

The incident blew open the CLP's internal divisions, with Health Minister Robyn Lambley sacked and Tourism Minister Matt Conlan resigning over his role in the failed attack.

This term, there have been two chief ministers, six deputies, and up to 18 cabinet reshuffles, and five MLAs - almost a third of the government - have left to sit as independents.

There has also been an exodus of senior female members from the party, including former leader Jodeen Carney, Katherine Mayor Fay Miller, and Speaker Kezia Purick, whom the government tried to overthrow in another, ultimately failed, midnight coup in 2015.

The government grappled with damaging revelations that a so-called slush fund was channelling secret donations, and the high-profile court case and jailing of a Darwin travel agent - who booked government travel - on fraud and corruption charges.

Her case included the downfall of the NT police commissioner and a senior political staffer.

The government faced international scrutiny over its decision to lease the Darwin Port for 99 years to Chinese company Landbridge, and has borne the brunt of the youth justice scandal, which included the tear-gassing of six boys and eventually sparked an upcoming royal commission.

Senior government ministers have also been tarnished, with Treasurer Dave Tollner moving to the back benches for six months after making homophobic slurs to a gay staffer, and Attorney-General John Elferink dumped as a White Ribbon Ambassador after saying he'd like to slap a female Labor MLA, "figuratively speaking".

Both are retiring at the August 27 election.

This year, deputy leader Mr Westra van Holthe was forced to go after it was revealed he planned to invest more than $500,000 of his own money with a Vietnamese company he was dealing with on behalf of the government, and Sports Minister Nathan Barrett quit the CLP following a sex scandal.

Labor has had its own problems, with leader Delia Lawrie dumped over inquiry findings that she had improperly and unfairly interfered in a Labor government land deal with Unions NT, which she tried and failed to have quashed by the supreme court.

Labor has managed to keep its head down ever since and allow the government to implode.

Some pundits have predicted the CLP could be obliterated, reduced to three or four seats, but NT voters are quixotic and anything could happen in the final weeks.