A woman has been charged after chief minister Natasha Fyles was pied in the face with a cream covered crepe.
The Northern Territory leader, 45, was hit in the face while at the Nightcliff Markets, in northwest Darwin, at about 11.40am on Sunday.
Police confirmed on Monday a 56-year-old woman had been charged with aggravated assault over the incident.
The woman has been bailed to appear in a Darwin Local Court on October 10.
Footage showed a woman rushing towards an unsuspecting Ms Fyles as she left a bank and allegedly shoving the cream-covered crepe into her face.
The charged woman allegedly “smooshed a cream pancake” in the Chief Minister’s face.
A nearby resident told NT News Ms Fyles ‘was very shocked and quite taken aback’.
‘The woman stood back from Natasha as she was wiping cream off her face,’ they said.
‘(The Chief Minister) pulled out her phone and was trying to film and photograph the incident. There were a few people around supporting her but she didn’t appear to be in any danger.’
They said the alleged attacker indicated the incident was related to a health matter.
‘She stood there with another woman and when people were saying she shouldn’t have done it, she said Natasha stopped her husband having a heart operation,’ they said.
Ms Fyles is also the Territory’s minister for health and had been attending a 15th anniversary celebration for the Bendigo Bank branch in Nightcliff, which is in her electorate.
Nightcliff market manager Ross Dudgeon condemned the alleged attack.
‘The Chief Minister’s pretty upset,’ he said.
‘It’s always been a relaxed community market. There’s a difference between protesting peacefully and being obnoxious and violent. That’s just not on.
‘Natasha is always here every Sunday, grabs a smoothie and she should never be exposed to that sort of aggression and violence.’
NT Chief Minister Natasha Fyles was said to be ‘pretty upset’ about the alleged attack at the markets in her electorate
NT Police Commissioner Michael Murphy said the NT police are discerning whether security would need to be boosted for the territory’s leader.
‘It’s about appreciating the threat and the risk assessments, and how that presents, and what sort of policing activities we put around people and make sure they’re safe,’ he told the Australian.
A spokeswoman for Ms Fyles said the chief minister would not be making any immediate comment.
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