Electoral division of Araluen

Araluen Northern Territory—Legislative Assembly
Location of Araluen in the Alice Springs area
Territory	Northern Territory
Created	1983
MP	Robyn Lambley
Party	Independent
Namesake	Araluen
Electors	4,817 (2012)
Area	192 km^2 (74.1 sq mi)
Demographic	Urban

Araluen is an electoral division of the Legislative Assembly in Australia's Northern Territory. It was first created in 1983, replacing the electorate of Alice Springs, which had been abolished as part of the enlargement of the Assembly. The electorate covers a 192 km² (74 sq mi) area to the south and west of Alice Springs, including the Alice Springs CBD, the suburb of Araluen, and some surrounding rural areas. There were 4,817 people enrolled in the electorate as of August 2012.

The city of Alice Springs has traditionally been a strong support base for the conservative Country Liberal Party, and Araluen has returned CLP members at every election since its creation in 1983. The party has only come close to losing the seat on one occasion: in 2001, when the retirement of veteran Cabinet minister Eric Poole and two prominent independent candidacies nearly delivered the seat to Labor, with new CLP candidate Jodeen Carney only holding the seat by 134 votes. Carney proved to be a popular local member, and despite holding the territory's most marginal CLP-held seat, was one of only four CLP members across the territory to be returned amidst the Labor landslide at the 2005 election, and the only one to actually pick up a swing in her favour. She subsequently served as the territory's Opposition Leader after the election from 2005 until January 2008. Carney was re-elected with nearly 70 per cent of the primary vote at the 2008 election. Carney resigned on 3 September 2010; a by-election to replace her was held on 9 October 2010 which saw Robyn Lambley retain the seat for the CLP. Lambley resigned from the CLP on 18 June 2015 and is sitting as an independent until the next election.^[1]

In 2011, as part of a redistribution, it was proposed to rename the seat to Perkins, in honour of Hetty Perkins, an Arrernte elder.^[2] However, the proposal was later abandoned after local opposition.^[3]

Members for Araluen

Member		Party	Term
	Jim Robertson	Country Liberal Party	1983–1986
	Eric Poole	Country Liberal Party	1986–2001
	Jodeen Carney	Country Liberal Party	2001–2010
	Robyn Lambley	Country Liberal Party	2010–2015
		Independent	2015–present

Election results

Northern Territory general election, 2012: Araluen[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Country Liberal	Robyn Lambley	2,487	68.7	+0.4
	Labor	Adam Findlay	848	23.4	+6.3
	First Nations	Edan Baxter	285	7.9	+7.9
Total formal votes			3,620	96.4	−1.2
Informal votes			137	3.6	+1.2
Turnout			3,757	78.0	−0.9
Two-party-preferred result
	Country Liberal	Robyn Lambley	2,612	72.2	−2.5
	Labor	Adam Findlay	1,008	27.8	+2.5
	Country Liberal hold		Swing	−2.5

References

1. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-17/robyn-lambley-quits-clp-to-sit-as-independent/6554140
2. (31 May 2011). "Central Australian seats get Indigenous names" – ABC News. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
3. Antony Green. Northern Territory votes: Araluen – ABC News. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
4. http://www.ntec.nt.gov.au/ElectionLAgeneral/Results/Pages/default.aspx

External links

• Division profile from the Northern Territory Electoral Commission