Electoral division of Katherine
| Katherine Northern Territory—Legislative Assembly | |
|---|---|
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Electoral division of Katherine in the Northern Territory | |
| Territory | Northern Territory |
| Created | 1987 |
| MP | Willem Westra van Holthe |
| Party | Country Liberal Party |
| Namesake | Katherine River |
| Electors | 5,174 (2012) |
| Area | 7,428 km2 (2,868.0 sq mi) |
| Demographic | Urban |
Katherine is an electoral division of the Legislative Assembly in Australia's Northern Territory. The electorate was first created in 1987, replacing the abolished Elsey seat, and derives its name from the Katherine River. Katherine encompasses both urban and rural areas, covering an area of 7,428 km² and taking in the city of Katherine, as well as the RAAF Base Tindal and the Binjari Aboriginal Community. There were 5,184 people enrolled in the electorate as of August 2012. It is completely surrounded by Stuart.
The city of Katherine has always been a conservative bastion, making the seat of the same name traditionally a very safe Country Liberal Party seat. Its first member, Mike Reed, was Deputy Chief Minister of the Northern Territory from 1995 to 2001. Despite this, the seat saw a very large swing to the Australian Labor Party at the 2001 election. Reed retired in 2003 and was succeeded at a by-election by Fay Miller, also of the CLP. Miller narrowly held onto her seat in the ALP's landslide victory of 2005, weathering another massive swing to the ALP that surprised commentators on election night. In the end, however, Miller proved to be in the least danger of all the sitting CLP members, and was left as one of only two CLP MLAs in the Top End. She retired in 2008, and the seat reverted to its previous status as a safe CLP seat under her successor, Willem Westra van Holthe.
Members for Katherine
| Member | Party | Term | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mike Reed | Country Liberal | 1987–2003 | |
| Fay Miller | Country Liberal | 2003–2008 | |
| Willem Westra van Holthe | Country Liberal | 2008–present | |
Election results
| Northern Territory general election, 2012: Katherine[1] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Country Liberal | Willem Westra van Holthe | 2,729 | 66.1 | +15.1 | |
| Labor | Cerise King | 864 | 20.9 | −10.5 | |
| Independent | Teresa Cummings | 537 | 13.0 | +13.0 | |
| Total formal votes | 4,130 | 98.2 | +1.5 | ||
| Informal votes | 77 | 1.8 | −1.5 | ||
| Turnout | 4,207 | 81.3 | +5.5 | ||
| Two-party-preferred result | |||||
| Country Liberal | Willem Westra van Holthe | 2,984 | 72.3 | +13.8 | |
| Labor | Cerise King | 1,146 | 27.7 | −13.8 | |
| Country Liberal hold | Swing | +13.8 | |||