Northern Territory general election, 2001

Northern Territory general election, 2001

18 August 2001

All 25 seats of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly   First party Second party   Leader Clare Martin Denis Burke Party Labor Country Liberal Leader since 3 February 1999 8 February 1999 Leader's seat Fannie Bay Brennan Last election 7 seats 18 seats Seats won 13 seats 10 seats Seat change 6 8 Percentage 40.6% 45.4% Swing 2.1 9.1

Chief Minister before election Denis Burke Country Liberal Elected Chief Minister Clare Martin Labor

A general election was held in the Northern Territory, Australia, on 18 August 2001. The centre-left Australian Labor Party (ALP), led by Clare Martin, won a surprising victory over the Country Liberal Party (CLP). Before this, the CLP had held 18 out the 25 seats in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly to the ALP's 7. After this election, the ALP held the majority with 13 seats to the CLP's 10, consigning the CLP to opposition for the first time since the Territory gained responsible government Martin became Chief Minister, succeeding the CLP's Denis Burke.

While the CLP won a bare majority of the two-party vote, Labor picked up a significant swing in the Darwin area. Labor took all but one seat in the capital, including all seven seats in the more diverse northern part of the city. In the process, Labor unseated four sitting MLAs. The result was not known for several days, in part due to a very close race in Millner between CLP incumbent Phil Mitchell and Labor challenger Matthew Bonson. Ultimately, Bonson won by a knife-edge margin of 82 votes, giving Labor a bare majority.

Two independents won seats at this election. Former CLP member Loraine Braham won the seat of Braitling and Gerry Wood won the seat of Nelson.

Retiring MPs

Labor

• Maggie Hickey MLA (Barkly)
• Maurice Rioli MLA (Arafura)

CLP

• Stephen Hatton MLA (Nightcliff)
• Daryl Manzie MLA (Sanderson)
• Terry McCarthy MLA (Goyder)
• Eric Poole MLA (Araluen)

Results

Northern Territory general election, 18 August 2001[1] Legislative Assembly << 1997 — 2005 >>
Enrolled voters		105,506
Votes cast		84,994		Turnout	80.56%	+1.57%
Informal votes		3,627		Informal	4.27%	–0.90%
Summary of votes by party
Party		Primary votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Country Liberal	36,926	45.38%	–9.29%	10	– 8
	Labor	33,038	40.60%	+2.12%	13	+ 6
	Independent	8,583	10.55%	+5.10%	2	+2
	One Nation	1,074	1.32%	+1.32%	0	± 0
	Democrats	692	0.85%	+0.22%	0	± 0
	Territory Alliance	622	0.76%	+0.76%	0	± 0
	Socialist Alliance	432	0.53%	+0.53%	0	± 0
Total		81,367			25
Two-party-preferred
	Labor	39,099	48.1%
	Country Liberal	42,268	51.9%

Candidates

Sitting members are in bold. Successful candidates are highlighted in the relevant colour.

Electorate	Held By	Labor Candidate	CLP Candidate	Other Candidates
Arafura	Labor	Marion Scrymgour	Marius Puruntatamori	John Christopherson (Ind) Dorothy Fox (Ind)
Araluen	CLP	Michael Bowden	Jodeen Carney	John Bohning (Ind) Meredith Campbell (Ind)
Arnhem	Labor	Jack Ah Kit	Cliff Thompson Alan Wright	Lance Lawrence (Ind)
Barkly	Labor	Elliot McAdam	Bill Cross	Gavin Carpenter (Ind)
Blain	CLP	Peter Shew	Terry Mills	Joseph Mulqueeney (TAP)
Braitling	CLP	Peter Brooke	Peter Harvey	Loraine Braham (Ind)
				Peter Jarvis (Ind) Eddie Taylor (Ind)
Brennan	CLP	Simon Hall	Denis Burke	Duncan Dean (Ind)
Casuarina	CLP	Kon Vatskalis	Peter Adamson	Necmi Bayram (TAP) Craig Seiler (Dem)
Daly	CLP	Rob Knight	Tim Baldwin	Wayne Norris (ON) Frank Spry (Dem)
Drysdale	CLP	Inger Peirce	Stephen Dunham
Fannie Bay	Labor	Clare Martin	Mary Cunningham	Peter Johnston (SA)
Goyder	CLP	Alan Smith	Peter Maley	Diana Rickard (Ind) Merv Stewart (ON)
Greatorex	CLP	Peter Kavanagh	Richard Lim	David Mortimer (Ind)
Johnston	CLP	Chris Burns	Steve Balch	Joanne Sangster (Dem)
Karama	CLP	Delia Lawrie	Mick Palmer
Katherine	CLP	Michael Peirce	Mike Reed	Tony Coutts (Ind) John Donnellan (Ind) Rob Phillips (ON)
Macdonnell	CLP	Harold Furber	Philip Alice
			John Elferink
Millner	CLP	Matthew Bonson	Phil Mitchell	Andrew Arthur (Ind) Diane Baird (Ind) Andrew Ivinson (TAP)
Nelson	CLP	Bob Hare	Chris Lugg	Tony Hardwick (ON)
				Gerry Wood (Ind)
Nhulunbuy	Labor	Syd Stirling	Peter Manning	Gordon Davey (ON) David Mitchell (Ind)
Nightcliff	CLP	Jane Aagaard	Jason Hatton	Peter Ivinson (TAP) Gary Meyerhoff (SA)
Port Darwin	CLP	Chris Bond	Sue Carter	Nick Dondas (Ind)
Sanderson	CLP	Len Kiely	Peter Poniris	Gary Haslett (Ind) Susan Murdoch (TAP)
Stuart	Labor	Peter Toyne	Ken Lechleitner
Wanguri	Labor	Paul Henderson	Robyn Cahill	Meredith de Landelles (SA)

External links

• Northern Territory Election 2001 Department of the Parliamentary Library

References

1. "Details of NT 2001 Election" (PDF). ABC.