ARAFURA
Labor 8.9%
| Region | Top End |
| Candidates | Marion Scrymgour (Labor)
August Stevens (CLP)
George Pascoe (Greens) |
Arafura includes Bathurst and Melville islands plus mainland territory to the east of Darwin. Bob Collins, Opposition Leader from 1981 to 1987, moved here from Arnhem when the electorate was created in 1983 and would later become a Senator, serving for six years as a minister in the Hawke and Keating governments. While recovering from a near-fatal car crash last year, Collins' Darwin home was raided by police investigating 30-year-old sexual assault allegations, prompting a spirited defence from (among others) Alan Ramsey in the Sydney Morning Herald. Collins' replacement as member for Arafura was Stan Tipiloura, who died of a heart attack in 1992. He in turn was replaced by VFL legend Maurice Rioli who had a rocky ride as member until 2001, suffering embarrassments over a bar fridge he pawned from his electorate office to cover gambling debts and a car he lent to an unlicensed teenager who then proceeded to crash it. His successor, former Katherine West Health Board director Marion Scrymgour, has so far dodged the apparent curse of Arafura, becoming Australia's first ever indigenous female minister immediately after the election and adding family and community services to her existing environment and heritage portfolios at the December 2003 reshuffle.
ASSESSMENT: Labor retain
Last time out independent candidate John Christopherson polled 25.2 per cent to pip the CLP into second place. This time the Greens candidate did well to poll 13.4 per cent, but the remainder of the minor party vote was absorbed by Marion Scrymgour, who was up 18.7 per cent. The CLP vote fell only slightly, but this was coming off a 17.9 per cent slump in 2001. Scrymgour's two-party swing was a slightly above-average 13.7 per cent.
OUTCOME: Labor retain (23.6%)
Click here for results at ABC Online
ARALUEN
Country Liberal 2.0%
| Region | Alice Springs |
| Candidates | Jodeen Carney (CLP)
Alan Tyley (Greens)
John Gaynor (Labor) |
Araluen takes in the south-western corner of Alice Springs and the hinterland beyond. It has been a Country Liberal Party seat since its creation in 1983, being held by Eric Poole from 1986 until 2001. Poole's retirement initiated a preselection stoush with far-reaching consequences. The Alice Springs branch preselected Peter Harvey but was overruled by what the Alice Springs News described as "Denis Burke supporters in the party's central council", who reassigned Harvey to the less attractive Braitling and installed local lawyer Jodeen Carney as candidate for Araluen. The Alice Springs branch would later emerge as a focal point of dissent against Burke's leadership. Carney narrowly held the seat in the face of two strong independent challengers (including Tony Bohning, whose CLP preselection win in MacDonnell was also overturned by central council, and who directed preferences to Labor) and a 17.2 per cent two-party swing to Labor. Antony Green noted that the Alice Springs to Darwin railway might also have contributed as it harmed the local economy by ending rail head goods transfers.
Despite her rough start, Carney was quickly promoted to Shadow Tourism Minister. Her rocky relationship with the local party branch worsened when she doomed Terry Mills' first coup attempt in June 2003 by siding with Burke; according to the Alice Springs News, "CLP insiders" said she had assured her "Alice Springs backers" she would support Mills, and her failure to do so had put her preselection in doubt. There were reports that some in the party felt Carney's support for Burke was a repayment for his role in installing her in place of Peter Harvey, and that Burke had also won her over with the promise of the deputy leadership. She in fact failed to win the deputy position when Mike Reed retired the following September, but was given a consolation prize with promotion to Shadow Attorney-General. Carney's defection to the Mills camp was the decisive factor in his defeat of Burke in the spill held on 11 November 2003, and followed her vocal opposition to Burke's refusal to allow a conscience vote on lowering the age of consent for gay males (described by federal CLP member David Tollner as "rent boy legislation"). Her responsibilities were further expanded when she was given the health portfolio in October 2004 after Tim Baldwin announced his impending retirement. Labor's candidate is John Gaynor, regional manager of the Department of Family and Community Services. The Alice Springs News describes him as "relatively unknown".
ASSESSMENT: Country Liberal retain
Alice Springs' exceptionalism was most clearly demonstrated in Araluen, where Jodeen Carney's 5.1 per cent improvement on two-party preferred made her the only CLP candidate to pick up a swing. However, the Greens had the non-major party vote to themselves this time out, scoring 9.2 per cent, whereas 2001 saw two strong independents score a collective 26.4 per cent. Carney's 53.7 per cent primary vote still compares unfavourably with predecessor Eric Poole's 69.2 per cent from 1997.
OUTCOME: Country Liberal retain (7.1%)
Click here for results at ABC Online
ARNHEM
Labor 11.4%
| Region | Top End |
| Outgoing Member | John Ah Kit (Labor) |
| Candidates | Djuwalpi Marika (CLP)
Barbara McCarthy (Labor)
Lance Lawrence (Greens) |
Arnhem includes Groote Eylandt and a thinly populated area of eastern Arnhem Land. A Labor seat since 1977, it has been held since 1995 by Sports Minister John Ah Kit who is now retiring due to ill-health. Labor has nominated indigenous ABC newsreader Barbara McCarthy, who had also been approached by the CLP. The CLP has instead nominated Djuwalpi Marika, town clerk of the Yirrkala Dhanbul Community Association. Usually they run two candidates, one white and one aboriginal, to take advantage of the Northern Territory ballot papers that identify candidates by photograph and not by party.
ASSESSMENT: Labor retain
Labor newcomer Barbara McCarthy did very well to add 11.5 per cent from John Ah Kit's primary vote from 2001. The CLP did not adopt its usual tactic of running candidates, though it's hard to say if this had anything to do with its 10.5 per cent dive on the primary vote. The two-party swing to Labor was a fairly typical 12.6 per cent.
OUTCOME: Labor retain (24.0%)
Click here for results at ABC Online
BARKLY
Labor 13.4%
| Region | Outback |
| Candidates | Val Dyer (CLP)
Elliot McAdam (Labor)
Janeen Bulsey (Independent) |
Barkly covers Tennant Creek and the surrounding area including the coastline immediately west of the Queensland border. The seat has an interesting history, having been home to former Chief Minister Ian Tuxworth from its creation in 1983 until 1990. Tuxworth was dumped from the CLP leadership in 1986 and responded by enlisting with the Joh for PM push, forming a local branch of the National Party and holding his seat as its candidate at the 1987 election by a margin of 19 votes. The result was later annulled and the narrowly defeated independent candidate, Maggie Hickey, stood for Labor at the ensuing supplementary election. Tuxworth prevailed again but Labor-voting aboriginal communities were then added to the seat in a redistribution that some considered highly suspect. He instead made an unsuccessful attempt to win Goyder at the 1990 election, and Hickey won Barkly for Labor. Hickey remained member until 2001 and served as Opposition Leader from 1996 until she stood aside in 1999. Elliot McAdam comfortably retained the seat for Labor at the 2001 election despite a campaign incident in which he was thrown out of a Tennant Creek hotel for being drunk and abusive. The Northern Territory News reported on 10 January 2004 that the seat was being eyed by Kon Vatskalis, a senior government member holding a precarious grip on his seat of Casuarina. The CLP has nominated Val Dyer, former president of the Territory Cattle Association. Antony Green calculates that the addition of 250 voters from Stuart in the redistribution has increased Labor's margin from 12.5 per cent to 13.4 per cent.
ASSESSMENT: Labor retain
Janeen Bulsey failed to pick up more than a fraction of the 18.7 per cent polled by independent candidate Gavin Carpenter in 2001, most of which went to Elliot McAdam. The CLP primary vote did actually rise fractionally, though the two-party outcome was a typically disastrous 10.4 per cent swing to Labor.
OUTCOME: Labor retain (23.8%)
Click here for results at ABC Online
BLAIN
Country Liberal 16.7%
| Region | Palmerston |
| Candidates | Sue McKinnon (Greens)
Terry Mills (CLP)
Duncan Dean (Independent)
Brendan Cabry (Labor) |
Covering the south-eastern suburbs of Palmerston, Blain is one of the CLP's safest seats. It was won upon its creation at the 1997 election by Barry Coulter, member for the abolished Palmerston since 1983, with 73.8 per cent of the vote. Coulter retired mid-term and CLP candidate Terry Mills came alarmingly close to losing to Labor at the ensuing by-election, held on 31 July 1999. Mills quickly found his feet, improving his primary vote from 46.4 per cent to 63.9 per cent at the 2001 election and winning promotion to the shadow education portfolio. He soon emerged as a leadership rival to Denis Burke and launched an unsuccessful challenge in June 2003. Opposition to Burke galvanised when he refused to allow a conscience vote on a bill to lower the age of consent for gay males to 16, and Mills defeated him by six votes to four at a spill on 11 November 2003 after winning the support of Jodeen Carney (Araluen) and newcomer Fay Miller (Katherine). This prompted Burke's wife, Palmerston mayor Annette Burke, to quit the party and threaten to run against Mills as an independent. This did not prove necessary as Mills quickly crashed and burned in the leadership role, suffering from poor performances in parliament and on television. Burke was returned unopposed after he stood aside on 4 February 2005, saying he lacked the experience to win and "wasn't up to the job". Labor candidate Brendan Cabry is a newcomer to Palmerston City Council.
ASSESSMENT: Country Liberal retain
Denis Burke's embarrassment was compounded by the relatively respectable performance for his rival Terry Mills in his neighbouring electorate of Blain. Mills' primary vote was down a mere 12.2 per cent and the two-party swing to Labor was under 10 per cent, though only just.
OUTCOME: Country Liberal retain (7.0%)
Click here for results at ABC Online
BRAITLING
Independent 5.5% vs CLP
| Region | Alice Springs |
| Candidates | Loraine Braham (Independent)
Sue West (Labor)
Michael Jones (CLP) |
Braitling covers the north-western suburbs of Alice Springs and has been a conservative seat since it was created in 1983. Independent member Loraine Braham held the seat as a CLP member from 1994 until February 2001, when she quit the party after the central council overturned her preselection win and installed local businessman Peter Harvey. Braham held the seat on Labor preferences, trailing Harvey 39.6 per cent to 34.0 per cent on the primary vote but ultimately prevailing with a 5.5 per cent margin after the distribution of Labor preferences. The new Labor government restored Braham to her earlier position as Speaker, which added a small amount of breathing space to their majority on the floor. A CLP source quoted in the Northern Territory News on April 23 said the party expected to recover the seat. Their candidate is former Alice Springs Town Council alderman Michael Jones, who as vice-president of the local CLP branch was a bitter opponent of Denis Burke during the 2003 leadership challenges.
ASSESSMENT: Independent retain
Loraine Braham had a very nervous time of it on election night but ultimately ended up with her nose in front of the CLP, despite a 6.2 per cent improvement in their primary vote that would have been unthinkable in any seat outside Alice Springs. Braham and Labor both eased slightly on the primary vote, translating into a 4.7 per cent two-candidate swing to the CLP.
OUTCOME: Independent retain (0.8% vs CLP)
Click here for results at ABC Online
BRENNAN
Country Liberal 19.0%
| Region | Palmerston |
| Candidates | James Burke (Labor)
Denis Burke (CLP)
Nelly Riley (Independent) |
Palmerston seat created at the 1990 election at which it was won for the CLP by Max Ortmann, defeating party colleague Col Firmin first for preselection and then when he ran against him as an independent. Ortmann, who is remembered for wrapping a microphone cord around an ABC reporter's neck, would in turn lose preselection to Denis Burke in 1994 and also attempted unsuccessfully to retain the seat as an independent. Burke came to politics from a military background and rose to the position of Chief Minister in 1999, unseating future Liberal Party national president Shane Stone. His leadership survived the immediate aftermath of the 2001 election defeat but opposition within the party soon coalesced around Terry Mills. Mills failed in his first leadership challenge in June 2003 but succeeded on the second attempt the following November, launched after Burke refused to allow a conscience vote on legislation to cut the age of consent for gay males to 16. Defence force chief Peter Cosgrove was also seen to have damaged Burke shortly before when he called him as a "goose" over comments he made regarding marijuana use at Robertson Barracks. The party soon regretted its decision; the Northern Territory News reported that Mills floundered so badly that Burke "took control of question time strategy and CLP policy". He was returned unopposed on 7 February 2005 after Mills stepped aside. Labor's candidate is LHMWU officer James Burke, no relation. The redistribution has shifted Robertson Barracks to Nelson.
ASSESSMENT: Country Liberal retain
The most astounding result of a truly remarkable election was Denis Burke's defeat on the back of a 20.9 per cent swing, which mostly took the form of a straightforward exchange of primary votes - the unheralded James Burke boosted Labor's vote 21.8 per cent, while his CLP namesake was down 19.4 per cent. It has been suggested that the former Burke benefited from the similarity of his name to the latter, but the fact that candidates' photographs appear on Northern Territory ballot papers suggests this was unlikely to have been much of a factor. Independent candidate Nelly Riley did quite well to poll 11.2 per cent and her preferences overwhelmingly favoured Labor, widening a narrow primary vote gap of 44.8 per cent to 44.0 per cent.
OUTCOME: LABOR GAIN (2.0%)
Click here for results at ABC Online
CASUARINA
Labor 3.5%
| Region | Northern Suburbs |
| Candidates | Scott Richard White (Independent)
Wendy Green (CLP)
Gary Mills (Independent)
Kon Vatskalis (Labor) |
The Darwin seat of Casuarina has existed since the creation of the parliament in 1974, being held for the first 20 years by Nick Dondas of the CLP. Dondas would go on to hold the federal seat of Northern Territory for one term following the 1996 election that brought John Howard to power, and ran as an independent against CLP incumbent Sue Carter in Port Darwin at the last election. His departure from Casuarina produced a contest at the 1994 election between television newsreader Peter Adamson of the CLP and ABC Radio presenter Clare Martin of Labor. Adamson prevailed and Martin went on to become member for Fannie Bay at the 1997 election, and eventually Chief Minister. After serving as a minister in the Shane Stone and Denis Burke governments, Adamson suffered a narrow defeat at the hands of Labor's Kon Vatskalis in 2001, and has gone on to become Lord Mayor of Darwin. Greek-born Vatskalis was initially installed in the environment and heritage portfolios but was reassigned in the December 2003 reshuffle, currently holding mines and energy, primary industry and fisheries and multicultural affairs. The Northern Territory News reported on 10 January 2004 that he had his eyes on the safer seat of Barkly, held by Elliot McAdam. CLP candidate Wendy Green is a former journalist and school teacher and owner of 1999 Melbourne Cup winner Rogan Josh.
ASSESSMENT: Labor retain
Wendy Green was reckoned to be one of the CLP's more appealing marginal seat candidates, but it availed her not in the face of the Darwin Labor avalanche. Kon Vatskalis was up 17.5 per cent while the CLP plunged 14.7 per cent, for a two-party swing to Labor of 15.5 per cent that made the seat marginal no more.
OUTCOME: Labor retain (19.0%)
Click here for results at ABC Online
DALY
Country Liberal 9.5%
| Region | Outback |
| Outgoing Member | Tim Baldwin (CLP) |
| Candidates | Robert Knight (Labor)
Debbi Aloisi (CLP)
Elke Stegemann (Greens)
Dale John Seaniger (Independent) |
Pastoral electorate surrounding but not including Katherine, Daly is one of only two CLP-held seats with a substantial indigenous population (45.4 per cent), the other being MacDonnell. Daly was formerly named Victoria River, changing when the redistribution before the 2001 election removed the station of that name from the electorate. It has again been substantially changed in the recent redistribution, losing 780 voters to Katherine and gaining 1300 from Goyder, which by Antony Green's reckoning cuts the margin from 11.8 per cent to 9.5 per cent. Victoria River was usually a CLP seat, although Labor won narrowly in 1990 when sitting member Terry McCarthy jumped ship to Goyder. Tim Baldwin recovered the seat in 1994 and strongly consolidated thereafter, winning easily in 2001 despite the inevitable swing. His announcement in June 2004 that he would quit politics to return to business was seen by many to betray a lack of confidence in the CLP's electoral prospects. On 8 February 2005 the Centralian Advocate accused Baldwin of having played "no real part in the business of opposition since announcing his departure". In his place the CLP has nominated Katherine small business partner Debbi Aloisi. Public servant Robert Knight is again running for Labor, despite earlier reports that indigenous identities Tracker Tilmouth and Michael Berto were the front-runners. Thamarrurr Regional Council deputy chief executive Dale Seaniger is running as an independent, and is reckoned by some to be in with chance.
ASSESSMENT: LABOR GAIN
The Poll Bludger's assessment of Daly as a Labor gain was reckoned a bold call by most, but Labor candidate Robert Knight ended up on the receiving end of a barely believable 24.3 per cent swing. With a popular CLP sitting member vacating the field, their vote collapsed from 57.2 per cent to 28.0 per cent, while an 18.8 per cent increase in Labor's primary vote meant they didn't even have to go to preferences. Highly rated independent candidate Dale Seaniger polled an unexceptional 14.1 per cent.
OUTCOME: LABOR GAIN (15.1%)
Click here for results at ABC Online
DRYSDALE
Country Liberal 15.7%
| Region | Palmerston |
| Candidates | Chris Natt (Labor)
Stephen Dunham (CLP) |
Taking in suburbs in both Darwin and Palmerston, Drysdale replaced the abolished seat of Leanyer in 1997 and was again substantially redrawn before the 2001 election to accommodate rapid growth in the area. It has again shrunk with the recent redistribution, losing about 600 voters to Goyder. Stephen Dunham has been member since the seat's inception and was spoken of as a leadership aspirant after the 2001 election. Labor's candidate is outgoing AFL Northern Territory chief executive Chris Natt, who played 216 games for Port Adelaide in the SANFL between 1972 and 1983.
ASSESSMENT: Country Liberal retain
Along with Brennan, Drysdale was one of two Labor wins that no sane observer would have picked. A head-to-head CLP versus Labor contest at consecutive elections, Labor's Chris Natt picked up a straightforward 17.0 per cent swing that was just enough to account for Stephen Dunham's seemingly unassailable margin.
OUTCOME: LABOR GAIN (1.6%)
Click here for results at ABC Online
FANNIE BAY
Labor 9.8%
| Region | Inner Darwin |
| Candidates | Fiona Bronwyn Clarke (Independent)
Clare Martin (Labor)
Edward Fry (CLP) |
Fannie Bay has existed since the establishment of the Assembly in 1974 and was originally held for the CLP by Grant Tambling, who would later serve a term in the House of Representatives and several in the Senate. Labor won the seat in 1977 but it was recovered for the CLP in 1980 by Marshall Perron, who had been member for Stuart Park since 1974. Perron would go on to serve as Chief Minister from 1988 until his retirement in 1995. Clare Martin, who had failed to win Casuarina at the 1994 election, won the ensuing by-election and went on to become party leader in 1999 and Chief Minister in 2001. CLP candidate Eddie Fry is a former SANFL footballer and nephew of retiring Labor minister John Ah Kit. The electorate has increased in size following the redistribution through the addition of the suburb The Gardens, home to about 400 voters, which was formerly in Port Darwin.
ASSESSMENT: Labor retain
Clare Martin's 8.5 per cent swing was unexceptional by Darwin standards, though it left her with a thumping 18.3 per cent margin in a seat that was a safe home to a CLP leader until 1995.
OUTCOME: Labor retain (18.6%)
Click here for results at ABC Online
GOYDER
Country Liberal 14.8%
| Region | Top End |
| Outgoing Member | Peter Maley (Independent) |
| Candidates | Diana Rickard (Greens)
Ted Warren (Labor)
Mary Walshe (Independent)
Andrew Blackadder (Independent)
Keith Phasey (CLP) |
Goyder is a rural electorate surrounding Darwin and Palmerston, with a smaller aboriginal population than other non-metropolitan seats. Growth in Darwin has sucked the electorate closer into its orbit following the recent redistribution, with the addition of 700 voters around Humpty Doo from Nelson and 300 in Marlows Lagoon west of Palmerston from Daly. Goyder was won for the CLP upon its creation in 1990 by Terry McCarthy, member for Victoria River from 1983, who defeated Ian Tuxworth, the former Chief Minister who won Barkly as a Joh-boosting National Party candidate in 1987 after the CLP dumped him as leader. Peter Maley replaced McCarthy upon his retirement at the 2001 election, and did remarkably well to limit the drop in the CLP vote to 1.6 per cent. Maley was quickly promoted to shadow Attorney-General and apparently had his own ascension in mind when he agitated for Denis Burke's removal in 2003. The job instead went to Terry Mills (with whom Maley ultimately sided against Burke), and things quickly went awry from that point. Maley was soon dogged by controversies involving overseas junkets and conflicts of interest relating to his ongoing role as partner in a legal firm. In April 2004 he was dumped from the front-bench by Mills, who accused him of going "AWOL" after he took an interstate trip to represent the Northern Territory in polocross. Maley subsequently announced that he would not stand for re-election; Mills claimed this was a direct reaction to his sacking, which Maley denied. Maley courted further controversy after returning to his legal practice for four days a week while still serving as an MP. He was sacked from the parliamentary CLP in May 2005 after he left the Northern Territory without informing the party; the following day it emerged that a domestic violence order, since withdrawn, had been taken out against him.
Two independent candidates have added interest to this contest, with most fancying the chances of Litchfield shire president Mary Walshe, who had earlier been approached by both Labor and the CLP. An unidentified CLP member quoted in the Northern Territory News in January predicted Walshe would win the seat "comfortably" if she chose to run (although another was quoted saying she "may not be as highly regarded in Goyder as she thinks"). However, she may be handicapped by the circumstances of her last-minute nomination after earlier announcing she would not run. The Territory Times reported she was in "a frantic state of indecision" when they spoke to her just two hours before the nomination deadline. She also carries the weight of a recent 17 per cent rates hike at Litchfield. The other independent is Andrew Blackadder, chairperson of Freds Pass Management Board, whom the Territory Times reports was "knocked back for CLP preselection". The Northern Territory News reported on June 12 that internal polling results had the CLP expecting to lose to either Walshe or Blackadder. Antony Green observes that "the result will most likely depend on which candidate finishes third", meaning the CLP will win if it's Walshe, but Walshe will win if it's the CLP or Labor.
In place of Maley the CLP has endorsed Keith Phasey, reckoned by the Northern Territory News to be "little known in the community". The News also quoted a CLP source who said Phasey's preselection rival, Minerals Council chief executive Kezia Purich (the daughter of Noel Padgham-Purich, long-serving former member for Nelson), was rejected because it was felt there were "too many women in the Territory Parliament already", and that Purich "was unsuitable because she was not married and had no children".
The paper seemed unduly excited late in the campaign when a property owned by Phasey was raided by police seeking information on the deaths of four Western Australian cancer patients who had been treated by his wife.
ASSESSMENT: INDEPENDENT GAIN (Mary Walshe)
The Poll Bludger made five wrong calls in all, but this was the only clanger. The Litchfield rates hike and Walshe's late and indecisive entry into the contest should have sounded alarm bells, the former for obvious reasons and the latter because hands-on campaigning is essential in the Northern Territory's pocket-sized electorates. Even so, her 13.8 per cent would have to be reckoned a serious disappointment. Andrew Blackadder (8.8 per cent) and the Greens (6.4 per cent) swelled the non-major party vote, such that the 21.4 per cent plunge in support for the CLP delivered Labor only 11.1 per cent on the primary vote, giving them a narrow lead of 35.7 per cent to 35.3 per cent. This widened slightly after distribution of preferences, putting the seal on another shock Labor win.
OUTCOME: LABOR GAIN (1.6%)
Click here for results at ABC Online
GREATOREX
Country Liberal 9.0%
| Region | Alice Springs |
| Candidates | David Howard Mortimer (Greens)
Richard Lim (CLP)
Fran Kilgariff (Labor) |
This seat on the east side of Alice Springs was named Sadadeen until 1990. It was held from 1980 to 1994 by Dennis Collins, as a CLP member until he lost preselection in 1986. Collins retained the seat as an independent at the 1987 election against CLP candidate Shane Stone, who would later become Chief Minister and federal president of the Liberal Party. Antony Green describes Collins as "one of Australia's great conspiracy theorists, a proponent of burying guns in the desert in case the Fabian Socialist World Bank conspiracy turned out to be true". Collins eventually lost the seat in 1994 to Richard Lim, who had risen to the position of Education Minister by the time of the CLP's 2001 election defeat. In September 2003 he became the deputy party leader, a position he has retained through two leadership changes. Lim supported Denis Burke over Terry Mills in both the leadership challenges in 2003, despite reportedly having promised to support Mills on the former occasion.
Greatorex would normally be beyond Labor's radar, but they have been put well into contention with their recruitment of Fran Kilgariff, mayor of Alice Springs and daughter of CLP founding father Bernie Kilgariff (her brother Michael nearly unseated Clare Martin as CLP candidate for Fannie Bay in 1997). The contest between Lim and Kilgariff came to life on April 12 when the Centralian Advocate reported on an illegitimate child Kilgariff had put up for adoption 30 years ago. The Advocate would not reveal its source for the story, but Kilgariff and Clare Martin pointed the finger at Lim. The following day the Advocate's News Limited stablemate, the Northern Territory News, reported it had "learned" that the story came from a CLP source other than Lim. Lim then revealed that he too had been the parent of an illegitimate child put up for adoption in 1971, and threatened to sue Martin for defamation unless she apologised for naming him as the Centralian Advocate's source. The deadline for the apology passed on April 22 with no word from Martin. The following day, an unidentified CLP source quoted in the Northern Territory News said the party "fears Richard Lim will be beaten". One who does not agree is Alex Nelson of the Alice Springs News, a man with an encyclopaedic knowledge of Northern Territory politics, who cites Lim's electoral record and Labor's "extremely weak" presence in Alice Springs as evidence that "the likelihood of her winning a seat lies somewhere between Buckley's and none". The Poll Bludger is nervously declining to defer to his superior wisdom.
ASSESSMENT: LABOR GAIN
Wrongly tipping a seat as a Labor gain seems like poor form in the context of this election, but under the circumstances the CLP's resilience in Alice Springs was a surprise (to me at least - among those who were not fooled were Antony Green and Ken Parish). Even so, Fran Kilgariff gave Richard Lim a run for his money, although he shed a modest 2.6 per cent of his primary vote to score 48.6 per cent. Labor were up 6.5 per cent to 40.8 per cent and received the overwhelming bulk of preferences from the Greens, who scored a fairly healthy 10.6 per cent.
OUTCOME: Country Liberal retain (1.5%)
Click here for results at ABC Online
JOHNSTON
Labor 2.9%
| Region | Northern Suburbs |
| Candidates | Ross Connolly (CLP)
Chris Burns (Labor)
Gary William Meyerhoff (Independent)
Kate Neely (Greens)
Steve Saint (Independent) |
Northern suburbs seat which replaced Jingili in 2001, a seat which had existed since the Assembly's creation in 1974. Jingili was held for the first 10 years by Paul Everingham, the Northern Territory's first Chief Minister and a future member of the House of Representatives. Steve Balch became member in 1997 but the renamed seat was won by Labor for the first time as part of its decisive sweep of the northern suburbs in 2001. Victorious candidate Chris Burns was awarded with the tourism and emergency services portfolios and was given an expanded role in the December 2003 reshuffle, with portfolios including transport and infrastructure, lands and planning and parks and wildlife. Burns became embroiled in an unpleasant controversy in early 2005 when MacDonnell MP John Elferink threatened to "f...ing smack" him after he repeatedly mouthed the word "poofter" at him in parliament. He had earlier upset Elferink by saying "that's for the member for MacDonnell" after a Labor colleague held up a vegetable during a parliamentary debate, which Elferink interpreted as a reference to the sexual abuse he suffered as a child. Architect Ross Connolly is still listed as the CLP candidate despite a Northern Territory News report on 9 November 2004 that he faced disendorsement because he was "not working hard enough".
ASSESSMENT: Labor retain
A relatively modest outcome for Labor by the standards of the Darwin area, although you can't complain too much about a two-party swing of 9.2 per cent swing. The CLP lost more (14.1 per cent) than Labor gained (8.8 per cent) due to the debut of the Greens, who polled 10.0 per cent.
OUTCOME: Labor retain (12.1%)
Click here for results at ABC Online
KARAMA
Labor 3.7%
| Region | Northern Suburbs |
| Candidates | Delia Lawrie (Labor)
Trevor Sellick (CLP) |
Northern suburbs seat held from its creation in 1987 by the CLP's Mick Palmer, who had previously been member for abolished Leanyer from 1983. Palmer held on grimly in 1994 and 1997 before being swept out by the northern suburbs tide that delivered victory to Labor in the 2001 election. The winner was Delia Lawrie, whose mother Dawn Lawrie was a long-serving independent member in the 1970s and an unsuccessful candidate for Lord Mayor of Darwin in 2004. They are apparently the only mother and daughter to both be elected to parliament in Australian history. CLP candidate Trevor Sellick is a St John Ambulance worker and winner of the OAM for his role in co-ordinating ambulance services during the Bali bombing evacuation.
ASSESSMENT: Labor retain
A head-to-head contest for the second election in a row, the result was a straightforward 13.3 per cent swing to Labor, consistent with the Darwin CLP bloodbath.
OUTCOME: Labor retain (17.0%)
Click here for results at ABC Online
KATHERINE
Country Liberal 15.3%
| Region | Katherine |
| Candidates | Sharon Hillen (Labor)
Fay Miller (CLP) |
This electorate includes most of the town of Katherine along with the Tindall air base. Mike Reed was member from the seat's creation in 1987 and was Deputy Chief Minister when the CLP was dumped from power in 2001. His retirement precipitated a by-election on 4 October 2003 at which the party's candidate, Fay Miller, held on despite a 10.2 per cent swing to Labor. Miller's election proved an important factor in Terry Mills' ascension to the leadership as it came between his challenges in June, when Burke had the support of six of the 10 CLP members including Reed, and November, when Mills prevailed with six votes including that of Miller. Antony Green calculates that the addition of around 800 voters east of Katherine River from Daly has added 0.8 per cent to the CLP margin.
ASSESSMENT: Country Liberal retain
Early results made it look like Katherine might join Brennan and Drysdale as a freak Labor gain, but Fay Miller pulled ahead to secure a less than impressive win. No two-party outcome was calculated last time, but the CLP vote eased slightly despite a reduction in the field from five candidates to two, while Labor was up 21.2 per cent.
OUTCOME: Country Liberal retain (2.8%)
Click here for results at ABC Online
MacDONNELL
Country Liberal 8.5%
| Region | Central Australia |
| Candidates | Andrew Robert Longmire (Greens)
John Elferink (CLP)
Vincent Forrester (Independent)
David Chewings (Independent)
Alison Anderson (Labor) |
One of the original seats from 1974, MacDonnell was held by Labor from 1977 until 1997 when it was lost upon the retirement of Neil Bell, member since 1981. Their preselection of a union official prompted local aboriginal identity Ken Lechleitner to run as an independent and direct preferences to the successful CLP candidate, John Elferink. The Alice Springs News reported that Elferink was defeated by Loraine Braham staffer Tony Bohning in the local branch preselection vote before the 2001 election, but his win was overturned by the party's central council (as was Braham's in Braitling). Antony Green reckoned the redistribution going into the 2001 election had turned it from a CLP to a notional Labor seat, so it was a doubly remarkable effort by John Elferink to hold it against the overwhelming trend of the election. The CLP employed its interesting tactic of running two candidates, one white (Elferink) and one aboriginal (Philip Alice), designed to take advantage of the Northern Territory's ballot papers which identify candidates by photograph and not by party. Elferink backed Terry Mills in both his 2003 leadership challenges against Denis Burke, and moved to the back-bench after the failure of the first. In March 2005, he accused Labor of running a "smear campaign" to suggest he was a homosexual. This followed an incident where Elferink was suspended from parliament for 24 hours for threatening to "f...ing smack" Johnston MP Chris Burns after he repeatedly mouthed the word "poofter" at him. During debate over legislation to lower the age of consent for gay males, Elferink had described in graphic terms a sexual assault he suffered at the hands of an adult predator during his adolescence. A Northern Territory News editorial said suggestions regarding Elferink's sexuality "would probably not matter in one of the more solidly middle-class seats", but "could be devastating in a traditional indigenous constituency" (Elferink's fiancee is almost due to give birth at the time of writing).
Labor has by all accounts landed itself a formidable candidate in former Northern Territory Central ATSIC commissioner Alison Anderson, whom the Centralian Advocate says has "a strong personal following, language and the networks to pose a real threat". However, she has come under scrutiny over reported financial irregularities at ATSIC-funded Papunya Community Council, from which her husband Steve Hanley was ousted as chief executive in September 2004 by order of the Department of Local Government. Nevertheless, a CLP source quoted in the Northern Territory News on April 23 said the party "expects to lose", and there have also been reports of high hopes in the Labor camp. The significance of Anderson's links with local aboriginal communities cannot be understated, since MacDonnell combines the highest indigenous population of any CLP-held seat (67.7 per cent, the nearest rivals being Daly on 45.4 per cent and Katherine on 24.0 per cent) with a record of low turnouts at recent elections (61.6 per cent in 2001 and 63.6 per cent in 1997).
ASSESSMENT: LABOR GAIN
Controversies surrounding Alison Anderson harmed her not one bit, although a number of mitigating factors might be attached to her 20.6 per cent swing. Last time around the CLP ran a second Aboriginal candidate to feed preferences to John Elferink, while this time Anderson was the only Aboriginal on the ballot paper. Sure enough, the enormous swing was particularly pronounced in the mobile booths that service remote communities. The combined CLP vote was down 27.8 per cent while Labor was up 14.0 per cent, with the Greens' 9.9 per cent making up most of the remainder. This was one of four seats that delivered Labor a swing of more than 20 per cent.
OUTCOME: LABOR GAIN (20.6%)
Click here for results at ABC Online
MILLNER
Labor 1.2%
| Region | Northern Suburbs |
| Candidates | Rob Hoad (Greens)
Paul Mossman (CLP)
Matthew Bonson (Labor)
Phil Mitchell (Independent)
Robert Paul Inder-Smith (Independent) |
Northern suburbs seat dominated by Darwin Airport and RAAF Base, Millner includes the highest aboriginal population of any Darwin seat by virtue of including the Bagot community. Millner was one of the five seats Labor won at the 1977 election after they struck out altogether at the first Assembly election in 1974. One-time Labor leader Terry Smith was the member from 1983 until his retirement in 1991, when future legend of the blogosphere Ken Parish held it for Labor at a by-election. Parish was unseated by Phil Mitchell of the CLP at the 1994 election despite an overall swing to Labor, an outcome widely credited to late-campaign push-polling targeting every household in the electorate. Mitchell held the seat until the 2001 election when preferences delivered an 82-vote win to Labor's Matthew Bonson, a lawyer and local sporting identity of varied but mostly indigenous heritage, in an outcome that secured Labor its one-seat majority. Mitchell launched but later withdrew a legal challenge against the result, claiming Labor had continued to distribute a flyer after the Electoral Office upheld a complaint against it.
Bonson hit trouble in March 2002 when he became the subject of a police investigation over a brawl with a basketball teammate that left him with a black eye, which led Clare Martin to ban him from playing sport. Two months earlier he had been suspended for two weeks by the Northern Territory Football League after urinating during a reserves match - "behind the bushes", according to a government spokesman quoted by AAP, but "along the boundary line" according to the Northern Territory News. Despite Bonson's indiscretions he apparently remains popular among notoriously tolerant Darwin voters. In December 2002, the Northern Territory News reported he had "built up quite a following among football fans for his humorous and colourful football commentaries" for community station Larrakia 94.5FM. The report suggested that the CLP's irritation over this may have prompted the Southern Districts Football Club, whose president was former Nelson MP and current candidate Chris Lugg, to ban the station from covering matches at its home ground. Phil Mitchell has by all accounts maintained the rage, and will run as an independent after losing CLP preselection to Paul Mossman, an investigator for Consumer Affairs. Mossman attracted publicity over comments he posted on the Inside Politics website, one saying that a 13-year-old American girl denied an abortion "should have just kept her legs closed", another that there were "plenty in line waiting their chances" to assume the CLP leadership from Denis Burke. The Northern Territory News reported during the campaign that Mitchell was running at the behest of the CLP because it had lost confidence in Mossman, and that its internal polling gave him a better chance of winning.
ASSESSMENT: Labor retain
Paul Mossman finished well astern of Phil Mitchell, their collective 37.7 per cent vote being 8.3 per cent down on the CLP vote from 2001, while the Labor vote was up about the same. Greens preferences helped pad the two-party swing out to 11.7 per cent.
OUTCOME: Labor retain (12.8% vs IND)
Click here for results at ABC Online
NELSON
Independent 1.1% vs CLP
| Region | Outer Darwin |
| Candidates | Lisa McKinney-Smith (Labor)
Chris Lugg (CLP)
Gerry Wood (Independent) |
Semi-rural outer Darwin seat that replaced the abolished Koolpinyah in 1990. The inaugural member was Noel Padgham-Purich (a woman), who had held other seats as a CLP member from 1977 and as an independent after losing preselection in 1987. It was recovered for the CLP upon her retirement in 1997 by Chris Lugg, who narrowly defeated a Padgham-Purich endorsed independent candidate, David Toller. Tollner has since gone on to fame as the colourful Liberal member for the Darwin-based federal seat of Solomon, which he won upon its creation in 2001. Lugg quickly rose to the position of Education Minister but was defeated in 2001 by Litchfield shire president Gerry Wood, running as an independent. Denis Burke accused Labor of "buying off" Wood with the deputy speaker's position, to which he responded by donating the extra $8000 that came with the job to local sporting clubs. The CLP has given Chris Lugg a chance to win his old seat back and he is attacking the task with vigour, drawing a remarkably mild response from Wood and fellow independent Loraine Braham over a pamphlet which said Labor had been "offering them personal incentives, which effectively sidelined them". The redistribution has produced significant changes to the electorate, which has absorbed Robertson Barracks from Brennan and Knuckey Lagoon from Drysdale. This infusion of unfamiliar new voters has weakened Wood's margin (from 2.7 per cent to 1.1 per cent, by Antony Green's reckoning), emboldening a CLP source quoted in the Northern Territory News on April 23 to predict that the party would win the seat, while still losing the election.
ASSESSMENT: Independent retain
Of the two independent incumbents Gerry Wood had by far the easier time of it, piling on an extra 24.1 per cent to score 57.3 per cent on the primary vote. Strangely, the seat was reckoned to be in doubt early on election night. Chris Lugg shed 17.3 per cent from 2001 while the Labor vote was basically unchanged.
OUTCOME: Independent retain (17.0% vs CLP)
Click here for results at ABC Online
NHULUNBUY
Labor 16.1%
| Region | Top End |
| Candidates | Peter James Manning (CLP)
Syd Stirling (Labor) |
One of the original seats from 1974, Labor's win in this Gove Peninsula electorate at the 1980 election was their last at the expense of any CLP incumbent until 2001. It has become extremely safe for Labor over the years, having been held since 1990 by the second most senior member of the Martin government, Treasurer Syd Stirling. Stirling, who is 53, received treatment to remove cancerous growths from his bladder in December 2003 and April 2005, but has declared himself fit to continue. The CLP at first preselected high-profile former ATSIC chairman Gatjil Djerrkura but he declined to run, complaining that the local party branch had "stonewalled" him. They have instead nominated Territory Barramundi Fishermen's Association chairman Peter Manning.
ASSESSMENT: Labor retain
There was no official two-party preferred calculation in 2001, this election being the first at which the Northern Territory Electoral Commission has made the effort to continue counts beyond the point at which the winner was declared. With no minors or independents in the field this time, both parties were up - Labor from 54.9 per cent to 68.7 per cent and the CLP from 25.8 per cent to 31.3 per cent.
OUTCOME: Labor retain (18.7%)
Click here for results at ABC Online
NIGHTCLIFF
Labor 7.1%
| Region | Northern Suburbs |
| Candidates | Stuart Highway (Independent)
Ilana Eldridge (Greens)
Arthur Andrew (Independent)
Anthony Karl Reiter (CLP)
Jane Aagaard (Labor) |
The past members of this northern suburbs seat are Dawn Lawrie, mother of Labor member for Karama Delia Lawrie who held it as an independent from 1974 to 1983 (and ran unsuccessfully for Lord Mayor of Darwin with Clare Martin's endorsement in 2004), and Steve Hatton, CLP member from 1983 to 2001 and Chief Minister from 1986 to 1988. Hatton's son Jason attempted to hold the seat for the CLP upon his father's retirement but an 11.7 per cent swing delivered it to Labor's Jane Aagaard. Aagaard was immediately elevated to Health Minister and quickly developed a reputation as a liability for the government, eventually being dumped to the back-bench in December 2003. A Northern Territory News editorial on 10 January 2004 reported that "everybody from the Chief Minister to the bloke who runs the corner shop wants her to bow out graciously", but she is nevertheless standing again. Martin's critics are keen to point out that she had directly installed Aagaard as Labor's candidate in 2001 without a preselection ballot. The CLP candidate is Anthony Reiter, managing director of Mobil Berrimah. Cricketer Ken Vowles said he was "seriously considering" running as an independent.
ASSESSMENT: Labor retain
Ilana Eldridge was the Greens' highest profile candidate and accordingly secured the highest vote, 15.8 per cent. This meant that both parties were down on the primary vote, Labor by 2.2 per cent to 49.7 per cent and the CLP by 9.7 per cent to 29.1 per cent. This added up to an 8.5 per cent two-party swing to Labor.
OUTCOME: Labor retain (15.6%)
Click here for results at ABC Online
PORT DARWIN
Country Liberal 7.3%
| Region | Inner Darwin |
| Candidates | Kerry Sacilotto (Labor)
Sue Carter (CLP) |
One of the original seats from the creation of the Assembly in 1974, Port Darwin includes the CBD and has always been safe for the CLP. Shane Stone became member in 1990 and served as Chief Minister from 1995 until he was dumped in favour of Denis Burke in 1999. His subsequent retirement led to a by-election on 11 March 2000 at which Sue Carter easily retained the seat for the CLP after a campaign dominated by the mandatory sentencing issue. She had a tougher time at the 2001 election when veteran former Territory and federal MP Nick Dondas ran against her as an independent, having quit the CLP after failing to win preselection for the federal seat of Solomon. Carter emerged with a still comfortable margin and was promoted to the shadow health portfolio in December 2002, but was shifted in the third reshuffle conducted on Terry Mills' watch in October 2004 (she had supported Mills in both his challenges against Denis Burke in 2003). Her current responsibilities include family, emergency services, environment and heritage. It was reported in early 2004 that her seat was being eyed by Darwin Business Association president Braedon Earley, who was reluctant to try his luck in Casuarina. Labor candidate Kerry Sacilotto is vice-president of the Northern Territory Real Estate Institute of the Northern Territory. The redistribution has cost the electorate about 400 voters in the suburb of The Gardens, now in Fannie Bay. Antony Green calculates that this has added 0.4 per cent to the CLP margin.
ASSESSMENT: Country Liberal retain
With Nic Dondas's 16.7 per cent vote from 2001 freed up, CLP member Sue Carter actually managed to increase her primary vote slightly, from 47.1 per cent to 48.5 per cent. But in this two-horse race it needed to improve more. Labor's 51.5 per cent was 16.0 per cent up on last time.
OUTCOME: LABOR GAIN (1.5%)
Click here for results at ABC Online
SANDERSON
Labor 3.0%
| Region | Northern Suburbs |
| Candidates | Peter Styles (CLP)
Len Kiely (Labor) |
Sanderson takes in the northern Darwin suburbs of Anula, Wulagi and Marrara, and part of Malak. A 12.3 per cent swing at the 2001 election delivered the seat to former public servant Len Kiely after the retirement of Daryl Manzie, CLP member from 1983. Labor's only previous win was in 1977. Kiely has remained on the back bench since his election, but made the news in April 2002 after using an obscenity in parliament to describe CLP member Steve Dunham (the Northern Territory News delicately reported that the obscenity in question was "w....."). An otherwise pessimistic CLP source quoted in the Northern Territory News on April 23 said the party was "hopeful" of recovering Sanderson. Their candidate is police officer Peter Styles.
ASSESSMENT: Labor retain
Poor old Len Kiely was on the receiving end of an ABC vox pop interview during the campaign to gauge voters' views on local candidates, from a reporter who had no idea who he was. This was not the only item of evidence suggesting Kiely was not as well known in his electorate as he might have been, and he accordingly recorded a relatively modest 7.0 per cent two-party swing. But with no minor party or independent candidates in the field, he still lifted a handsome 15.8 per cent on the primary vote, while the CLP vote was little changed.
OUTCOME: Labor retain (8.5%)
Click here for results at ABC Online
STUART
Labor 17.8%
| Region | Central Australia |
| Candidates | Anna de Sousa Machado (CLP)
Peter Toyne (Labor) |
Stuart covers about half the length of the Western Australia border to the north of Alice Springs. An electorate of this name has existed since the establishment of the Assembly in 1974, but its character was altered in 1983 when a redistribution moved it out of Alice Springs. It then fell to Labor for the first time and has been safe for them ever since. Peter Toyne has been the member since a 1996 by-election held after the retirement of former party leader Brian Ede. Toyne became Health Minister after the demotion of Jane Aagaard in December 2003 while maintaining the portfolios of Attorney-General, Justice Minister and Minister for Central Australia. He was reprimanded by Clare Martin the following month for thinking out loud about retiring and promptly announced his determination to serve another term. The CLP candidate is Anna Machado, whom the Northern Territory News reports was "exiled from her community of Willowra, where she ran the local store, and banned from accessing Aboriginal land under provisions of the NT Land Rights Act invoked by the Central Land Council". Most voters in the electorate live on the land in question, and the move prevented Machado from campaigning among them until the election date was announced. The redistribution has added 330 voters in town camps on the edge of Alice Springs and removed 250 near the Queensland border; Antony Green calculates that this has cut the Labor margin from 21.3 per cent to 17.8 per cent.
ASSESSMENT: Labor retain
Labor had much less room for improvement here than in most other seats, and the shifts were accordingly relatively modest - Labor up 4.6 per cent to 71.3 per cent, CLP down 2.3 per cent to 28.7 per cent.
OUTCOME: Labor retain (21.3%)
Click here for results at ABC Online
WANGURI
Labor 7.2%
| Region | Northern Suburbs |
| Candidates | Paul Henderson (Labor)
Kerrie Kyriacou (CLP) |
Northern suburbs seat created with the enlargement of parliament in 1983. Wanguri was held by the CLP's Don Dale until his retirement in 1989, and subsequently by Labor's John Bailey after a by-election. Bailey nearly lost his seat against the trend of a general pro-Labor swing at the 1994 election, which many blamed on heavy CLP push-polling that also targeted Ken Parish in Millner. Bailey's retirement in 1999 precipitated a by-election at which Labor's Paul Henderson picked up an 11.5 per cent two-party swing. Going on the 1997 election figures, Antony Green said the redistribution turned it from a Labor to a CLP seat going into the 2001 election. The 0.4 per cent two-party and 3.3 per cent primary vote swings recorded by Henderson were accordingly better than they looked. Henderson currently holds portfolios including business and industry and police, fire and emergency services. The CLP raised eyebrows in 2004 when it endorsed as its candidate a paid-up member of the Labor Party, Kerrie Kyriacou. The Northern Territory News reported that she was "believed to have been the only person who stepped forward". Kyriacou was in the news in early 2005 following accusations a new year's raffle at a Cypriot community function had been rigged to the benefit of her teenage sons, but all concerned were eventually cleared.
ASSESSMENT: Labor retain
Paul Henderson has done very well for himself in a seat that was notionally CLP at the time of the 2001 election, this time harvesting an extra 15.5 per cent on the primary vote.
OUTCOME: Labor retain (20.8%)
Click here for results at ABC Online
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