# 1980 Northern Territory general election

A general election was held in the Northern Territory on Saturday June 7, 1980. It was the first to be held since self-government was attained two years earlier, and was won by the incumbent Country Liberal Party (CLP) under Chief Minister Paul Everingham.
Although the CLP's share of the vote increased by almost 10 percentage points, it lost one seat.
The only independent member of the Legislative Assembly, Dawn Lawrie, retained her seat of Nightcliff.

## Results

Summary of the results of the 1980 Northern Territory general election. Legislative Assembly :
| Party | Party | Votes | % | +/– | Seats | +/– |
| | Country Liberal | 20,065 | 49.97 | 9.84 | 11 | 1 |
| | Labor | 15,818 | 39.39 | 1.16 | 7 | 1 |
| | Independents | 3,251 | 8.10 | 3.54 | 1 | |
| | Democrats | 352 | 0.88 | 0.88 | 0 | |
| | Marijuana | 272 | 0.68 | 0.68 | 0 | |
| | Progress | 210 | 0.52 | 9.24 | 0 | |
| | Christian Democrat | 188 | 0.47 | New | 0 | |
| Total | Total | 40,156 | 100.00 | – | 19 | – |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 40,156 | 96.80 | | | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 1,328 | 3.20 | 0.53 | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 41,484 | 100.00 | – | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 53,218 | 77.95 | 18.14 | | |
Popular vote
Country Liberal
50.0%
Labor
39.4%
Democrats
0.9%
Marijuana
0.7%
Progress
0.5%
Others
0.5%
Independents
8.1% :
Seats
Country Liberal
57.9%
Labor
36.8%
Independents
5.3% :

## Candidates

Sitting members are listed in bold. Successful candidates are highlighted in the relevant colour.
| Electorate | Held by | Labor candidate | CLP candidate | Other candidates |
| Alice Springs | CLP | Ted Hampton | Denis Collins | Rod Oliver (Ind) Dave Pollock (Ind) |
| Arnhem | Labor | Bob Collins | Gatjil Djerrkura | Mark McAleer (AMP) |
| Barkly | CLP | William Thomson | Ian Tuxworth | Neville Andrews (PP) |
| Casuarina | CLP | Dennis Bree | Nick Dondas | Klaus Roth (Dem) |
| Elsey | CLP | Maged Aboutaleb | Les MacFarlane | Patricia Davies (Ind) James Forscutt (Ind) Lawrence Hughes (Ind) R. T. Reilly (Ind) |
| Fannie Bay | Labor | Pam O'Neil | Ella Stack | |
| Gillen | CLP | Rosalie McDonald | Jim Robertson | |
| Jingili | CLP | Peter Hansen | Paul Everingham | Peter Read (Dem) |
| Ludmilla | CLP | Kay Spurr | Roger Steele | Roy Barden (Ind) |
| Macdonnell | Labor | Neville Perkins | Rosalie Kunoth-Monks | |
| Millner | Labor | Jon Isaacs | John Robinson | |
| Nhulunbuy | CLP | Dan Leo | Milton Ballantyne | Michael O'Reilly (Ind) |
| Nightcliff | Independent | | Anne Amos | Charles Coombs (CDP) Dawn Lawrie (Ind) |
| Port Darwin | CLP | Jack Haritos | Tom Harris | Len Myles (Dem) Peter Taylor (AMP) |
| Sanderson | Labor | June D'Rozario | Daryl Manzie | Ron Mann (CDP) |
| Stuart | CLP | John Thomas | Roger Vale | |
| Stuart Park | CLP | Peter Cavanagh | Marshall Perron | John Duffy (AMP) Terry Wilson (Ind) |
| Tiwi | CLP | Harry Maschke | Noel Padgham-Purich | Len McAlear (Ind) Jenny Smither (AMP) |
| Victoria River | Labor | Jack Doolan | John Millhouse | Bronte Douglass (Ind) Jack McCarthy (Ind) |

## Seats changing hands

| Seat | Pre-1980 | Pre-1980 | Pre-1980 | Pre-1980 | Swing | Post-1980 | Post-1980 | Post-1980 | Post-1980 |
| Seat | Party | Party | Member | Margin | Swing | Margin | Member | Party | Party |
| Nhulunbuy | | Country Liberals | Milton Ballantyne | 6.1 | N/A | 4.4 | Dan Leo | Labor | |