# 1983 Northern Territory general election

A general election was held in the Northern Territory, Australia on Saturday 3 December 1983. The result was a landslide victory for the incumbent Country Liberal Party (CLP) under Chief Minister Paul Everingham over the Australian Labor Party (ALP) opposition under Opposition leader Bob Collins.
For this election, the size of the assembly was increased from 19 to 25.
The only independent of the Legislative Assembly, Dawn Lawrie, lost her seat of Nightcliff at this election to the CLP.

## Retiring MPs
### CLP

* Les MacFarlane MLA (Elsey)

## Results

| 19 | 6 |
| CLP | Labor |
Summary of the results of the 1983 Northern Territory general election, Legislative Assembly :
| Party | Party | Votes | % | +/– | Seats | +/– |
| | Country Liberal | 28,637 | 58.22 | 8.25 | 19 | 8 |
| | Labor | 17,505 | 35.59 | 3.80 | 6 | 1 |
| | Independents | 2,155 | 4.38 | 3.72 | 0 | 1 |
| | Democrats | 887 | 1.80 | 0.92 | 0 | |
| Total | Total | 49,184 | 100.00 | – | 25 | – |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 49,184 | 96.98 | | | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 1,532 | 3.02 | 0.37 | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 50,716 | 100.00 | – | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 62,185 | 81.56 | 12.49 | | |
| | Country Liberal | | 61.1 |
| | Labor | | 38.9 |
| Total | Total | | |
Popular vote
Country Liberal
58.22%
Labor
35.59%
Democrats
1.80%
Independents
4.38% :
Two-party-preferred vote
Country Liberal
61.10%
Labor
38.90% :
Seats
Country Liberal
76.00%
Labor
24.00% :

## Candidates

Sitting members are listed in bold. Successful candidates are highlighted in the relevant colour. Where there is possible confusion, an asterisk is used.
| Electorate | Held by | Labor candidate | CLP candidate | Other candidates |
| Arafura | New | Bob Collins | Robert Woodward | Kevin Doolan (Dem) |
| Araluen | New | Allen Joy | Jim Robertson | Goff Letts (Ind) |
| Arnhem | Labor | Wes Lanhupuy | David Amos David Daniels | Klaus Roth (Dem) |
| Barkly | CLP | Charles Hallett | Ian Tuxworth | |
| Berrimah | New | Colin Young | Barry Coulter | |
| Braitling | New | Ross Kerridge | Roger Vale | |
| Casuarina | CLP | Lionel Crompton | Nick Dondas | |
| Elsey | CLP | Trevor Surplice | Roger Steele | James Forscutt (Ind) |
| Fannie Bay | Labor | Pam O'Neil | Marshall Perron | Gerald Luck (Ind) |
| Flynn | New | Peter Hughes | Ray Hanrahan | Pamela Gardiner (Ind) |
| Jingili | CLP | Martin Jacob | Paul Everingham | |
| Koolpinyah | New | Robert Wesley-Smith | Noel Padgham-Purich | Murray Leeder (Dem) Michael Sanderson (Ind) |
| Leanyer | New | John Waters | Mick Palmer | |
| Ludmilla | CLP | Allan O'Neil | Col Firmin | |
| Macdonnell | Labor | Neil Bell | Ian McKinlay | Ted Hampton (Dem) |
| Millner | Labor | Terry Smith | Lorraine Palfy | Christopher Fenner (Ind) |
| Nhulunbuy | Labor | Dan Leo | Kevin Graetz | |
| Nightcliff | Independent | Colin Dyer | Stephen Hatton | Dawn Lawrie (Ind) |
| Port Darwin | CLP | Russel Kearney | Tom Harris | |
| Sadadeen | New | Morgan Flint | Denis Collins | |
| Sanderson | Labor | June D'Rozario | Daryl Manzie | |
| Stuart | CLP | Brian Ede | Bobby Liddle | |
| Victoria River | Labor | Dennis Bree | Terry McCarthy* Ronald Wright | Jack Doolan (Ind) Maurie Ryan (Dem) |
| Wagaman | New | Brian Reid | Fred Finch | |
| Wanguri | New | Pat Burke | Don Dale | Edward Miller (Ind) |

## Post-election pendulum

The following pendulum is known as the Mackerras pendulum, invented by psephologist Malcolm Mackerras. The pendulum works by lining up all of the seats held in the Legislative Assembly according to the percentage point margin they are held by on a two-party-preferred basis. This is also known as the swing required for the seat to change hands. Given a uniform swing to the opposition or government parties, the number of seats that change hands can be predicted.