# 1977 Northern Territory general election

A general election was held in the Northern Territory on Saturday 13 August 1977. Though the election was won by the incumbent Country Liberal Party (CLP), the party lost five of its seven executive members. Surprisingly, one of the casualties was Majority Leader Goff Letts—one of the few instances where a major-party leader at any level in Australia lost his own seat. The election also marked the emergence of the Labor Party as a parliamentary force: Labor took six seats in the new assembly.
The Progress Party contested the elections, winning 9.76% of the primary vote across the territory, but failed to secure any assembly seats.
The Country Liberals chose Paul Everingham to succeed Letts as Majority Leader. Everingham appointed a new Executive, which included future Chief Ministers Marshall Perron and Ian Tuxworth. The following year, the Territory attained self-government. Everingham became Chief Minister, while his Executive became a Ministry with greatly expanded powers.
Independent Dawn Lawrie retained her seat of Nightcliff at this election, while Ron Withnall lost his seat of Port Darwin to the CLP.

## Retiring MPs
### CLP

* Eric Manuell MLA (Alice Springs)
* Hyacinth Tungutalum MLA (Tiwi)

## Results

| 12 | 1 | 6 |
| CLP | Ind | Labor |
Summary of the results of the 1977 Northern Territory general election, Legislative Assembly :
| Party | Party | Votes | % | +/– | Seats | +/– |
| | Country Liberal | 12,769 | 40.13 | 8.88 | 12 | 5 |
| | Labor | 12,165 | 38.23 | 7.77 | 6 | 6 |
| | Independents | 3,718 | 11.69 | 8.85 | 1 | 1 |
| | Progress | 3,104 | 9.76 | New | 0 | |
| | Communist | 61 | 0.19 | 0.19 | 0 | |
| Total | Total | 31,817 | 100.00 | – | 19 | – |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 31,817 | 96.82 | | | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 1,044 | 3.18 | 1.89 | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 32,861 | 100.00 | – | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 43,284 | 75.92 | 0.52 | | |
Popular vote
Country Liberal
40.1%
Labor
38.2%
Progress
9.8%
Communist
0.2%
Independents
11.7% :
Seats
Country Liberal
63.2%
Labor
31.6%
Independents
5.3% :

## 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 | ALP candidate | CLP candidate | Progress candidate | Other candidates |
| Alice Springs | CLP | Rosalie McDonald | Rod Oliver | Brian Evans | |
| Arnhem | CLP | Bob Collins | Rupert Kentish | Phillip Brain | |
| Barkly | CLP | Jean Havnen | Ian Tuxworth | Neville Andrews | Margaret Conway Billy Foster |
| Casuarina | CLP | Dennis Bree | Nick Dondas | Robert Hoey | |
| Elsey | CLP | | Les MacFarlane | Deidre Killen | Davis Daniels Patricia Davies |
| Fannie Bay | CLP | Pam O'Neil | Grant Tambling | Edward Osgood | William Fisher |
| Gillen | CLP | John Thomas | Jim Robertson | Peter Johncock | |
| Jingili | CLP | Diana Rickard | Paul Everingham | David Cooper | John McCormack George Tarasidis |
| Ludmilla | CLP | Christopher Draffin | Roger Steele | Terry Johnson | |
| Macdonnell | CLP | Neville Perkins | Dave Pollock | Mark Fidler | |
| Millner | CLP | Jon Isaacs | Roger Ryan | Elva Pearce | |
| Nhulunbuy | CLP | Denise Fincham | Milton Ballantyne | Jacob De Vries | |
| Nightcliff | Independent | | Ronald Nobbs | Uldis Blums | Dawn Lawrie |
| Port Darwin | Independent | Michael Scott | Tom Harris | Ian Smith | Brian Manning Ron Withnall |
| Sanderson | CLP | June D'Rozario | Liz Andrew | Geoffrey Bennett | Kitty Fischer Herbert Sinclair |
| Stuart | CLP | Trevor Cutter | Roger Vale | Kenneth Kitto | |
| Stuart Park | CLP | Judith Muras | Marshall Perron | Kenneth Day | Ernest Chin |
| Tiwi | CLP | Harry Maschke Bernard Tipiloura | Noel Padgham-Purich* Cyril Rioli | George Ryan | Terrence O'Brien Strider |
| Victoria River | CLP | Jack Doolan | Goff Letts | Frank Favaro | |

## Seats changing hands

| Seat | Pre-1977 | Pre-1977 | Pre-1977 | Pre-1977 | Swing | Post-1977 | Post-1977 | Post-1977 | Post-1977 |
| Seat | Party | Party | Member | Margin | Swing | Margin | Member | Party | Party |
| Arnhem | | Country Liberal | Rupert Kentish | 16.9 | 34.1 | 17.2 | Bob Collins | Labor | |
| Fannie Bay | | Country Liberal | Grant Tambling | N/A | N/A | 1.1 | Pam O'Neil | Labor | |
| Macdonnell | | Country Liberal | Dave Pollock | 7.9 | 20.8 | 13.8 | Neville Perkins | Labor | |
| Millner | | Country Liberal | Roger Ryan | 14.3 | 26.5 | 12.2 | Jon Isaacs | Labor | |
| Port Darwin | | Independent | Ron Withnall | 3.3 | 13.8 | 10.5 | Tom Harris | Country Liberal | |
| Sanderson | | Country Liberal | Liz Andrew | 6.5 | 14.8 | 8.3 | June D'Rozario | Labor | |
| Victoria River | | Country Liberal | Goff Letts | 19.7 | 23.4 | 3.7 | Jack Doolan | Labor | |