# 2001 Northern Territory general election

A general election was held in the Northern Territory, Australia, on 18 August 2001. The centre-left 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 an unexpectedly large swing in the Darwin area. Labor took all but one seat in the capital, including all seven seats in the northern part of the city. Darwin's northern suburbs are somewhat more diverse than the rest of the city, and were on paper friendlier to Labor than the rest of the capital. 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 margin of 82 votes, allowing Labor to win government by one seat.
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
### ALP

* 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

| 13 | 2 | 10 |
| ALP | Ind | CLP |
Summary of the Results of the 2001 Northern Territory general election, Legislative Assembly :
| Party | Party | Votes | % | +/– | Seats | +/– |
| | Country Liberal | 36,926 | 45.38 | 9.29 | 10 | -8 |
| | Labor | 33,038 | 40.60 | 2.12 | 13 | +6 |
| | Independents | 8,583 | 10.55 | 4.88 | 2 | +2 |
| | One Nation | 1,074 | 1.32 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | Democrats | 692 | 0.85 | 0.22 | 0 | ±0 |
| | Territory Alliance (2001) | 622 | 0.76 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | Socialist Alliance | 432 | 0.53 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| Total | Total | 81,367 | 100.00 | – | 25 | – |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 81,367 | 95.73 | | | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 3,627 | 4.27 | -0.90 | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 84,994 | 100.00 | – | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 105,506 | 80.56 | +1.57 | | |
| | Labor | 39,099 | 48.05 |
| | Country Liberal | 42,268 | 51.95 |
| Total | Total | 81,367 | 100.00 |
Popular vote
Country Liberal
45.38%
Labor
40.60%
One Nation
1.32%
Democrats
0.85%
Others
1.29%
Independents
5.10% :
Two-party-preferred vote
Country Liberal
51.90%
Labor
48.10% :
Seats
Labor
52.00%
Country Liberal
40.00%
Independents
8.00% :

## Candidates

Sitting members are listed in bold. Successful candidates are highlighted in the relevant colour.
| Electorate | Held by | ALP candidate | CLP candidate | Other candidates |
| Arafura | ALP | Marion Scrymgour | Marius Puruntatameri | John Christopherson (Ind) Dorothy Fox (Ind) |
| Araluen | CLP | Michael Bowden | Jodeen Carney | John Bohning (Ind) Meredith Campbell (Ind) |
| Arnhem | ALP | Jack Ah Kit | Cliff Thompson Alan Wright | Lance Lawrence (Ind) |
| Barkly | ALP | 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) |
| Braitling | CLP | Peter Brooke | Peter Harvey | 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 | ALP | 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 | |
| Macdonnell | CLP | Harold Furber | 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) |
| Nelson | CLP | Bob Hare | Chris Lugg | Gerry Wood (Ind) |
| Nhulunbuy | ALP | 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 | ALP | Peter Toyne | Ken Lechleitner | |
| Wanguri | ALP | Paul Henderson | Robyn Cahill | Meredith de Landelles (SA) |

## Seats changing hands

| Seat | Pre-2001 | Pre-2001 | Pre-2001 | Pre-2001 | Swing | Post-2001 | Post-2001 | Post-2001 | Post-2001 |
| Seat | Party | Party | Member | Margin | Swing | Margin | Member | Party | Party |
| Braitling | | Country Liberal | Loraine Braham | 15.0 (CLP) | N/A | 5.5* | Loraine Braham | Independent | |
| Casuarina | | Country Liberal | Peter Adamson | 5.6 | 9.1 | 3.5 | Kon Vatskalis | Labor | |
| Johnston | | Country Liberal | Steve Balch | 6.3 | 9.2 | 2.9 | Chris Burns | Labor | |
| Karama | | Country Liberal | Mick Palmer | 2.6 | 6.4 | 3.7 | Delia Lawrie | Labor | |
| Macdonnell** | | Country Liberal | John Elferink | −1.6 | 10.1 | 8.5 | John Elferink | Country Liberal | |
| Millner | | Country Liberal | Phil Mitchell | 8.7 | 9.9 | 1.2 | Matthew Bonson | Labor | |
| Nelson | | Country Liberal | Chris Lugg | 14.7 | 17.4 | 2.7 | Gerry Wood | Independent | |
| Nightcliff | | Country Liberal | Stephen Hatton | 4.6 | 11.7 | 7.1 | Jane Aagaard | Labor | |
| Sanderson | | Country Liberal | Daryl Manzie | 9.9 | 12.9 | 3.0 | Len Kiely | Labor | |
| Wanguri*** | | Labor | Paul Henderson | −3.8 | 11.0 | 7.2 | Paul Henderson | Labor | |
* Members listed in italics did not contest their seats at this election.
* *Braitling's second figure is CLP vs. Independent.
* **Due to boundary changes, Macdonnell was notionally ALP at the time of this election.
* ***Due to boundary changes, Wanguri were notionally CLP at the time of this election.

## Electoral 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.

### Pre-election pendulum

Incumbent members who have become and remained an independent since the 1997 election are indicated in grey.
Members listed in italics did not re-contest their seat at the election.