# 1990 Northern Territory general election

A general election was held in the Northern Territory on Saturday 27 October 1990, and was won by the incumbent Country Liberal Party (CLP) under Chief Minister Marshall Perron.
The CLP's political strategy for the campaign, devised by the Chief Minister's media secretary, Tony-Barker May, involved attacking the opposition ALP's policy platform, and using the costings as the basis of a 'where's the money coming from?' media assault. Although the Chief Minister was ill for much of the campaign, government ministers made challenging statements every day.
The CLP also used the services of conservative social researcher Mark Textor, subsequently co-head of Crosby Textor Group, who made accurate polling predictions during this election, outperforming internal ALP polling and independent public polling. The result came as a surprise to most except for CLP insiders.
Six months prior to the election, polling showed the CLP was headed for a big loss. However, the CLP government remained in power with an increase of over 9% to its primary vote, holding 14 of the 25 seats, with the ALP opposition gaining 3 seats for a total of 9 seats in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly. Meanwhile, the Northern Territory Nationals contested the election again, but lost both of their seats. The 1990 election also saw the Greens emerge in territory politics, with 3.05% of the vote—fourth behind the CLP, Labor and the Nationals.
Independents Noel Padgham-Purich and Denis Collins were both re-elected.
The NT Nationals lost both seats of Barkly and Flynn. The NT Nationals faded away soon afterward.

## Retiring MPs
### Labor

* Dan Leo MLA (Nhulunbuy)

### Country Liberal

* Tom Harris MLA (Port Darwin)

## Results

| 14 | 2 | 9 |
| CLP | Ind | Labor |
Summary of the results of the 1990 Northern Territory general election, Legislative Assembly :
| Party | Party | Votes | % | +/– | Seats | +/– |
| | Country Liberal | 31,758 | 48.83 | 9.41 | 14 | 2 |
| | Labor | 23,827 | 36.64 | 0.69 | 9 | 3 |
| | Independents | 4,410 | 6.78 | 0.07 | 2 | |
| | NT Nationals | 3,060 | 4.71 | 13.08 | 0 | 1 |
| | Greens | 1,981 | 3.05 | New | 0 | |
| Total | Total | 65,036 | 100.00 | – | 25 | – |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 65,036 | 96.90 | | | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 2,081 | 3.10 | 1.04 | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 67,117 | 100.00 | – | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 82,261 | 81.59 | 10.41 | | |
| | Country Liberal | 37,075 | 57.01 |
| | Labor | 27,961 | 42.99 |
| Total | Total | 65,036 | 100.00 |
Popular vote
Country Liberal
48.83%
Labor
36.63%
NT Nationals
4.71%
Greens
3.05%
Independents
6.78% :
Two-party-preferred vote
Country Liberal
57.00%
Labor
43.00% :
Seats
Country Liberal
56.00%
Labor
36.00%
Independents
8.00% :

## Candidates

Sitting members are listed in bold. Successful candidates are highlighted in the relevant colour.
| Electorate | Held by | Labor candidate | CLP candidate | Nationals candidates | Other candidates |
| Arafura | Labor | Stan Tipiloura | Barry Puruntatameri | |
| Araluen | CLP | Brian Doolan | Eric Poole | Enzo Floreani | |
| Arnhem | Labor | Wes Lanhupuy | Tony Hayward-Ryan | | Rod Ansell (Ind) |
| Barkly | National | Maggie Hickey | Paul Ruger | Kenneth Purvis | Tony Boulter (Ind) Charles Hallett (Ind) |
| Braitling | CLP | Matthew Storey | Roger Vale | Damien Ward | Leslie Oldfield (Ind) |
| Brennan | CLP | Ian Fraser | Max Ortmann | | Col Firmin (Ind) |
| Casuarina | CLP | Rod Ellis | Nick Dondas | Lea Rosenwax | |
| Fannie Bay | CLP | Paul Costigan | Marshall Perron | | Bob Ellis (Grn) Strider (Ind) |
| Goyder | CLP | Jack Ah Kit | Terry McCarthy | Ian Tuxworth | Kezia Purick (Ind) Louise Size (Grn) Thomas Starr (Ind) |
| Greatorex | Independent | Harold Furber | Robert Kennedy | David Johannsen | Denis Collins (Ind) |
| Jingili | CLP | Fiona Stuchbery | Rick Setter | | Penelope Thomson (Ind) |
| Karama | CLP | Margaret Gillespie | Mick Palmer | Janet Durling | |
| Katherine | CLP | Phil Maynard | Mike Reed | Jim Forscutt | Laurie Hughes (Ind) |
| Leanyer | CLP | Jim Davidson | Fred Finch | Alan MacKenzie | |
| MacDonnell | Labor | Neil Bell | Brendan Heenan Alison Hunt | | |
| Millner | Labor | Terry Smith | Janice Collins | | |
| Nelson | Independent | Peter Ivinson | David Sanderson | Graeme Gow | Noel Padgham-Purich (Ind) |
| Nhulunbuy | Labor | Syd Stirling | Susan McClure | | |
| Nightcliff | CLP | David Pettigrew | Stephen Hatton | | John Dunham (Grn) |
| Palmerston | CLP | Chris Draffin | Barry Coulter | Ronald Wright | Timothy Fowler (Grn) |
| Port Darwin | CLP | Peter Cavanagh | Shane Stone | David Fuller | Jessie Kearney (Grn) |
| Sanderson | CLP | Alan Perrin | Daryl Manzie | | Graeme Parsons (Grn) Andrew Wrenn (Ind) |
| Stuart | Labor | Brian Ede | Eric Pananka Alexander Nelson | | |
| Victoria River | CLP | Gary Cartwright | Stephen Dunham | | |
| Wanguri | Labor | John Bailey | John Hare | | |

## Seats changing hands

| Seat | Pre-1990 | Pre-1990 | Pre-1990 | Pre-1990 | Swing | Post-1990 | Post-1990 | Post-1990 | Post-1990 |
| Seat | Party | Party | Member | Margin | Swing | Margin | Member | Party | Party |
| Barkly | | NT Nationals | Ian Tuxworth | 5.9 | 6.6 | 0.7 | Maggie Hickey | Labor | |
| Victoria River | | Country Liberal | Terry McCarthy | 9.5 | 11.0 | 1.5 | Gary Cartwright | Labor | |

## 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.