Northern Territory legislative election, 2005

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Legislative elections were held in the Northern Territory of Australia on June 18, 2005. The centre-left Australian Labor Party, led by Chief Minister Clare Martin, won a second term with a landslide victory, winning six of the ten seats held by the opposition Country Liberal Party in the 25-member Northern Territory Legislative Assembly, bringing their total to 19. Aside from the territory's first election where the CLP won 17 seats on 49% with the ALP winning 0 seats on 30%,[1] it was the largest victory in any Northern Territory election since self-government in 1978 and was the first time a party leader in the Territory had ever been defeated in their own electorate, with Opposition Leader Denis Burke losing his seat of Brennan.

1 Overall result
2 Issues (out of date)
3 The Campaign (out of date)
4 Preference deals
5 Party leaders
6 External links
- 6.1 Electoral sites
- 6.2 Party sites

[edit] Overall result

Party	Seats	Legislative Assembly
Australian Labor Party	19
Country Liberal Party	4
Independents	2

The Australian Labor Party won 52.5% of the vote, which was an increase of 11.9% over the 2001 election. The opposition Country Liberal Party polled 35.3%, a drop of 10.1% from 2001. The Northern Territory Greens ran an increased number of candidates, and managed to increase their vote through much of Darwin, but had very little effect on the outcome of the election.

The Australian Labor Party won 19 seats, against the Country Liberal Party opposition's four seats. Two independent members, Loraine Braham and Gerry Wood, were also re-elected. The size of the government's win was very much unexpected - while they had been favourite to win a second term, most commentators had predicted a gain of one or two seats at best. Five of the six seats won by the ALP - Brennan, Daly, Drysdale, Goyder and Port Darwin - were formerly safe conservative seats that they had never won before in the history of the Assembly. The ALP also retrieved the seat of MacDonnell, which had been an ALP safe seat until its shock fall to the CLP in 1997. The CLP also very narrowly failed to win back the formerly safe seat of Braitling from independent Loraine Braham, despite a strong challenge from CLP candidate Michael Jones.

Amidst what was their worst ever result, the CLP did have some good news in two seats which the ALP had been openly hoping to win. The ALP had run Fran Kilgariff, the very high profile Mayor of Alice Springs and daughter of CLP founder Bernie Kilgariff as their candidate in Greatorex, against CLP Deputy Leader Dr Richard Lim. Despite Kilgariff's profile and the massive swing against the CLP elsewhere in the Territory, Lim managed to very narrowly retain his seat. There was a swing to the CLP in only one seat - Araluen, where leadership aspirant Jodeen Carney comfortably retained what had been the most marginal CLP-held seat.

The severity of the landslide result was all the more surprising considering that the ALP had never before been in government until 2001. The Legislative Assembly had been created in 1974, and the CLP had held government for an unbroken stretch of 27 years before Clare Martin won the ALP's first victory in 2001. The victory was seen in many cases as an endorsement of Martin's first government, and the ALP's ability to lead the Territory, as the CLP had consistently alleged that the ALP would be unfit to govern the Territory, and had used this as a key tactic during election campaigns many times in the past. However, it was also seen as being a vote of no-confidence in the opposition, and in the days after the election result, conservative Prime Minister John Howard strongly criticised the CLP for what he saw as their poor performance in opposition. Furthermore, the reduction of the CLP to just four seats raised questions as to whether it was viable for them to continue to be separate from the Liberal-National coalition which operates as the conservative party at federal level and in every other state and territory.

There were several prominent casualties of the election, but none was more significant or surprising than the defeat of Opposition Leader Denis Burke in Brennan. Brennan was the CLP's safest seat anywhere in the Territory, and the ALP had never won a seat anywhere in Palmerston. There had been no suggestion from any major commentators or opinion polls that Burke was even remotely under threat, but he was swept aside on election day with a swing against him of more than 21%. The ALP candidate, James Burke, a virtually unknown labor lawyer, expressed shock at his own win, and became a party legend overnight. Denis Burke had already stated that he would resign as party leader if he lost the election, but the loss of his seat forced the party to find a new leader immediately. The four remaining CLP members are due to appoint a new leader on June 27, and Burke will almost definitely be succeeded by Shadow Attorney-General and Shadow Health Minister Jodeen Carney.

While the loss of Burke was a major shock, the defeat of three other CLP sitting members, Sue Carter (Port Darwin) Stephen Dunham (Drysdale), John Elferink (MacDonnell) also posed major problems for the party. Elferink had been the Leader of Opposition Business, Opposition Whip and Shadow Minister for Community Development, Housing, Local Government, Sport and Recreation, Regional Development, and Indigenous Affairs, Dunham had been the Shadow Minister for Transport and Infastructure, Lands and Planning, Parks and Wildlife and Essential Services, and Carter had been the Shadow Minister for Family and Community Services, Environment and Heritage, Arts and Museums and Women's Policy. In the aftermath of their defeat, all of these portfolios will have to be redistributed among the four remaining CLP members, Jodeen Carney (Araluen), Dr Richard Lim (Greatorex) Fay Miller (Katherine) and Terry Mills (Blain). This has raised concerns from both sides of politics about the CLP's ability to mount any form of effective opposition in the new parliament.

The two independent members of the outgoing parliament, disendorsed former CLP minister Loraine Braham and former Litchfield Mayor Gerry Wood both managed to retain their seats. In the lead-up to the election, there had been some suggestion that Wood may have some difficulty retaining his seat, but Braham had been widely expected to win another term. The final result turned out to be the opposite; Wood cruised to victory with a massive swing in his favour, whereas Braham very narrowly retained her seat in a result that was not known for several days after the election. The election was a disappointment for other independent candidates; Wood's successor as Litchfield Mayor, Mary Walshe, fell well short of expectations in Goyder, and Wadeye councillor Dale Seaniger failed to make much impact in Daly.

As in past elections, minor parties failed to make much impact at the 2005 election. While the Northern Territory Greens ran an increased number of candidates and increased their votes, none of their candidates, including leader Ilana Eldridge came close to winning a seat, and their preferences had comparatively little effect on the outcome of any seats, let alone the election. The Network Against Prohibition ran in several seats, but did noticeably poorly. The Australian Democrats ran candidates in only two seats, a significant decrease from 2001, and barely rated at all. The Socialist Alliance chose not to run any candidates for financial reasons, instead endorsing the Green and NAP candidates.

[edit] Issues (out of date)

Law and order has always been a prominent issue in the Northern Territory, and the Country Liberal Party campaigned on this heavily during their 27-year unbroken stint in government. Perhaps in acknowledgment of this, the Australian Labor Party is also attempting to present itself as being harsh on antisocial behaviour. Mandatory sentencing is an issue in the background; there is some dispute as to its popularity in the Territory, and it is likely that a CLP government would reintroduce the policy, whereas it will almost definitely remain abolished under an ALP government.

The Northern Territory has always maintained a distinctive lifestyle and attempted to distance itself from the southern states. While this has usually been a positive for the Country Liberal Party, both major parties have been accusing the other of being unduly influenced by "southerners" for some months, and this could also be either a positive or negative for either party.

The economy has emerged as a major issue since 2001, as now that both major parties have served time in government, both have a basis on which to argue that they are the better economic manager. The effect of this is unclear, and the economy could prove to be a bonus for either party.

Strong leadership has often been an issue in Australian elections, and this has become a particular issue in the Northern Territory due to tensions within the Country Liberal Party. With Denis Burke only having been reappointed Opposition Leader in February after having been previously toppled, and with the CLP attempting to recover from a massive bout of party infighting between 2001 and 2003, the ALP are likely to campaign heavily on this issue.

[edit] The Campaign (out of date)

While there had been a form of unofficial campaign going on for some months, due to the persistent rumors of a coming election, there had been comparatively little in the way of policy announcements or major developments. Both parties began trading accusations that the other was being overly influenced by "southerners", with the ALP noting that the CLP had hired controversial federal Liberal staffer Ian Hanke and taking advantage of Burke's statements that he had had assistance from the federal Liberals in drafting his economic policies. At the same time, the CLP has been trying to link Martin's fortunes to those of less popular federal Labor leader Kim Beazley, and has suggested that she is being overly influenced by the federal party. (Where the CLP exists only in the Northern Territory, but is allied with the federal Liberals, the ALP is an entirely federal party.)

The CLP has also suffered due to a damaging row between Burke and former Shadow Minister Peter Maley, culminating in Maley's expulsion from the party on May 19, 2005. While Maley had once been touted as a potential leadership contender, he was later dumped from the ministry, and soon after announced his intention to retire at the 2005 election. Maley had reportedly not told Burke of his decision to retire before telling the media, and combined with his earlier axing, this aggravated tensions between the two. When the story broke on that Maley's wife had taken out a court order against him over domestic violence issues (although this was quickly withdrawn), Burke abruptly expelled Maley from the party. Maley served out the last weeks of his term as an independent, and briefly threatened to run for re-election, before deciding to publicly endorse the ALP candidate in his seat.

With the official announcement of the election on May 30, the campaign began in earnest. Both parties made their first major policy launch on June 1, with the ALP announcing plans to introduce laws cracking down on habitual drunks involved in antisocial behaviour, forcing them to undergo treatment or face jail, with a special alcohol court planned to deal with these offences. In contrast, the CLP concentrated on the economy, launching its "Territory 2020" plan to encourage business growth in the Territory, which amongst other things, would involve setting up a fund to encourage innovation and providing assistance to the armoured vehicle maintenance industry (Due to its location, Darwin, the Territory's capital, is a major defence hub, and defence industries are particularly important to the city's economy).

[edit] Preference deals

[edit] Party leaders

Clare Martin has been an MLA since 1995, leader of the Northern Territory ALP since 1997, and Chief Minister since 2001. A former journalist, she had overseen the ALP's first election victory in the history of the Territory in 2001. Martin had gained a reputation for being an effective communicator and economic manager, having also served a stint as treasurer. She campaigned largely on issues of law and order, and took some flak from her own party faithful for her policies, but would likely feel vindicated by the election result.
Denis Burke had been an MLA since 1994 and had served as Chief Minister from 1999 to 2001. He had continued as Opposition Leader after being defeated by Martin, but was dumped in favour of Terry Mills in mid-2003, only to regain the leadership in February 2005 after Mills' sudden resignation. The former army officer is a strong social conservative, but had specifically emphasised law and order issues throughout his career, culminating in his controversial maintenance of the CLP's mandatory detention policy during his time as Chief Minister. His campaign was marred by several gaffes and a bold plan to solve the territory's electricity problems which was badly sold to the electorate and was not well-received. He had already stated his intention to step down if the CLP lost the election before ultimately losing his own seat.
Ilana Eldridge has been the leader of the Northern Territory Greens since their formation in the early 1990s. She has never held elected office, but has developed some profile from unsuccessful campaigns for the Senate in 1990 and 1996 and the Australian House of Representatives in 1998 and 2004. While again failing to win the seat of Nightcliff, she oversaw the only major third party campaign in the election, with the Greens substantially increasing both their number of candidates and their overall vote.