Brennan is an electoral division of the Legislative Assembly in Australia's Northern Territory. It was first created in 1990, and derives its name from Harold "Tiger" Brennan, a former member of the Legislative Council and Mayor of Darwin. Brennan includes both rural and urban areas, covering an area of 37.84 km² and encompassing the Palmerston suburbs of Bakewell and Farrar, as well as parts of Gray and Gunn. There were 4535 people enrolled in the electorate as of June 2005.
For most of its history, Brennan was considered a very safe seat for the Country Liberal Party, as until 2005, the Australian Labor Party had never won a seat anywhere in Palmerston in the history of the Assembly. The seat was the safest of all those held by the CLP after the 2001 election, and Opposition Leader Denis Burke was not expected to have any issue with re-election in the foreseeable future. However, in a shock result that had not been predicted by any prominent commentator, much less either candidate, Brennan fell to the ALP candidate, James Burke, at the 2005 election. CLP candidate Peter Chandler regained the seat at the 2008 election.
Member | Party | Term | |
---|---|---|---|
Max Ortmann | Country Liberal | 1990–1994 | |
Independent | 1994–1994 | ||
Denis Burke | Country Liberal | 1994–2005 | |
James Burke | Labor | 2005–2008 | |
Peter Chandler | Country Liberal | 2008–present |
Northern Territory general election, 2008: Brennan | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Country Liberal | Peter Chandler | 2,009 | 52.6 | +3.3 | |
Labor | James Burke | 1,807 | 47.4 | -3.3 | |
Total formal votes | 3,816 | 95.7 | +1.0 | ||
Informal votes | 170 | 4.3 | -1.0 | ||
Turnout | 3,986 | 80.3 | |||
Country Liberal gain from Labor | Swing | +3.3 |
|