Electoral division of Sanderson

Sanderson is an electoral division of the Legislative Assembly in Australia's Northern Territory. It was first created in 1974, and derives its name from the name initially given to the area in 1879, before its division into suburbs. Sanderson is an urban electorate, covering 5.51 km² and taking in the Darwin suburbs of Anula, Marrara, Wulagi and part of Malak. There were 4387 people enrolled in the electorate as of June 2005.

Sanderson has tended to only change hands at times of major electoral change in the Territory. It was initially won by the Country Liberal Party's Liz Andrew in 1974, when the CLP won all but two seats in the Assembly (both of which went to independents). However, Andrew was defeated by the Australian Labor Party's June D'Rozario when the ALP swept into the Assembly in 1977, taking several seats. D'Rozario served until 1983, when she was defeated in the CLP's landslide victory, and was replaced by Daryl Manzie. Manzie was a popular incumbent, and held the seat relatively easily until his retirement in 2001. Sanderson then reverted to the ALP in 2001, when the party had its first serious electoral swing since 1977 and swept through the seats of suburban Darwin. The seat was targeted by the CLP at the 2005 election as one they hoped to win back, but Kiely had little difficulty winning a second term amidst a massive territory-wide swing to the ALP. He was defeated in 2008 by Peter Styles.

Members for Sanderson

Member Party Term
  Liz Andrew Country Liberal 1974–1977
  June D'Rozario Labor 1977–1983
  Daryl Manzie Country Liberal 1983–2001
  Len Kiely Labor 2001–2008
  Peter Styles Country Liberal 2008–present

Election results

Northern Territory general election, 2008: Sanderson
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Country Liberal Peter Styles 2,231 56.4 +16.4
Labor Len Kiely 1,723 43.6 -16.4
Total formal votes 3,954 94.1 -2.2
Informal votes 247 5.9 +2.2
Turnout 4,201 86.6
Country Liberal gain from Labor Swing +16.4

External links