Susan Jill Carter is an Australian politician. She was a Country Liberal Party member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly from 2000 to 2005, representing the central Darwin electorate of Port Darwin.[1] After winning a by-election upon the resignation of former Chief Minister Shane Stone, Carter served as Opposition Whip and Shadow Minister for Health,[2] and was briefly touted as a leadership aspirant before being unexpectedly defeated at the 2005 election.
Carter spent her childhood living in a number of locations across Australia, due to her father's position in the Royal Australian Air Force. She studied nursing, and subsequently moved to Darwin in 1979, gaining a position at the hospital there. She studied teaching at the Northern Territory University some years later, and went on to work as an adult educator, teaching in health-related areas in both Darwin and Katherine. Carter later served as Convenor of the Northern Territory Women's Advisory Council to the Chief Minister, Marshall Perron from 1993 to 1995, before going on to work as an investigator for the Health and Community Services Complaints Commission.[3]
In February 2000, former Chief Minister Shane Stone resigned from parliament, causing a by-election in his safe CLP seat of Port Darwin. Carter won preselection to contest the seat for the CLP, and was easily elected after a quiet campaign where Stone's mandatory sentencing policies were the major issue.[4][5] She was appointed Deputy Chairman of Committees upon entering parliament, which saw her serve in the Speaker's absence.[6][7]
Carter was easily re-elected at the 2001 election, despite the decision of CLP stalwart and former territory minister Nick Dondas to contest the seat as an independent. She was promoted to Opposition Whip upon her re-election, and was again promoted in December 2002, when she was appointed Shadow Minister for Health, Senior Territorians, Arts, and Museums. This left her handling the opposition's response in one of the most difficult portfolios in the Northern Territory, with health being a serious and ongoing issue for the territory government.
Carter supported Terry Mills in both his unsuccessful challenge to Opposition Leader Denis Burke in June 2003, and his successful challenge that November. However, in October 2004 she was demoted, with Mills assigning her health portfolio to Jodeen Carney. She was regarded as an outside chance for the CLP leadership when Mills resigned in February 2005, but she allowed Burke to regain the leadership uncontested.
Carter faced re-election again in 2005, and was widely expected to win a third term in office. However, an unexpectedly large victory by the Labor government saw an extremely close result in Port Darwin, with Labor candidate Kerry Sacilotto emerging the victor by 73 votes.