Electoral division of Port Darwin

Port Darwin
Northern TerritoryLegislative Assembly

Location of Part Darwin in the Darwin/Palmerston area
Territory Northern Territory
Created 1974
MP John Elferink
Party Country Liberal Party
Electors 4,730 (2012)
Area 11 km2 (4.2 sq mi)
Demographic Urban

Port Darwin is an electoral division of the Legislative Assembly in Australia's Northern Territory. It was first created in 1974, and is an entirely urban electorate, covering only 11 km² and taking in the Darwin central business district, as well as the suburb of Larrakeyah and part of Stuart Park. There were 4,730 people enrolled in the electorate as of August 2012.

Port Darwin has almost always been a safe seat for the Country Liberal Party, although it was one of only two seats the party did not hold in the first parliament from 1974 to 1977. It was widely considered as CLP heartland, and was their safest seat in Darwin for many years. After the Australian Labor Party victory at the 2001 election, it became the only CLP-held seat west of Palmerston, and the strength of the CLP vote in the seat was seen at the 2000 by-election caused by the resignation of controversial former Chief Minister Shane Stone, when a struggling CLP still managed to easily fend off any challenge in the seat. As a result, there were very few signs in the lead-up to the 2005 election that sitting member Sue Carter was in danger, with most commentators expecting her to win another term. However, on election day, there was a surprise significant and unprecedented swing to the ALP across the Territory. Though the result was so close that it was not known for several days after the election, Carter was ultimately defeated by Labor opponent Kerry Sacilotto, who held the seat until the 2008 election, when Port Darwin returned to the CLP.

Members for Port Darwin

Member Party Term
  Ron Withnall Independent 1974–1977
  Tom Harris Country Liberal 1977–1990
  Shane Stone Country Liberal 1990–2000
  Sue Carter Country Liberal 2000–2005
  Kerry Sacilotto Labor 2005–2008
  John Elferink Country Liberal 2008–present

Election results

Northern Territory general election, 2012: Port Darwin[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Country Liberal John Elferink 2,023 55.5 +8.7
Labor Alan James 1,205 33.0 −4.0
Greens David Andrews 233 18.5 −9.8
Sex Party Rowena Leunig 185 5.1 +5.1
Total formal votes 3,646 97.4 +0.5
Informal votes 96 2.6 −0.5
Turnout 3,742 79.1 +6.7
Two-party-preferred result
Country Liberal John Elferink 2,173 59.6 +6.8
Labor Alan James 1,473 40.4 −6.8
Country Liberal hold Swing +6.8

References

External links