Electoral division of Johnston
| Johnston Northern Territory—Legislative Assembly | |
|---|---|
|
Location of Johnston in the Darwin/Palmerston area | |
| Territory | Northern Territory |
| Created | 2001 |
| MP | Ken Vowles |
| Party | Australian Labor Party |
| Namesake | Eric Johnston |
| Electors | 4,879 (2012) |
| Area | 4 km2 (1.5 sq mi) |
| Demographic | Urban |
Johnston is an electoral division of the Legislative Assembly in Australia's Northern Territory. It was first created in 2001, replacing the abolished Jingili electorate, and is named after Commodore Eric Johnston, a former Administrator of the Northern Territory. Johnston is an urban electorate, covering only 4 km² and taking in the Darwin suburbs of Jingili, Moil, Wagaman and part of Alawa. There were 4,879 people enrolled within the electorate as of August 2012.
Johnston was essentially a reconfigured version of one of the original electorates in the Northern Territory, Jingili, which had been held by the Country Liberal Party for its entire existence and was the seat of the Territory's second head of government, Paul Everingham. At the 2001 election, however, the CLP member for Jingili, Steve Balch, was defeated by Australian Labor Party challenger Dr Chris Burns. Burns' victory was part of an unexpected Labor wave that swept through Darwin, allowing Labor to win government in the Territory for the first time. The area's CLP voting history led many commentators to suggest that it was likely to revert to the CLP at the 2005 election. As it turned out, Burns was re-elected easily amid that year's Labor landslide, with a substantially increased majority—although not as much as in similar electorates nearby. Burns retired at the 2012 election, and the seat was retained for Labor by former cricketer Ken Vowles with only a small swing against Labor--suggesting that it is now a marginal Labor seat.
Members for Johnston
| Member | Party | Term | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chris Burns | Labor | 2001–2012 | |
| Ken Vowles | Labor | 2012–present | |
Election results
| Northern Territory general election, 2012: Johnston[1] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labor | Ken Vowles | 1,799 | 45.0 | −13.1 | |
| Country Liberal | Jo Sangster | 1,552 | 38.8 | −3.1 | |
| Greens | Alana Parrott-Jolly | 389 | 9.7 | +9.7 | |
| Sex Party | Krystal Metcalf | 169 | 4.2 | +4.2 | |
| Peter Bussa | 89 | 2.2 | +2.2 | ||
| Total formal votes | 3,998 | 96.2 | +1.2 | ||
| Informal votes | 160 | 2.5 | −1.2 | ||
| Turnout | 4,158 | 85.2 | +2.7 | ||
| Two-party-preferred result | |||||
| Labor | Ken Vowles | 2,225 | 55.7 | −2.5 | |
| Country Liberal | Jo Sangster | 1,773 | 44.3 | +2.5 | |
| Labor hold | Swing | −2.5 | |||