Electoral division of Karama

Karama
Northern Territory—Legislative Assembly

Location of Karama in the Darwin/Palmerston area
Territory Northern Territory
Created 1987
MP Ngaree Ah Kit
Party Australian Labor Party
Namesake Karama
Electors 5,228 (2016)
Area 4 km2 (1.5 sq mi)
Demographic Urban

Karama is an electoral division of the Legislative Assembly in Australia's Northern Territory. It was first created in 1987, and derives its name from the suburb of the same name. It is an urban electorate, covering only 4 km² and taking in the Darwin suburbs of Karama and Malak. There were 5,228 people enrolled within the electorate as of August 2016.

The Country Liberal Party's Mick Palmer won the seat in 1987, and as the incumbent member during the height of the CLP's dominance of Territory politics, had little trouble holding the seat through the next three elections. Until the 2000s, it was almost unheard of for a sitting member to be defeated, so few thought Palmer would face much difficulty gaining a fourth term at the 2001 election. However, the Australian Labor Party swept through the northern suburbs of Darwin and Palmer was unexpectedly defeated by the ALP candidate, Delia Lawrie, the daughter of former long-serving independent MP Dawn Lawrie. Lawrie's victory created the first mother-daughter political dynasty in Australian politics, and she soon established herself in the electorate. She was easily re-elected at the 2005 election, significantly increasing her majority. Lawrie was disendorsed by the Labor Party in October 2015, and she resigned from the party a few days later. She nominated as an independent candidate for Karama at the 2016 election, against the preselected Labor candidate, Ngaree Ah Kit.

Members for Karama

MemberPartyTerm
  Mick Palmer Country Liberal 1987–2001
  Delia Lawrie Labor 2001–2015
  Independent 2015–2016
  Ngaree Ah Kit Labor 2016–present

Election results

Northern Territory general election, 2016: Karama[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labor Ngaree Ah Kit 1,373 34.0 −18.7
Independent Delia Lawrie 1,316 32.6 +32.6
Country Liberal Jarred Ilett 923 22.8 −18.7
1 Territory Edward D'Solo 249 6.2 +6.2
Independent Trevor Jenkins 79 2.0 +2.0
Independent Sonja Jebbink 56 1.4 +1.4
Independent Jimmy Gimini 44 1.1 +1.1
Total formal votes 4,040 97.7 +1.3
Informal votes 93 2.3 −1.3
Turnout 4,133 79.1 −1.1
Two-candidate-preferred result
Labor Ngaree Ah Kit 1,702 50.8 −5.6
Independent Delia Lawrie 1,647 49.2 +49.2
Labor hold Swing N/A

References

  1. ↑ Karama – Electorate summary, Northern Territory Electoral Commission, 5 September 2016

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