Northern Territory general election, 2001

Northern Territory general election, 2001

18 August 2001 (2001-08-18)

All 25 seats of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly   First party Second party   Leader Clare Martin Denis Burke Party Labor Country Liberal Leader since 3 February 1999 8 February 1999 Leader's seat Fannie Bay Brennan Last election 7 seats 18 seats Seats won 13 seats 10 seats Seat change 6 8 Percentage 40.6% 45.4% Swing 2.1 9.1

Results by electoral division.

Chief Minister before election Denis Burke Country Liberal Elected Chief Minister Clare Martin Labor

A general election was held in the Northern Territory, Australia, on 18 August 2001. The centre-left Australian Labor Party (ALP), led by Clare Martin, won a surprising victory over the Country Liberal Party (CLP). Before this, the CLP had held 18 out the 25 seats in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly to the ALP's 7. After this election, the ALP held the majority with 13 seats to the CLP's 10, consigning the CLP to opposition for the first time since the Territory gained responsible government. Martin became Chief Minister, succeeding the CLP's Denis Burke.

While the CLP won a bare majority of the two-party vote, Labor picked up an unexpectedly large swing in the Darwin area. Labor took all but one seat in the capital, including all seven seats in the northern part of the city. Darwin's northern suburbs are somewhat more diverse than the rest of the city, and were on paper friendlier to Labor than the rest of the capital. In the process, Labor unseated four sitting MLAs. The result was not known for several days, in part due to a very close race in Millner between CLP incumbent Phil Mitchell and Labor challenger Matthew Bonson. Ultimately, Bonson won by a knife-edge margin of 82 votes, allowing Labor to win government by one seat.

Two independents won seats at this election. Former CLP member Loraine Braham won the seat of Braitling and Gerry Wood won the seat of Nelson.

Retiring MPs

Labor

• Maggie Hickey MLA (Barkly)
• Maurice Rioli MLA (Arafura)

CLP

• Stephen Hatton MLA (Nightcliff)
• Daryl Manzie MLA (Sanderson)
• Terry McCarthy MLA (Goyder)
• Eric Poole MLA (Araluen)

Results

Candidates

Sitting members are in bold. Successful candidates are highlighted in the relevant colour.

External links

• Northern Territory Election 2001 Department of the Parliamentary Library

References

Elections and referendums in the Northern Territory
General elections	1974 1977 1980 1983 1987 1990 1994 1997 2001 2005 2008 2012 2016 2020 by-elections
Referendums	1998