2024 Northern Territory general election

The 2024 Northern Territory general election is scheduled to be held on 24 August 2024 to elect all 25 members of the Legislative Assembly in the unicameral Northern Territory Parliament.

2024 Northern Territory general election

← 2020 24 August 2024 2028 →
All 25 seats in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly 13 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Leader Eva Lawler Lia Finocchiaro Party Labor Country Liberal Leader since 21 December 2023 1 February 2020 Leader's seat Drysdale Spillett Last election 14 seats, 39.43% 8 seats, 31.34% Current seats 14^[a] 7^[b] Seats needed 6
Incumbent Chief Minister Eva Lawler Labor

Members will be elected through full preferential instant-runoff voting in single-member electorates. The incumbent centre-left Labor Party (ALP) majority government, led by Eva Lawler since December 2023, will attempt to win a third consecutive four-year term of government, similar to that seen previously in Queensland and Victoria, which will be challenged by the centre-right Country Liberal Party (CLP) opposition, currently led by Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro.

The election will be conducted by the Northern Territory Electoral Commission.

For the first time in history, both major parties will go into the election with female leaders. Additionally, both leaders are from the city of Palmerston; indeed, before her move to the then-new seat of Spillett in 2016, Finocchiaro was the member for Drysdale (the seat Lawler won in 2016 after Finocchiaro transferred to Spillett).

Background

In the event both current leaders remain in place, this will be the first election in the Northern Territory where both major political parties are led by women, and the third in any Australian state or territory after the 1995 ACT election and 2020 Queensland election.

Previous election

At the 2020 election, the Labor government led by Chief Minister Michael Gunner was re-elected with a reduced majority, winning 14 of the 25 seats in the parliament. The Country Liberals (CLP) won 8 seats, whilst the Territory Alliance party won 1 seat and a further 2 seats were won by independents.

Parliamentary composition

Robyn Lambley, the Territory Alliance's sole representative in the parliament, left the party in October 2020 to sit as an independent.^[2] Labor MLA Mark Turner was expelled from the party-room caucus in February 2021 due to what he acknowledged as an "inappropriate relationship" with a Labor Party staffer, though he remained a Labor-designated member in the assembly.^[3]

A by-election was held for the seat of Daly on 11 September 2021, caused by the resignation of CLP member Ian Sloan due to health and personal issues. Labor candidate Dheran Young won the seat, the first time that an incumbent government has won a seat from the opposition in the history of the Legislative Assembly.^[4]

On 10 May 2022, Chief Minister and Labor leader Michael Gunner announced his immediate resignation from both positions, citing his desire to spend more time with his family following the birth of his and his wife's second son on 29 April.^[5] Following a party-room meeting on 13 May, Labor minister Natasha Fyles was elected unopposed to the leadership, and was sworn in as the new Chief Minister later day.^[6] Gunner resigned from the seat of Fannie Bay on 27 July and a by-election was held on 20 August 2022. Labor retained the seat at the by-election, with candidate Brent Potter victorious despite recording a 7 per cent swing against the party.^[7]

On 17 December 2022, Labor MP for Arafura Lawrence Costa died. This triggered a by-election which was held on 18 March 2023. Manuel Brown retained the seat for Labor with a 15.6% swing towards the party on the two-party-preferred result.

In December 2023, it was revealed that Fyles holds 754 undeclared shares in South32, a company that owns a manganese mine on Groote Eylandt. Fyles faced further conflict of interest allegations and calls to resign, due to Fyles' decision earlier in 2023 to not investigate health impacts from the Groote Eylandt mine, with Leader of the Opposition Lia Finocchiaro calling her actions a 'profound betrayal of public trust'.^[8][9] As a result of the controversy, Fyles resigned on 19 December 2023.^[9]

The Northern Territory Legislative Assembly has four independents all of which are in reasonably marginal seats, this increased by one following the removal of Mark Turner from the Labor caucus.

Redistribution

 

A map showing the first proposal of redistribution.

The first redistribution proposal was published on 23 May 2023.^[10]

Election date

The parliament has fixed four-year terms, with elections to be held on the fourth Saturday of August every four years.^[11]

Pre-election pendulum

Government seats (14)
Marginal
Arnhem	Selena Uibo	ALP	1.6 v IND
Port Darwin	Paul Kirby	ALP	2.1
Fannie Bay	Brent Potter^[c]	ALP	2.2^[d]
Fong Lim	Mark Monaghan	ALP	2.6
Fairly safe
Daly	Dheran Young^[e]	ALP	7.3 ^[f]
Drysdale	Eva Lawler	ALP	7.9
Karama	Ngaree Ah Kit	ALP	9.8
Safe
Casuarina	Lauren Moss	ALP	15.9
Gwoja	Chansey Paech	ALP	16.2
Johnston	Joel Bowden	ALP	16.5
Wanguri	Nicole Manison	ALP	17.3
Very safe
Arafura	Manuel Brown^[g]	ALP	19.1^[h]
Sanderson	Kate Worden	ALP	19.3
Nightcliff	Natasha Fyles	ALP	24.3

Opposition seats (7)
Marginal
Barkly	Steve Edgington	CLP	0.1
Namatjira	Bill Yan	CLP	0.3
Brennan	Marie-Clare Boothby	CLP	1.2
Braitling	Joshua Burgoyne	CLP	1.3
Katherine	Jo Hersey	CLP	2.3
Fairly safe
Nelson	Gerard Maley	CLP	8.3 v IND
Safe
Spillett	Lia Finocchiaro	CLP	15.0
Crossbench seats (4)
Blain	Mark Turner	IND^[i]	0.2 (ALP v CLP)
Araluen	Robyn Lambley	IND	0.5 v CLP
Mulka	Yingiya Mark Guyula	IND	5.0 v ALP
Goyder	Kezia Purick	IND	6.8 v CLP

Registered parties

Five parties are currently registered with the Northern Territory Electoral Commission (NTEC).^[12]

Animal Justice Party Country Liberal Party Federation Party

Labor Party NT Greens

Candidates and retiring MLAs

Retiring MLAs

The following members announced that they were not contesting the 2024 election:

Labor

• Paul Kirby (Port Darwin) – announced retirement on 25 January 2024 ^[13]

• Nicole Manison (Wanguri) - announced retirement 12 January 2024 ^[14]

Independent

• Kezia Purick (Goyder) - announced retirement 15 February 2024 ^[15]

Candidates

Finocchiaro announced the first CLP candidates in May 2023.^[16]

Seat	Held by	Labor candidate	CLP candidate	Greens candidate	Federation candidate	Other candidates
Arafura	Labor	Manuel Brown	Yanja Thompson
Araluen	Independent			Hugo Wells		Robyn Lambley (Ind)
Arnhem	Labor	Selena Uibo
Barkly	CLP		Steve Edgington
Blain	Independent	Danielle Eveleigh	Matthew Kerle			Mark Turner (Ind)
Braitling	CLP	Allison Bitar^[17]	Joshua Burgoyne	Asta Hill
Brennan	CLP	Tony Sievers	Marie-Clare Boothby
Casuarina	Labor	Lauren Moss	Khoda Patel
Daly	Labor	Dheran Young	Kris Civitarese^[16]
Drysdale	Labor	Eva Lawler	Clinton Howe
Fannie Bay	Labor	Brent Potter	Laurie Zio	Suki Dorras-Walker
Fong Lim	Labor	Mark Monaghan	Tanzil Rahman^[18]			Amye Un (Ind)
Goyder	Independent		Andrew Mackay			Belinda Kolstad (Ind)
Gwoja	Labor	Chansey Paech	Jarrod Jupurula Williams
Johnston	Labor	Joel Bowden				Justine Davis (Ind)
Karama	Labor	Ngaree Ah Kit	Brian O'Gallagher			Justine Glover (Ind) ^[19]
Katherine	CLP	Nick Lovering	Jo Hersey
Mulka	Independent					Yingiya Mark Guyula (Ind)
Namatjira	CLP	Sheralee Taylor^[17]	Bill Yan^[16]
Nelson	CLP		Gerard Maley
Nightcliff	Labor	Natasha Fyles	Helen Secretary	Kat McNamara		Mililma May (Ind) ^[20]
Port Darwin	Labor	Brian Manning^[21]	Robyn Cahill
Sanderson	Labor	Kate Worden	Jinson Anto Charls
Spillett	CLP	Caleb Burke	Lia Finocchiaro^[16]
Wanguri	Labor	Shlok Sharma	Oly Carlson

Disendorsed candidates

Party		Candidate	Seat	Disendorsed	Reason for disendorsement
	Greens	Peltherre Chris Tomlins	Araluen	8 March 2024	Disendorsed for spreading COVID-19 misinformation and antisemitic conspiracy theories.^[22]

Opinion polling

Voting intention

Date	Firm	Primary vote						TPP^[j]
		ALP	CLP	Ind	GRN	SFF	OTH	ALP	CLP
16–18 November 2023	Redbridge^[24]	19.7%	40.6%	14%	13.1%	9.4%	2.4%^[k]	43.5%	56.5%
2020 election		39.4%	31.3%	10.7%	4.5%	N/A	14.1%^[l]	53.3%	46.7%

Notes

1. On 18 February 2021, Mark Turner, the member for Blain, was expelled from the Labor Party caucus but remained a rank-and-file member of the party, although he sits on the crossbench, bringing Labor's seat total to thirteen. However, Labor won the seat of Daly from the Country Liberal Party at the 2021 Daly by-election on 11 September 2021, bringing their seat total back to fourteen. Turner was later expelled from the party completely.^[1]
2. The Country Liberal Party lost the electorate of Daly to Labor at a by-election in 2021.
3. Brent Potter was elected at the 2022 Fannie Bay by-election after the resignation of former Chief Minister Michael Gunner
4. The margin after the 2022 Fannie Bay by-election is 2.2%. The 2020 election margin was 9.6%
5. Dheran Young was elected at the 2021 Daly by-election after the resignation of Ian Sloan
6. The margin after the 2021 Daly by-election is 7.3% The 2020 election margin was 1.2% for the Country Liberal Party
7. Manuel Brown was elected at the 2023 Arafura by-election after the death of Lawrence Costa
8. The margin after the 2023 Arafura by-election is 19.1%. The 2020 election margin was 3.6%.
9. Mark Turner was expelled from the Labor Party caucus in 2021 and from the party completely in 2023.^[1]
10. The TPP estimates have been manually calculated based on preference flows.^[23]
11. Animal Justice Party 2.4%
12. Includes the now defunct, Territory Alliance, who were a 12.90% share of this figure.

References

1. "NT politician Mark Turner expelled from Labor Party". ABC News. 8 June 2023.
2. James, Felicity (21 October 2020). "Territory Alliance party ousts Robyn Lambley, leaving it with no seats in Parliament". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
3. Jane Gibson (18 February 2021). "Blain MLA Mark Turner exiled from NT Labor caucus as staffer resigns over scandal". ABC News.
4. "Results - 2021 Division of Daly - by-election". Northern Territory Electoral Commission. 24 September 2021. from the original on 27 February 2022. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
5. "Northern Territory Chief Minister Michael Gunner to resign". ABC News. 10 May 2022. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
6. "Natasha Fyles sworn in as Northern Territory Chief Minister, replacing Michael Gunner". ABC News. 13 May 2022.
7. "VIDEO: Labor's Brent Potter wins Fannie Bay by-election". ABC News. 22 August 2022.
8. "NT chief minister Natasha Fyles under pressure to resign over alleged undisclosed shares worth $2,000". The Guardian. Australian Associated Press. 19 December 2023. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
9. "Northern Territory Chief Minister Natasha Fyles resigns amid mounting pressure over leadership". ABC News. 19 December 2023. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
10. . Archived from the original on 10 June 2023. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
11. "So when is the next election?". Aph.gov.au. 1 September 2016. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
12. "Register of political parties in the Northern Territory" (PDF). NT Electoral Commission. 28 February 2023. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
13. Smith, Camden (28 January 2024). "Territory Labor pre-selection battle looms as candidates stand up". NT News. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
14. Hislop, Jack (12 January 2024). "Former NT deputy chief minister Nicole Manison will not recontest seat of Wanguri at 2024 election". ABC News. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
15. Morgan, Thomas (15 February 2024). "NT independent MLA Kezia Purick to retire from politics at next election in August". ABC News. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
16. Finocchiaro, Lia (10 May 2023). "Budget in Reply".
17. https://www.ntnews.com.au/news/politics/deputy-mayor-allison-bitar-and-arrernte-woman-sheralee-taylor-revealed-as-labors-picks-for-braitling-namatjira/news-story/688d5be5fb654e0a1f32b5f40b9f125d
18. https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/northern-territory/nt-election-2024-dr-tanzil-rahman-will-contest-fong-lim-for-the-clp/news-story/ea34206fb30da0edaae0e4f1ae0b008f
19. https://www.ntnews.com.au/news/politics/nt-election-former-councillor-justine-glover-announces-run-for-karama-as-an-independent/news-story/f0d4892d8a85fe3402040d0e892a06b4
20. https://www.ntnews.com.au/news/politics/nt-election-activist-mililma-may-to-take-on-natasha-fyles-in-battle-for-nightcliff/news-story/2d0f183abb095aa601d95858451b24ba
21. https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/northern-territory/brian-manning-to-contest-port-darwin-for-labor-at-nt-election-following-paul-kirbys-retirement/news-story/acfb3159d76915699fffbac58e790a6b?amp
22. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-08/nt-greens-review-peltherre-chris-tomlins-candidacy-anti-semitic/103559814
23. "Australian Federal 2pp Estimator".
24. (PDF). Redbridge Group. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 November 2023. Retrieved 29 November 2023.

External links

• Northern Territory Electoral Commission