A general election was held in the
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...
, Australia on Saturday 3 December 1983. The result was a
landslide victory
A landslide victory is an election result in which the victorious candidate or party wins by an overwhelming margin. The term became popular in the 1800s to describe a victory in which the opposition is "buried", similar to the way in which a geol ...
for the incumbent
Country Liberal Party
The Country Liberal Party of the Northern Territory (CLP) is a centre-right political party in Australia's Northern Territory. In local politics it operates in a two-party system with the Australian Labor Party (ALP). It also contests federal ...
(CLP) under Chief Minister
Paul Everingham
Paul Anthony Edward Everingham (born 4 February 1943) is a former Australian politician who was the head of government of the Northern Territory of Australia from 1977 to 1984, serving as the second and last Majority Leader (1977–1978) and ...
over the
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms the f ...
(ALP) opposition under
Opposition leader
The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...
Bob Collins.
For this election, the size of the assembly was increased from 19 to 25.
The only independent of the Legislative Assembly,
Dawn Lawrie
Alline Dawn Lawrie (born 3 November 1938) is an Australian former politician. She was the independent member for Nightcliff in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly from 1974 to 1983; in the First Assembly, she and fellow independent Ro ...
, lost her seat of
Nightcliff
Nightcliff is a northern suburb of the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
History
Although the origin of the name Nightcliff has always been surrounded by conjecture and controversy, the naming can be tracked back to 8 September ...
at this election to the CLP.
Retiring MPs
CLP
*
Les MacFarlane
John Leslie Stuart MacFarlane (26 March 1919 – 15 January 1986) was an Australian politician. He was the Country Liberal Party member for Elsey in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly from 1974 to 1983. He was Speaker from 1975 t ...
MLA (
Elsey)
Results
Candidates
Sitting members are listed in bold. Successful candidates are highlighted in the relevant colour. Where there is possible confusion, an asterisk is used.
Post-election pendulum
The following pendulum is known as the
Mackerras pendulum
The Mackerras pendulum was devised by the Australian psephologist Malcolm Mackerras as a way of predicting the outcome of an election contested between two major parties in a Westminster style lower house legislature such as the Australian House ...
, invented by
psephologist Malcolm Mackerras
Malcolm Hugh Mackerras AO (born 26 August 1939) is an Australian psephologist and commentator and lecturer on Australian and American politics.
Education and works
Malcolm Mackerras was born at Turramurra in Sydney in August 1939. He is a brot ...
. The pendulum works by lining up all of the seats held in the
Legislative Assembly according to the
percentage point
A percentage point or percent point is the unit (measurement), unit for the Difference (mathematics), arithmetic difference between two percentages. For example, moving up from 40 percent to 44 percent is an increase of 4 percentage points, but a ...
margin they are held by on a two-party-preferred basis. This is also known as the
swing required for the seat to change hands. Given a uniform swing to the opposition or government parties, the number of seats that change hands can be predicted.
References
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Northern Territory General Election, 1983
Elections in the Northern Territory
1983 elections in Australia
1980s in the Northern Territory
December 1983 events in Australia