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 Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, on 18 August 2001. The centre-left Labor Party (ALP), led by

Clare Martin Clare Majella Martin (born 15 June 1952) is a former Australian journalist and politician. She was elected to the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly in a shock by-election win in 1995. She was appointed Opposition Leader in 1999, and won ...

, won a surprising victory over the

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). Before this, the CLP had held 18 out the 25 seats in the

Northern Territory Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory is the unicameral legislature of the Northern Territory of Australia. The Legislative Assembly has 25 members, each elected in single-member electorates for four-year terms. The voting method fo ...

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 A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

, 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 Phil Mitchell is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'', played by Steve McFadden. He was introduced to the soap opera on 20 February 1990 and was followed by his brother Grant Mitchell (EastEnders), Grant (Ross Kemp), s ...

and Labor challenger Matthew Bonson. Ultimately, Bonson won by a margin of 82 votes, allowing Labor to win government by one seat. Two independents won seats at this election. Former CLP member

Loraine Braham Loraine Margaret Braham (born 21 August 1938) is an Australian politician. She was a member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly from 1994 to 2008, representing the electorate of Braitling. She was initially elected as a representative ...

won the seat of Braitling and

Gerry Wood Gerard Vincent Wood (born 5 April 1950) is an Australian politician. A former mayor of the Northern Territory shire of Litchfield, he was an independent member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly from 2001 to 2020, representing the el ...

won the seat of

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

Retiring MPs

ALP

Maggie Hickey Margaret Anne Hickey (born 16 October 1946) is a former Australian politician. She represented the electoral division of Barkly for the Labor Party in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly from 1990 to 2001. She was Leader of the Opposit ...

MLA ( Barkly) *

Maurice Rioli Maurice Joseph Rioli Sr. (1 September 195725 December 2010) was an Australian rules footballer who represented St Mary's Football Club in the Northern Territory Football League (NTFL), in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and in th ...

MLA ( Arafura)

CLP

Stephen Hatton Stephen Paul Hatton (born 28 January 1948) is an Australian politician, who was Chief Minister of the Northern Territory of Australia from 1986 to 1988. From 1983 until his retirement in 2001, he was MLA for the seat of Nightcliff. He first bec ...

MLA (

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 ...

) *

Daryl Manzie Daryl William Manzie (born 2 November 1946) is an Australian former politician. He was the Country Liberal Party member for Sanderson in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly from 1983 to 2001. Manzie moved to the Northern Territ ...

MLA (

Sanderson Sanderson may refer to: Places * Sanderson, Florida, a town in the United States * Sanderson, Texas, a census-designated place in the United States * Sanderson, West Virginia, an unincorporated community in the United States * Sanderson, Northern ...

) * Terry McCarthy MLA ( Goyder) * Eric Poole MLA ( Araluen)

Results

Candidates

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

Seats changing hands

* Members listed in italics did not contest their seats at this election. * *Braitling's second figure is CLP vs. Independent. * **Due to boundary changes, Macdonnell was notionally ALP at the time of this election. * ***Due to boundary changes, Wanguri were notionally CLP at the time of this election.

Electoral 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.

Pre-election pendulum

Incumbent members who have become and remained an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

since the 1997 election are indicated in grey. Members listed in italics did not re-contest their seat at the election.

Post-election pendulum

External links

Northern Territory Election 2001
Department of the Parliamentary Library

References

{{Northern Territory elections Elections in the Northern Territory 2001 elections in Australia 2000s in the Northern Territory August 2001 events in Australia