Daly is an

electoral division An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

of the Legislative Assembly in Australia's

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 ...

. It was created in 2001, and takes its name from the Daly River region which lies at the heart of the electorate. Daly covers some 77,395 km², encompassing the towns of

Adelaide River The Adelaide River is a river in the Northern Territory of Australia. Course and features The river rises in the Litchfield National Park and flows generally northwards to Clarence Strait, joined by eight tributaries including the west branch ...

, Acacia Hills, Batchelor, Dundee Beach, Nauiyu Nambiyu, Pine Creek, Timber Creek and

Wadeye Wadeye ( ) is a town in Australia's Northern Territory. It was formerly known (and is still often referred to) as Port Keats. At the , Wadeye had a population of 2,280. Wadeye is the 6th most populous town, and the largest Indigenous community ...

. There were 5,622 people enrolled in the electorate as of August 2020. Daly is a relatively new electorate in the Northern Territory, having only been created in 2001. It replaced Victoria River, one of the Territory's original seats and best known as the seat of the Territory's first head of government,

Goff Letts Godfrey Alan "Goff" Letts (born 18 January 1928) is the former Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, Majority Leader of the Northern Territory of Australia from 1974 to 1977. Born in Donald, Victoria, Letts attended Melbourne Grammar Sc ...

. It had been abolished when its namesake was moved out of the electorate by a redistribution. While Victoria River had been held by the Labor Party in the past, Daly appeared on paper to be a safe seat for 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 ...

, having been held easily by then-member

Tim Baldwin Timothy Denny Baldwin (born 1957) is a former Australian politician. He was a Country Liberal Party member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly from 1994 to 2005, representing first Victoria River (1994–2001) and then Daly (2001 ...

. However, he retired at the 2005 election. While the CLP candidate, Debbi Aloisi, was widely predicted to succeed him, she was ultimately defeated by Labor challenger Rob Knight, who had lost badly to Baldwin in 2001. In the lead-up to the election, there had been almost no suggestion that Knight had any chance of defeating Aloisi. However, on election night the CLP primary vote almost halved, and Knight won on a two-party swing of 24.6 percent—almost unheard of in Australian politics—and turned Daly from a safe CLP seat into a safe Labor seat in one stroke. Knight actually took the seat without the need for preferences. He was re-elected in 2008, but was defeated by CLP candidate

Gary Higgins Gary John Higgins (born 26 May 1954) is an Australian former politician. A member of the Country Liberal Party, he was elected to represent the seat of Daly in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly at the 2012 election. After the 2016 e ...

in 2012. Higgins narrowly weathered the massive Labor wave that swept through the Territory in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

. He was one of only two CLP members returned at this election, and was named as leader of what remained of the CLP. He retired in

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

, and was succeeded by Ian Sloan, also of the CLP. Sloan announced his resignation in August 2021, citing health reasons.

Members for Daly

Election results

2021 Daly by-election

2020 Northern Territory general election

References

External links

Division profile from the Northern Territory Electoral Commission
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Daly Daly or DALY may refer to: Places Australia * County of Daly, a cadastral division in South Australia * Daly River, Northern Territory, a locality * Electoral division of Daly, an electorate in the Northern Territory * Daly, Northern Territory, ...