Electoral division of Braitling
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Braitling 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 1983, when the electorate of
Alice Springs Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...
was abolished as part of an enlargement of the Assembly. Braitling is an almost entirely urban electorate, covering 9 km² in north-western
Alice Springs Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...
. The electorate takes its name from the Braitling family, an early pioneering family in the district. There were 5,830 people enrolled in the electorate as of August 2020. The city of Alice Springs has, along with the Darwin satellite city of
Palmerston Palmerston may refer to: People * Christie Palmerston (c. 1851–1897), Australian explorer * Several prominent people have borne the title of Viscount Palmerston ** Henry Temple, 1st Viscount Palmerston (c. 1673–1757), Irish nobleman an ...
, traditionally been one of two conservative bastions in the Northern Territory. For most of its first three decades, Braitling was a comfortably 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 ...
. The seat's first member,
Roger Vale Roger William Stanley Vale (28 June 1942 – 10 April 2001) was an Australian politician. He was a Country Liberal Party member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly from 1974 to 1994, representing Stuart from until 1983 an ...
, transferred here after his former electorate of Stuart was made somewhat less friendly for the CLP. Indeed, Braitling included most of the Alice Springs share of the old Stuart. Vale retired in 1994 and handed the seat to
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 ...
of the CLP. Braham, who served as Speaker and later a cabinet minister, was stripped of her CLP preselection before the 2001 election amid accusations of branch-stacking. She won re-election as an independent, and was narrowly re-elected in a very close race against the CLP in 2005. Braham opted to retire at the 2008 election, and
Adam Giles Adam Graham Giles (born 10 April 1973) is an Australian former politician and former Chief Minister of the Northern Territory (2013–2016) as well as the former leader of the Country Liberal Party (CLP) in the unicameral Northern Territory Par ...
won the seat back for the CLP, reverting it to its traditional status as a comfortably safe CLP seat. Giles became the
Chief Minister of the Northern Territory The chief minister of the Northern Territory is the head of government of the Northern Territory. The office is the equivalent of a state premier. When the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly was created in 1974, the head of government wa ...
in March 2013. Although opinion polls and commentators had already universally written off the CLP government both before and during the 2016 election campaign, there was no suggestion that Giles was in any danger in his own seat. He sat on a seemingly insurmountable margin of 19.6 percent, and
Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...
had never come close to winning the seat. Even during the Labor landslide of 2005, Labor was pushed into third place. However, in a result not foreseen by any commentators, let alone either party, Labor challenger
Dale Wakefield Dale Suzanne Wakefield is an Australian politician. She was a Labor member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly from 2016 to 2020, representing the electorate of Braitling, defeating former Chief Minister Adam Giles in a major upset. ...
narrowly led Giles on election night. Ultimately, Wakefield defeated Giles by a knife-edge margin of 27 votes. Not only is Wakefield just the second challenger to unseat a sitting Chief Minister/Majority Leader in their own seat and the third challenger to oust a major-party leader in the Territory, she is also the first Labor member to represent an Alice Springs seat. Wakefield served only one term before the CLP's
Joshua Burgoyne Joshua Roland Burgoyne (born 17 October 1989) is an Australian politician who is the member for Braitling in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly. Burgoyne was born and raised in Alice Springs, and was elected to parliament for th ...
narrowly reclaimed it for the CLP 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- ...
.


Members for Braitling


Election results


References


External links


Division profile from the Northern Territory Electoral Commission
{{coord, 23, 40, 51, S, 133, 52, 9, E, display=title Braitling