Paul Andrew Kirby (born 27 February 1966) is an Australian politician. He has been the

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 ...

member for

Port Darwin Port Darwin is the port in Darwin, Northern Territory, in northern Australia. The port has operated in a number of locations, including Stokes Hill Wharf, Cullen Bay and East Arm Wharf. In 2015, a 99-year lease was granted to the Chinese-owned ...

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 ...

since 2016.

Early life and career

Kirby was the Northern Territory Organiser for the

Electrical Trades Union of Australia The Electrical Trades Union of Australia (ETU) is an Australian trade union. The ETU is a division of the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU), and is the largest of the three divisions. Under State Government laws, the union ...

Queensland and NT Branch before entering politics.

Politics

Kirby was preselected as the Labor candidate for Port Darwin ahead of the 2016 Territory election. The seat's incumbent,

John Elferink Johan Wessel Elferink (born 24 September 1965) is an Australian politician. He is a former member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly for the Country Liberal Party. Early life Elferink was born in the Netherlands and moved to Austr ...

of 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 ...

, was retiring. Port Darwin had historically been a CLP stronghold, having been in that party's hands for all but two terms of its entire existence. Labor had only won it once, and only on a knife-edge, during its 2005 landslide. Going into the 2016 election, Port Darwin had a notional CLP majority of 9.7 percent after the redistribution, which would have made it a fairly safe CLP seat under normal circumstances. However, the CLP had been sinking in the polls for some time, particularly in the Darwin area. Additionally, it no longer had the advantage of Elferink's incumbency. On election night, the CLP lost over 19 percent of its primary vote from 2012 amid its near-total meltdown in the capital. This allowed Kirby to take the seat on a swing of 12.5 percent, becoming only the second Labor member ever to win it. He was reelected 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- ...

, becoming the first Labor MP to win a second term in Port Darwin. Kirby was appointed to the

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

after the 2020 election with the portfolios of Small Business, Jobs and Training, Corporate and Digital Development, Public Employment, Veterans Affairs and Recreational Fishing.

References

Living people Members of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly Australian Labor Party members of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly 21st-century Australian politicians 1966 births Australian trade unionists {{Australia-Labor-NorthernTerritory-MLA-stub