2001 Northern Territory general election

A general election was held in the Northern Territory, Australia, on 18 August 2001. The centre-left [Australian Country Liberal Party|Labor Party (Northern Territory Branch)|Labor Party], led by Clare Martin, won a surprising victory over the Country Liberal Party. Before this, the CLP had held 18 out the 25 seats in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly 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, 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; Labor had not ousted a sitting CLP member since 1980. The result was not known for several days, in part due to a very close race in Millner between CLP incumbent Phil Mitchell 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 won the seat of Braitling and Gerry Wood won the seat of Nelson.

Retiring MPs

ALP

Maggie Hickey MLA
Maurice Rioli MLA

CLP

Candidates

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

Electorate	Held by	Labor	CLP	Other
Electorate	Held by
Arafura	Labor	Marion Scrymgour	Marius Puruntatameri	John Christopherson Dorothy Fox
Araluen	CLP	Michael Bowden	Jodeen Carney	John Bohning Meredith Campbell
Arnhem	Labor	Jack Ah Kit	Cliff Thompson Alan Wright	Lance Lawrence
Barkly	Labor	Elliot McAdam	Bill Cross	Gavin Carpenter
Blain	CLP	Peter Shew	Terry Mills	Joseph Mulqueeney
Braitling	CLP	Peter Brooke	Peter Harvey	Loraine Braham
Braitling	CLP	Peter Brooke	Peter Harvey	Peter Jarvis Eddie Taylor
Brennan	Labor	Simon Hall	Denis Burke	Duncan Dean
Casuarina	CLP	Kon Vatskalis	Peter Adamson	Necmi Bayram Craig Seiler
Daly	CLP	Rob Knight	Tim Baldwin	Wayne Norris Frank Spry
Drysdale	CLP	Inger Peirce	Stephen Dunham
Fannie Bay	Labor	Clare Martin	Mary Cunningham	Peter Johnston
Goyder	CLP	Alan Smith	Peter Maley	Diana Rickard Merv Stewart
Greatorex	CLP	Peter Kavanagh	Richard Lim	David Mortimer
Johnston	CLP	Chris Burns	Steve Balch	Joanne Sangster
Karama	CLP	Delia Lawrie	Mick Palmer
Katherine	CLP	Michael Peirce	Mike Reed	Tony Coutts John Donnellan Rob Phillips
Macdonnell	CLP	Harold Furber	Philip Alice
Macdonnell	CLP	Harold Furber	John Elferink
Millner	CLP	Matthew Bonson	Phil Mitchell	Andrew Arthur Diane Baird Andrew Ivinson
Nelson	CLP	Bob Hare	Chris Lugg	Tony Hardwick
Nelson	CLP	Bob Hare	Chris Lugg	Gerry Wood
Nhulunbuy	Labor	Syd Stirling	Peter Manning	Gordon Davey David Mitchell
Nightcliff	CLP	Jane Aagaard	Jason Hatton	Peter Ivinson Gary Meyerhoff
Port Darwin	CLP	Chris Bond	Sue Carter	Nick Dondas
Sanderson	CLP	Len Kiely	Peter Poniris	Gary Haslett Susan Murdoch
Stuart	Labor	Peter Toyne	Ken Lechleitner
Wanguri	Labor	Paul Henderson	Robyn Cahill	Meredith de Landelles

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, invented by psephologist Malcolm Mackerras. The pendulum works by lining up all of the seats held in the Legislative Assembly according to the percentage point 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 since the 1997 election are indicated in grey.
Members listed in italics did not re-contest their seat at the election.