1990 Northern Territory general election

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| <- 1987 | 27 October 1990 (1990-10-27) | 1994 ->

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All 25 seats of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly
13 seats needed for a majority
Turnout| 81.6 ( 10.4 pp)
|  | First party  | Second party  | Third party

|
|
|

|  |  |
Leader  | Marshall Perron | Terry Smith | Ian Tuxworth
Party  | Country Liberal | Labor | Nationals
Leader since  | 14 July 1988  | 19 August 1986  | 10 May 1986
Leader's seat  | Fannie Bay | Millner | Barkly
(lost Goyder)
Last election  | 16 seats  | 6 seats  | 2 seats
Seats won  | 14 | 9 seats  | 0
Seat change  |  2  |  3  |  2
Popular vote  | 31,758 | 23,827  | 3,060
Percentage  | 48.8% | 36.6%  | 4.7%
Swing  |  9.4  |  0.6  |  13.1
TPP | 57.0% | 43.0%  |
TPP |  0.3  |  0.3  |

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| Chief Minister before election

Marshall Perron
Country Liberal

| Elected Chief Minister

Marshall Perron
Country Liberal

|

A general election was held in the Northern Territory on Saturday 27 October 1990, and was won by the incumbent Country Liberal Party (CLP) under Chief Minister Marshall Perron.

The CLP's political strategy for the campaign, devised by the Chief Minister's media secretary, Tony-Barker May, involved attacking the opposition ALP's policy platform, and using the costings as the basis of a 'where's the money coming from?' media assault. Although the Chief Minister was ill for much of the campaign, government ministers made challenging statements every day.

The CLP also used the services of conservative social researcher Mark Textor, subsequently co-head of Crosby Textor Group, who made accurate polling predictions during this election, outperforming internal ALP polling and independent public polling. The result came as a surprise to most except for CLP insiders.

Six months prior to the election, polling showed the CLP was headed for a big loss. However, the CLP government remained in power with an increase of over 9% to its primary vote, holding 14 of the 25 seats, with the ALP opposition gaining 3 seats for a total of 9 seats in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly. Meanwhile, the Northern Territory Nationals contested the election again, but lost both of their seats. The 1990 election also saw the Greens emerge in territory politics, with 3.05% of the vote—fourth behind the CLP, Labor and the Nationals.

Independents Noel Padgham-Purich and Denis Collins were both re-elected.

The NT Nationals lost both seats of Barkly and Flynn. The NT Nationals faded away soon afterward.

## Retiring MPs

[edit]

### Labor

[edit]

* Dan Leo MLA (Nhulunbuy)

### Country Liberal

[edit]

* Tom Harris MLA (Port Darwin)

## Results

[edit]

See also: Results of the Northern Territory general election, 1990

↓ 14 | 2 | 9

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|

CLP | Ind | Labor
Summary of the results of the 1990 Northern Territory general election, Legislative Assembly[1]

Party| Votes| %| +/–| Seats| +/–
| Country Liberal| 31,758| 48.83|  9.41| 14|  2
| Labor| 23,827| 36.64|  0.69| 9|  3
| Independents| 4,410| 6.78|  0.07| 2|
| NT Nationals| 3,060| 4.71|  13.08| 0|  1
| Greens| 1,981| 3.05| New| 0|
Total| 65,036| 100.00| –| 25| –
Valid votes| 65,036| 96.90| |
Invalid/blank votes| 2,081| 3.10|  1.04|
Total votes| 67,117| 100.00| –|
Registered voters/turnout| 82,261| 81.59|  10.41|
| Country Liberal| 37,075| 57.01
| Labor| 27,961| 42.99
Total| 65,036| 100.00

| Popular vote

|  |
Country Liberal |

| 48.83%
Labor |

| 36.63%
NT Nationals |

| 4.71%
Greens |

| 3.05%
Independents |

| 6.78%

| Two-party-preferred vote

|  |
Country Liberal |

| 57.00%
Labor |

| 43.00%

| Seats

|  |
Country Liberal |

| 56.00%
Labor |

| 36.00%
Independents |

| 8.00%

## Candidates

[edit]

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

Electorate  | Held by  | Labor candidate  | CLP candidate  | Nationals candidates  | Other candidates

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|  |  |  |  |
Arafura | Labor | Stan Tipiloura | Barry Puruntatameri |
Araluen | CLP | Brian Doolan | Eric Poole | Enzo Floreani |
Arnhem | Labor | Wes Lanhupuy | Tony Hayward-Ryan |  | Rod Ansell (Ind)
Barkly | National | Maggie Hickey | Paul Ruger | Kenneth Purvis | Tony Boulter (Ind)
Charles Hallett (Ind)
Braitling | CLP | Matthew Storey | Roger Vale | Damien Ward | Leslie Oldfield (Ind)
Brennan | CLP | Ian Fraser | Max Ortmann |  | Col Firmin (Ind)
Casuarina | CLP | Rod Ellis | Nick Dondas | Lea Rosenwax |
Fannie Bay | CLP | Paul Costigan | Marshall Perron |  | Bob Ellis (Grn)
Strider (Ind)
Goyder | CLP | Jack Ah Kit | Terry McCarthy | Ian Tuxworth | Kezia Purick (Ind)
Louise Size (Grn)
Thomas Starr (Ind)
Greatorex | Independent | Harold Furber | Robert Kennedy | David Johannsen | Denis Collins (Ind)
Jingili | CLP | Fiona Stuchbery | Rick Setter |  | Penelope Thomson (Ind)
Karama | CLP | Margaret Gillespie | Mick Palmer | Janet Durling |
Katherine | CLP | Phil Maynard | Mike Reed | Jim Forscutt | Laurie Hughes (Ind)
Leanyer | CLP | Jim Davidson | Fred Finch | Alan MacKenzie |
MacDonnell | Labor | Neil Bell | Brendan Heenan
Alison Hunt |  |
Millner | Labor | Terry Smith | Janice Collins |  |
Nelson | Independent | Peter Ivinson | David Sanderson | Graeme Gow | Noel Padgham-Purich (Ind)
Nhulunbuy | Labor | Syd Stirling | Susan McClure |  |
Nightcliff | CLP | David Pettigrew | Stephen Hatton |  | John Dunham (Grn)
Palmerston | CLP | Chris Draffin | Barry Coulter | Ronald Wright | Timothy Fowler (Grn)
Port Darwin | CLP | Peter Cavanagh | Shane Stone | David Fuller | Jessie Kearney (Grn)
Sanderson | CLP | Alan Perrin | Daryl Manzie |  | Graeme Parsons (Grn)
Andrew Wrenn (Ind)
Stuart | Labor | Brian Ede | Eric Pananka
Alexander Nelson |  |
Victoria River | CLP | Gary Cartwright | Stephen Dunham |  |
Wanguri | Labor | John Bailey | John Hare |  |

## Seats changing hands

[edit]

Seat  | Pre-1990  | Swing  | Post-1990

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Party  | Member  | Margin  | Margin  | Member  | Party
Barkly |  | NT Nationals  | Ian Tuxworth | 5.9  | 6.6  | 0.7  | Maggie Hickey | Labor  |
Victoria River |  | Country Liberal  | Terry McCarthy | 9.5  | 11.0  | 1.5  | Gary Cartwright | Labor  |

## Post-election pendulum

[edit]

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.

Country Liberal seats

Marginal
Goyder | Terry McCarthy | CLP  | 4.1 v IND
Fairly safe
Sanderson | Daryl Manzie | CLP  | 9.0
Jingili | Rick Setter | CLP  | 9.2
Safe
Fannie Bay | Marshall Perron | CLP  | 10.0
Brennan | Max Ortmann | CLP  | 10.1
Karama | Mick Palmer | CLP  | 10.8
Casuarina | Nick Dondas | CLP  | 11.5
Port Darwin | Shane Stone | CLP  | 11.6
Palmerston | Barry Coulter | CLP  | 11.7
Leanyer | Fred Finch | CLP  | 11.9
Nightcliff | Stephen Hatton | CLP  | 12.1
Very safe
Araluen | Eric Poole | CLP  | 20.9
Katherine | Mike Reed | CLP  | 21.0
Braitling | Roger Vale | CLP  | 26.2
Labor seats

Marginal
Barkly | Maggie Hickey | ALP  | 0.7
Victoria River | Gary Cartwright | ALP  | 1.5
Fairly safe
Wanguri | John Bailey | ALP  | 6.2
Millner | Terry Smith | ALP  | 6.7
Nhulunbuy | Syd Stirling | ALP  | 9.1
Safe
Arnhem | Wes Lanhupuy | ALP  | 11.2
Macdonnell | Neil Bell | ALP  | 13.5
Arafura | Stan Tipiloura | ALP  | 16.5
Stuart | Brian Ede | ALP  | 17.0
Independent seats
Greatorex | Denis Collins | IND  | 2.5 v CLP
Nelson | Noel Padgham-Purich | IND  | 13.7 v CLP

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Wade-Marshall, Dean Jaensch, Deborah (1994). Point of order! : the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory 1974-1994. Darwin: Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory. ISBN 0731520769.`{{cite book}}`: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

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