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1987 Northern Territory general election

Australian Regional Election

Field	Value
election_name	1987 Northern Territory general election
country	Northern Territory
type	parliamentary
ongoing	no
previous_election	1983 Northern Territory general election
previous_year	1983
next_election	1990 Northern Territory general election
next_year	1990
seats_for_election	All 25 seats of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly
majority_seats	13
election_date
turnout	71.2 ( 10.4 pp)
image1
leader1	Stephen Hatton
leader_since1	14 May 1986
party1	Country Liberal Party
leaders_seat1	Nightcliff
popular_vote1	20,074
percentage1	39.4%
swing1	18.8
last_election1	19 seats
seats1	16
seat_change1	3
image2
leader2	Terry Smith
leader_since2	19 August 1986
party2	Australian Labor Party (Northern Territory Branch)
leaders_seat2	Millner
popular_vote2	18,307
percentage2	36.0%
swing2	0.4
last_election2	6 seats
seats2	6
seat_change2
image3
leader3	Ian Tuxworth
leader_since3	21 December 1986
party3	Northern Territory Nationals
leaders_seat3	Barkly
popular_vote3	9,058
percentage3	17.1%
swing3	New
last_election3	Did not exist
seats3	1
seat_change3	New
1blank	TPP
2blank	TPP swing
1data1	57.3%
2data1	3.8
1data2	42.7%
2data2	3.8
map_image	1987 Northern Territory Election.svg
map_size	400px
title	Chief Minister
before_election	Stephen Hatton
before_party	Country Liberal Party
after_election	Stephen Hatton
after_party	Country Liberal Party

A general election was held in the Northern Territory, Australia on Saturday 7 March 1987. Although the incumbent Country Liberal Party (CLP) won a majority under new leader Stephen Hatton, the party's vote was down almost 20 percentage points.

At the 1987 election, the CLP faced a challenge from the Northern Territory Nationals, a rebel conservative party led by former CLP Chief Minister Ian Tuxworth that was aligned with then-Queensland Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen, but not affiliated with the federal National Party of Australia. The NT Nationals took 17.79% of the primary vote, mostly from the CLP, but finished with only one member in the assembly. Hatton, despite a loss of three seats, retained a working majority.

Labor's vote remained virtually unchanged. As in 1983, its assembly tally was six.

Two former-CLP independents were re-elected in their seats. Noel Padgham-Purich was re-elected to Koolpinyah, while Denis Collins was re-elected to Sadadeen as an independent. Former Chief Minister Ian Tuxworth was also re-elected as a member of the NT Nationals.

Ian Tuxworth's election to the seat of Barkly was declared void after independent candidate Maggie Hickey challenged the result on the basis that the Labor candidate, Keith Hallet, held British nationality and was not an Australian citizen. Due to the close result (Tuxworth had won by only 19 votes), Justice John Nader voided the election on 30 July 1987, and a by-election was held on 5 September 1987, at which Tuxworth regained the seat.

Results

Country Liberal Party}};"CLP	National Party of Australia}};"Nat	Ind	Australian Labor Party}};"Labor

Retiring MPs

Labor

Bob Collins MLA (Arafura)

Country Liberal

Roger Steele MLA (Elsey)

Candidates

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

Electorate	Held by	Labor	CLP	Nationals	Independent
Arafura	Labor		Stan Tipiloura	Dorothy Fox	Peter Watton
Araluen	CLP	Di Shanahan		Eric Poole	Enzo Floreani
Arnhem	Labor		Wes Lanhupuy	John Hancock	Brian Dalliston	Bruce Foley
Barkly	CLP	Keith Hallett	Gary Smith		Ian Tuxworth	Maggie Hickey
Braitling	CLP	Mike Alsop		Roger Vale	Max Stewart
Casuarina	CLP	John Reeves		Nick Dondas	Giuseppe Nicolosi
Fannie Bay	CLP	John Waters		Marshall Perron	Stephen Marshall	Edward Osgood
Strider
Flynn	CLP	John Omond		Ray Hanrahan	Jacqueline Anderson
Jingili	CLP	Bob Wharton		Rick Setter	Harry Maschke
Karama	CLP	Robyn Crompton		Mick Palmer	Lionel Preston
Katherine	CLP	Phil Maynard		Mike Reed	Jim Forscutt
Koolpinyah	CLP	Peter Ivinson	Pat Loftus	David Loveridge		Noel Padgham-Purich
Leanyer	CLP	David Lamb-Jenkins		Fred Finch	David Wane
Ludmilla	CLP	Chris McMah		Col Firmin	Brian Thomas	Sydney Cross
MacDonnell	Labor		Neil Bell	J. Davis	Ron Liddle
Millner	Labor		Terry Smith	John Baban	Michael Foley
Nhulunbuy	Labor		Dan Leo	Pam Steele-Wareham	Deane Crowhurst	Pat Ellis
Nightcliff	CLP	John Rowell		Stephen Hatton	Brian Brent
Palmerston	CLP	Tony Henry		Barry Coulter	Michael Ting
Port Darwin	CLP	Russell Kearney		Tom Harris	James Maclean
Sadadeen	Independent	Meredith Campbell	Shane Stone	Lynne Peterkin		Denis Collins
Sanderson	CLP	Peter McQueen		Daryl Manzie	Lawrence Armstrong
Stuart	Labor		Brian Ede	Jim Sinclair	Ian Drennan	Vince Forrester
Victoria River	CLP	Leon White		Terry McCarthy	Ronald Wright	Lance Lawrence
Wanguri	CLP	Peter McNab		Don Dale	Graeme Bevis

Seats changing hands

Seat	Post-1987	Party	Member	Margin	Margin	Member	Party
Barkly	Country Liberals	Ian Tuxworth	10.3 (CLP)	N/A	0.5	Ian Tuxworth	NT Nationals
Koolpinyah	Independent	Noel Padgham-Purich	12.5 (CLP)	31.3	18.8	Noel Padgham-Purich	Independent
Sadadeen	Independent	Denis Collins	20.5 (CLP)	40.2	19.7	Denis Collins	Independent

Post-election 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.

Braitling	Roger Vale	CLP	25.5

Sadadeen	Denis Collins	IND	19.7 v LAB

References

(15 November 2017). "Dual citizen rows: Tennant Creek had them first – Alice Springs News". Alice Springs News.
(1994). "Point of order! : the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory 1974–1994". Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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