Australian Labor Party (Northern Territory Branch)

Australian Labor Party (Northern Territory Branch)
Leader	Michael Gunner
Deputy Leader	Nicole Manison
President	Erina Early [1]
Secretary	Kent Rowe [2]
Headquarters	3/63 Winnellie Road, Winnellie
Youth wing	Northern Territory Young Labor
National affiliation	Australian Labor Party
Northern Territory Legislative Assembly	18 / 25
Australian House of Representatives (NT seats)	2 / 2
Australian Senate (NT seats)	1 / 2
Website
territorylabor.com.au
Politics of Australia Political parties Elections

The Australian Labor Party (Northern Territory Branch), commonly known as Territory Labor is the Northern Territory branch of the Australian Labor Party.^[3] It has been the governing party of the Northern Territory since winning the 2016 election under Michael Gunner. It previously held office from 2001 to 2012.^[4][5]

History

The first Labor candidate from the Northern Territory - which was then represented by the Northern Territory seat in the South Australian House of Assembly - was Pine Creek miner and former City of Adelaide alderman James Robertson in 1905. The first Labor MP was Thomas Crush, who was elected at a 1908 by-election and accepted into the South Australian Labor caucus despite not having signed the Labor pledge. He was re-elected in 1910, and served until the Northern Territory formally separated from South Australia in 1911, resulting in the loss of the seat in state parliament. A non-voting federal seat in the Australian House of Representatives, the Division of Northern Territory, was established for the 1922 election, and was won by independent candidate and former union leader Harold George Nelson, who joined the Labor caucus after the election.^[6]

In March 1928, a general meeting of the North Australian Workers Union resolved to establish a Northern Territory branch of the Labor Party and elected an interim executive.^[7] In July 1928, it was reported that the federal secretary had requested that the South Australian branch instead form a Darwin branch.^[8] It was reported in October 1928 that affiliation with the South Australian branch had been granted, and that the South Australian state executive had re-endorsed Nelson to contest the 1929 election.^[9] An Alice Springs branch was established in 1947.^[10] The Northern Territory branch was upgraded to receive the status of a state branch in August 1967.^[11]

The Northern Territory Legislative Council was established in 1947 as a partly elected representative body with limited powers, with the Labor Party endorsing candidates from the first election.^[12][13] Labor members of the Legislative Council included Tom Bell, Eric Marks, Charles Orr, Len Purkiss, Tom Ronan, and Richard Ward ^{[14][15][16][6]}

In 1974, the Legislative Council was replaced by the fully elected Northern Territory Legislative Assembly in preparation for self-governance.^[17] However, the 1974 election was disastrous for Labor, which failed to win a single seat.^[18] The party recovered to some extent at the 1977 election, winning six seats, but remained in opposition until their victory at the 2001 election under Clare Martin. Labor held office until the 2012 election, spent one term in opposition, and returned to power at the 2016 election.^[19]

Leaders

• Richard Ward (1974)
• Jon Isaacs (September 1977 – November 1981)
• Bob Collins (November 1981 – August 1986)
• Terry Smith (August 1986 – November 1990)
• Brian Ede (November 1990 – April 1996)
• Maggie Hickey (April 1996 – February 1999)
• Clare Martin (February 1999 – November 2007)
• Paul Henderson (November 2007 – August 2012)
• Delia Lawrie (August 2012 – April 2015)
• Michael Gunner (April 2015 – present)

Election results

Note: this section only lists elections for the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly.

Year	Seats won	±	Total votes	%	±%	Position	Leader
1974	0 / 19	0	8,508	30.5%	30.5%	Extra-parliamentary	Richard Ward
1977	6 / 19	6	12,165	38.2%	7.7%	Opposition	Jon Isaacs
1980	7 / 19	1	15,818	39.4%	1.2%	Opposition	Jon Isaacs
1983	6 / 25	1	17,505	35.6%	3.8%	Opposition	Bob Collins
1987	6 / 25	0	18,307	36.0%	0.4%	Opposition	Terry Smith
1990	9 / 25	3	23,827	36.6%	0.6%	Opposition	Terry Smith
1994	7 / 25	2	30,507	41.4%	4.8%	Opposition	Brian Ede
1997	7 / 25	0	29,365	38.5%	2.9%	Opposition	Maggie Hickey
2001	13 / 25	6	33,038	40.6%	2.1%	Majority government	Clare Martin
2005	19 / 25	6	44,822	51.9%	11.3%	Majority government	Clare Martin
2008	13 / 25	6	34,557	43.2%	8.7%	Majority government	Paul Henderson
2012	8 / 25	5	33,594	36.5%	6.7%	Opposition	Paul Henderson
2016	18 / 25	11	41,476	42.2%	5.7%	Majority government	Michael Gunner

References