2007 Greatorex by-election

Last updated

2007 Greatorex by-election
Flag of the Northern Territory.svg
28 July 2007
 First partySecond partyThird party
  CountryLiberal Placeholder.png
IND
Labor Placeholder.png
Candidate Matt Conlan Paul HerrickJo Nixon
Party Country Liberal Independent Labor
Popular vote1,764670541
Percentage53.6%20.4%16.4%
SwingIncrease2.svg 5.1Increase2.svg 20.4Decrease2.svg 24.4
TCP 57.8%42.3%
TCP swingIncrease2.svg 6.4Increase2.svg 42.3

MP before election

Richard Lim
Country Liberal

Elected MP

Matt Conlan
Country Liberal

The 2007 Greatorex by-election was a by-election held on 28 July 2007 for the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly electorate of Greatorex in Alice Springs. [1]

Contents

The by-election was triggered when Dr Richard Lim, the Country Liberal Party member for Greatorex, resigned from politics on 9 July 2007. Lim had held the seat since 1994, and had served as Deputy Opposition Leader under former CLP leader Denis Burke. [2] Greatorex is generally considered a safe seat for the CLP, and Lim, a popular local member, had managed to retain the seat at the 2005 election despite both a huge territory-wide loss which saw Burke lose his seat and the presence of a Labor star candidate in high-profile Alice Springs mayor Fran Kilgariff. [3] Lim stated that he was resigning in order to care for his ailing wife and parents, and was considering returning to his medical practice. He apologised for retiring mid-term, an act he had previously criticised former Attorney-General Peter Toyne for doing in 2006. [4]

The by-election saw CLP candidate Matt Conlan elected on primary votes alone, polling 52% of the vote, a small increase on the 2005 election. Independent candidate Paul Herrick finished second with 20%, just ahead of Labor candidate Jo Nixon on 16%. Greens candidate Jane Clark finished fourth with 9% of the vote.

There were 4564 people enrolled within the electorate at the close of the rolls for the by-election on 13 July. [5]

Candidates

The Country Liberal Party preselected local "shock jock" radio presenter Matt Conlan as their candidate unopposed, with the support of party leader Jodeen Carney. A number of potential CLP candidates, including former MLA John Elferink, former candidate Michael Jones, who nearly won the adjacent seat of Braitling in 2005, and Alice Springs deputy mayor David Koch had all previously ruled out nominating. [6] [7]

The Labor Party preselected Jo Nixon, an audiologist and the organiser of the annual Alice Springs Beanie Festival as their candidate. [8] The 2005 candidate, Fran Kilgariff, was reportedly not interested in standing again. [9]

Alice Springs' deputy chief fire officer, Paul Herrick, contested the by-election as an independent. He was strongly endorsed by Loraine Braham, the independent MLA for the adjacent seat of Braitling. [10] His candidacy was widely thought to pose the biggest potential threat to the CLP in the traditionally safe seat, and raised some speculation that the CLP could have lost party status had he won. [11]

Former Alice Springs alderman Jane Clark contested the by-election for the Greens. She had previously expressed interest in the Labor nomination, but had been unsuccessful, and had been expected as a likely independent candidate after resigning from the council on 12 July. However, she made a surprise announcement on the last day of nominations, 16 July, that she would instead run as a candidate of the Greens, who had not previously been expected to contest the by-election. [12] [13] [14]

Campaign

The by-election campaign centred on a number of issues, including housing, law and order and the environment. Independent candidate Herrick promised to push for more affordable housing in town, arguing for unoccupied public housing to be sold off to provide cheap housing options, and calling for the creation of a satellite city for Alice Springs at Owen Springs, similar to Palmerston, near Darwin. [15] [16] [17] The CLP also touched on housing issues, promising to reform the territory's HomeNorth scheme if elected in an effort to ease housing pressures. [18]

The CLP repeatedly focused on law and order issues during the campaign, criticising crime rates and expressing support for the federal government's intervention in the region, including the ban on public consumption of alcohol in the town. Conlan promised to support the construction of a detox facility in the town to further combat the effects of alcohol if elected. [19] Labor also focused its campaign on law and order issues, with Nixon's primary promise being the construction of a remote "boot camp" for young offenders in Central Australia, which subsequently received support from the territory government. [20] Herrick also touched on the issue, criticising the lack of positive activities available for youth in Alice Springs. [21]

Environmental issues were also raised a number of times throughout the campaign, with both the Labor and Green candidates raising concern about the prospect of the federal government building a nuclear waste dump in the region. [22]

The CLP campaign received an early blow when high-profile former party treasurer and Alice Springs party president Andrew Maloney publicly endorsed Labor candidate Jo Nixon, risking expulsion from the CLP. He stated that he thought Labor would be in government in the territory for the next "six to ten years", and that he felt the electorate would be better off with a government member in the circumstances. [23]

The CLP, Labor and the Greens directed their second preferences to Herrick. Herrick chose to direct no preferences. [24]

Results

Greatorex by-election, 2007 [25]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Country Liberal Matt Conlan 1,76453.6+5.1
Independent Paul Herrick67020.4+20.4
Labor Jo Nixon54116.4-24.4
Greens Jane Clark3169.6-1.1
Total formal votes3,26197.8+0.3
Informal votes752.2-0.3
Turnout 3,36673.8-12.5
Two-party-preferred result
Country Liberal Matt Conlan 2,15065.3+14.0
Labor Jo Nixon1,14134.7-14.0
Two-candidate-preferred result
Country Liberal Matt Conlan 1,89957.8+6.4
Independent Paul Herrick1,39242.3+42.3
Country Liberal hold Swing +6.4

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Country Liberal Party</span> Northern Territory political party

The Country Liberal Party of the Northern Territory (CLP), commonly known as the Country Liberals, 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 elections as an affiliate of the Liberal Party of Australia and National Party of Australia, the two partners in the federal coalition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electoral division of Stuart</span>

Stuart was an electoral division of the Legislative Assembly in Australia's Northern Territory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2005 Northern Territory general election</span>

A general election was held in the Northern Territory, Australia, on 18 June 2005. The centre-left Labor Party, led by Chief Minister Clare Martin, won a second term with a landslide victory, winning six of the ten seats held by the opposition Country Liberal Party in the 25-member Northern Territory Legislative Assembly, bringing their total to 19. It was the second largest victory in any Northern Territory election. The only larger majority in the history of the Territory was in the first election, in 1974. In that contest, the CLP won 17 of the 19 seats in the chamber, and faced only two independents as opposition.

Loraine Margaret Braham is an Australian politician. She was a member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly from 1994 to 2008, representing the electorate of Braitling. She was initially elected as a representative of the Country Liberal Party, serving in that role from 1994 until 2001, but retained her seat as an independent after being disendorsed before the 2001 election. She was the Speaker of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly from 1997 to 1999 and again from 2001 to 2005. Braham also served as a minister in the Stone government from 1999 to 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electoral division of Braitling</span>

Braitling is an electoral division of the Legislative Assembly in Australia's Northern Territory. It was created in 1983, when the electorate of Alice Springs was abolished as part of an enlargement of the Assembly. Braitling is an almost entirely urban electorate, covering 9 km² in north-western Alice Springs. The electorate takes its name from the Braitling family, an early pioneering family in the district. There were 5,830 people enrolled in the electorate as of August 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electoral division of Greatorex</span> Former electoral division of the Northern Territory, Australia

Greatorex was an electoral division of the Legislative Assembly in Australia's Northern Territory. It was first created in 1990, replacing the abolished electorate of Sadadeen, and was named after Tony Greatorex, the last President of the Legislative Council. Greatorex was a mostly urban electorate, covering an area of 76 km², and encompassing the Alice Springs suburbs of Sadadeen and Traeger Park. There were 4,606 people enrolled in the electorate as of August 2012.

This is a list of members of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly from 2005 to 2008:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1994 Northern Territory general election</span>

A general election was held in the Northern Territory on Saturday 4 June 1994, and was won by the incumbent Country Liberal Party (CLP). Marshall Perron continued as Chief Minister.

Alison Nampitjinpa Anderson is an Australian politician.

Garry Lambert is an Australian politician. He was the Lord Mayor of Darwin from 2007 to 2008. He was the unsuccessful Country Liberal Party candidate for the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly seat of Fannie Bay in the 2008 election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2008 Northern Territory general election</span>

General elections were held in the Northern Territory of Australia on 9 August 2008. Of the 25 seats in the Legislative Assembly, 23 were contested; two safe Labor seats were uncontested. The incumbent centre-left Labor Party (ALP), led by Chief Minister Paul Henderson won a narrow third term victory against the opposition centre-right Country Liberal Party (CLP), led by Terry Mills. Labor suffered a massive and unexpected swing against it, to hold a one-seat majority in the new parliament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2016 Northern Territory general election</span>

The 2016 Northern Territory general election was held on Saturday 27 August 2016 to elect all 25 members of the Legislative Assembly in the unicameral Northern Territory Parliament.

Richard Soon Huat Lim is a former Australian politician. He was the Country Liberal Party member for Greatorex in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly from 1994 until his resignation in 2007.

Denis Wilfred Collins is a former Australian politician. He was a member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly from 1980 to 1997, representing Alice Springs until 1983, Sadadeen until 1990 and Greatorex thereafter. He was first elected as a member of the Country Liberal Party, but lost the preselection to future Chief Minister Shane Stone in 1986 and became an Independent, defeating Stone to win re-election in 1987. A conspiracy theorist, Collins advocated burying guns in the desert in response to the Fabian Socialist World Bank conspiracy. He was defeated in 1994 by CLP candidate Richard Lim.

This is a list of electoral division results for the Northern Territory 2012 General Election.

Dale Suzanne Wakefield is an Australian politician. She was a Labor member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly from 2016 to 2020, representing the electorate of Braitling, defeating former Chief Minister Adam Giles in a major upset.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2020 Northern Territory general election</span>

The 2020 Northern Territory general election was held on 22 August 2020 to elect all 25 members of the Legislative Assembly in the unicameral Northern Territory Parliament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Territory Alliance</span> Political party in Australia

Territory Alliance was an Australian political party based in the Northern Territory. It was founded in 2019 by Terry Mills, an incumbent member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly and former Chief Minister of the Northern Territory. He had been elected as a member of the Country Liberal Party (CLP).

Joshua Roland Burgoyne is an Australian politician who is the member for Braitling in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly.

The North Australia Party (NAP) was a short-lived political party in Australia's Northern Territory, primarily active in Alice Springs and the surrounding areas of Central Australia. It was founded in 1965 under the leadership of Lionel Rose and contested the Northern Territory Legislative Council election later that year, winning a single seat. The party has been cited as a predecessor of the modern Country Liberal Party (CLP).

References

  1. Calacouras, Nick. "Labor admits it's on ropes in Alice". Northern Territory News , 11 July 2007.
  2. Lollback, Rebecca. "Then there were 3 as CLP loses Lim". Northern Territory News , 29 June 2007.
  3. Calacouras, Nick. "Outspoken talkback host set for CLP nod". Northern Territory News , 3 July 2007.
  4. Lollback, Rebecca. "Then there were 3 as CLP loses Lim". Northern Territory News , 29 June 2007.
  5. Adlam, Nigel. "4564 on seat roll". Northern Territory News , 14 July 2007.
  6. Calacouras, Nick. "Outspoken talkback host set for CLP nod". Northern Territory News , 3 July 2007.
  7. Calacouras, Nick. "Shock jock gets poll nod for CLP". Northern Territory News , 4 July 2007.
  8. Calacouras, Nick. "Labor admits it's on ropes in Alice". Northern Territory News , 11 July 2007.
  9. Calacouras, Nick. "Shock jock gets poll nod for CLP". Northern Territory News , 4 July 2007.
  10. Calacouras, Nick. "Independent adds fire to by-election". Northern Territory News , 12 July 2007.
  11. "CLP funding under threat via Greatorex". Northern Territory News , 13 July 2007.
  12. Calacouras, Nick. "Greens aim at by-election". Northern Territory News , 16 July 2007.
  13. Calacouras, Nick. "CLP funding under threat via Greatorex". Northern Territory News , 13 July 2007.
  14. Calacouras, Nick. "Labor admits it's on ropes in Alice". Northern Territory News , 11 July 2007.
  15. "Candidates unveil policies.". Centralian Advocate , 20 July 2007.
  16. "In brief". Northern Territory News , 20 July 2007.
  17. Calacouras, Nick. "Satellite city call for Red Centre". Northern Territory News , 26 July 2007.
  18. Calacouras, Nick. "CLP to remove limits on home buy scheme". Northern Territory News , 17 July 2007.
  19. "Promise to deliver for the people". Centralian Advocate , 24 July 2007.
  20. Calacouras, Nick. "'Boot camp' idea set to get a leg-up". Northern Territory News , 24 July 2007.
  21. "Pledge to help young". Northern Territory News , 17 July 2007.
  22. "Major parties give Alice independent preference." Northern Territory News , 24 July 2007.
  23. Calacouras, Nick. "Alice poll pragmatist crosses party line". Northern Territory News , 17 July 2007.
  24. "Major parties give Alice independent preference." Northern Territory News , 24 July 2007.
  25. 2007 Greatorex by-election Results, Northern Territory Electoral Commission, 28 July 2007