A general election was held in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Au ...

on Saturday 27 October 1990, and was won by the incumbent

Country Liberal Party The Country Liberal Party of the Northern Territory (CLP) 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 ...

(CLP) under Chief Minister

Marshall Perron Marshall Bruce Perron (born 5 February 1942) is a former Australian politician, who was a Country Liberal Party member of the Legislative Assembly in the Northern Territory from the formation of the Assembly in 1974 until his resignation in 19 ...

. 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 Greens may refer to: *Leaf vegetables such as collard greens, mustard greens, spring greens, winter greens, spinach, etc. Politics Supranational * Green politics * Green party, political parties adhering to Green politics * Global Greens * Europ ...

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.

Retiring MPs

Labor

* Dan Leo MLA (

Nhulunbuy Nhulunbuy () is a township that is the sixth largest population centre in the Northern Territory of Australia. Nhulunbuy was created on the Gove Peninsula in north-east Arnhem Land when a bauxite mine and a deep water port were establishe ...

)

Country Liberal

* Tom Harris MLA ( Port Darwin)

Results

Candidates

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

Seats changing hands

Post-election pendulum

The following pendulum is known as the Mackerras pendulum, invented by psephologist

Malcolm Mackerras Malcolm Hugh Mackerras AO (born 26 August 1939) is an Australian psephologist and commentator and lecturer on Australian and American politics. Education and works Malcolm Mackerras was born at Turramurra in Sydney in August 1939. He is a br ...

. The pendulum works by lining up all of the seats held in the Legislative Assembly according to the

percentage point A percentage point or percent point is the unit for the arithmetic difference between two percentages. For example, moving up from 40 percent to 44 percent is an increase of 4 percentage points, but a 10-percent increase in the quantity being me ...

margin they are held by on a two-party-preferred basis. This is also known as the

swing Swing or swinging may refer to: Apparatus * Swing (seat), a hanging seat that swings back and forth * Pendulum, an object that swings * Russian swing, a swing-like circus apparatus * Sex swing, a type of harness for sexual intercourse * Swing rid ...

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.

References

Northern Territory Electoral Commission
{{DEFAULTSORT:Northern Territory General Election, 1990 Elections in the Northern Territory 1990 elections in Australia 1990s in the Northern Territory October 1990 events in Australia