The Australian Labor Party (Northern Territory Branch), commonly known as Territory Labor, is 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 ...
branch of the
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms ...
. It has been the governing party of the Northern Territory since winning the
2016 election
The following elections occurred in the year 2016.
Africa
Benin Republic
*2016 Beninese presidential election 6 March 2016
Cape Verde
* 2016 Cape Verdean presidential election 2 October 2016
Chad
* 2016 Chadian presidential election 10 A ...
under
Michael Gunner
Michael Patrick Francis Gunner (born 6 January 1976) is an Australian politician and was the 11th Chief Minister of the Northern Territory from 2016 to 2022. He is a Labor member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly, having held his ...
. It previously held office from 2001 to 2012.
History
The first Labor candidate from the Northern Territory—which was then represented by 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 ...
seat in the
South Australian House of Assembly
The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide.
Overview
The House of Assembly was crea ...
—was
Pine Creek miner and former
City of Adelaide
The City of Adelaide, also known as the Corporation of the City of Adelaide and Adelaide City Council is a local government area in the metropolitan area of greater Adelaide, South Australia and is legally defined as the capital city of Sout ...
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 House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Australian Senate, Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Austra ...
, 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.
[James, B. (2008) "Crush, Thomas George (Tom)" and "Nelson, Harold George", ]
Northern Territory Dictionary of Biography
', Revised Edition, ed. Carment, D, Edward, C. et al., Charles Darwin University Press: Darwin. .
In March 1928, a general meeting of the
North Australian Workers Union
The North Australian Workers' Union (NAWU) was a trade union in the Northern Territory between 1927 and 1972. It was a publisher of a newsletter in Darwin, the '' Northern Standard''.
The union was involved in Aboriginal Australians' working con ...
resolved to establish a Northern Territory branch of the Labor Party and elected an interim executive. In July 1928, it was reported that the federal secretary had requested that the
South Australian branch instead form a
Darwin
Darwin may refer to:
Common meanings
* Charles Darwin (1809–1882), English naturalist and writer, best known as the originator of the theory of biological evolution by natural selection
* Darwin, Northern Territory, a territorial capital city i ...
branch. 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. An
Alice Springs
Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...
branch was established in 1947.
The Northern Territory branch was upgraded to receive the status of a state branch in August 1967.
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.
Labor members of the Legislative Council included
Tom Bell,
Eric Marks
The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, or Eirik is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization).
The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Norse ''* ain ...
,
Charles Orr,
Len Purkiss
Len or LEN may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Len (given name), a list of people and fictional characters
* Lén, a character from Irish mythology
* Alex Len (born 1993), Ukrainian basketball player
* Mr. Len, American hip hop DJ ...
,
Tom Ronan
Tom or TOM may refer to:
* Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name)
Characters
* Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head''
* Tom Beck, a character ...
, and
Richard Ward
In 1974, the Legislative Council was replaced by the fully elected
Northern Territory Legislative Assembly in preparation for self-governance. However, the
1974 election was disastrous for Labor, which failed to win a single seat. The party recovered to some extent at the
1977 election, winning six seats. However, over the next 24 years, it never came particularly close to winning government; it never won more than nine seats at an election and never held more than two seats in the Darwin/
Palmerston area at any time.
[ Green, Antony]
2005 election summary
ABC News
ABC News is the journalism, news division of the American broadcast network American Broadcasting Company, ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other progra ...
, 15 April 2005.
As a result, Labor remained in opposition until
2001 election, when
Clare Martin led the party to government for the first time primarily on the strength of a near-sweep of Darwin, including all seven seats in the northern part of the capital.
[ Four years later, in ]2005
File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris (dwarf planet), Er ...
, Martin led Labor to one of the most comprehensive victories on record at the state or territory level, winning 19 out of 25 seats, the second-largest majority government in the history of the Territory. Martin retired in 2007 and was succeeded by Paul Henderson. Under Henderson, Labor won a third term with a reduced majority in 2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing ...
before being defeated by the CLP at the 2012 election
This national electoral calendar for 2012 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2012 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included.
January
*3–4 January: ...
. After one term in opposition, Labor returned to power at the 2016 election
The following elections occurred in the year 2016.
Africa
Benin Republic
*2016 Beninese presidential election 6 March 2016
Cape Verde
* 2016 Cape Verdean presidential election 2 October 2016
Chad
* 2016 Chadian presidential election 10 A ...
. Under Michael Gunner
Michael Patrick Francis Gunner (born 6 January 1976) is an Australian politician and was the 11th Chief Minister of the Northern Territory from 2016 to 2022. He is a Labor member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly, having held his ...
, Labor won a landslide almost as massive as the one it won in 2005, with 18 seats, the third-largest majority government in the history of the Territory. Gunner was reelected in 2020
2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in ...
with a somewhat reduced mandate of 14 seats.
Leaders
* Richard Ward (1974)
* Jon Isaacs (September 1977 – November 1981)
* Bob Collins (November 1981 – August 1986)
* Terry Smith (August 1986 – November 1990)
* Brian Ede
Brian Richard Ede (born 9 March 1946) is a former Australian politician. He was the Australian Labor Party (Northern Territory Branch), Labor member for Electoral division of Stuart, Stuart in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly from 1983 ...
(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
Michael Patrick Francis Gunner (born 6 January 1976) is an Australian politician and was the 11th Chief Minister of the Northern Territory from 2016 to 2022. He is a Labor member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly, having held his ...
(April 2015 – May 2022)
* Natasha Fyles (May 2022 – present)
Election results
Note: this section only lists elections for the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly.
References
{{Authority control
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 ...
Political parties in the Northern Territory