2024 Northern Territory general election

← 2020 24 August 2024 2028 →
All 25 seats in theNorthern Territory Legislative Assembly 13 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout	68.5% ( 6.5pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Lia Finocchiaro Eva Lawler No leader Party Country Liberal Labor Greens Leader since 1 February 2020 21 December 2023 N/A Leader's seat Spillett Drysdale (lost seat) N/A Last election 8 seats, 31.34% 14 seats, 39.43% 0 seats, 4.46% Seats before 7[a] 14[b] 0 Seats won 17 4 1 Seat change 9 10 1 Popular vote 49,738 29,292 8,272 Percentage 48.9% 28.8% 8.13% Swing 17.6 10.6 3.67 TPP 57.4% 42.6% TPP swing 10.4 10.4
Chief Minister before election Eva Lawler Labor ElectedChief Minister Lia Finocchiaro Country Liberal

The2024 Northern Territory general election was held on 24 August 2024 to elect all 25 members of theLegislative Assembly in theunicameralNorthern Territory Parliament. Members were elected throughfull preferentialinstant-runoff voting insingle-member electorates. The election was conducted by theNorthern Territory Electoral Commission (NTEC).

The incumbent centre-leftLabormajoritygovernment, led byChief MinisterEva Lawler since December 2023, sought to win a third consecutive four-year term of government. They were defeated by the centre-rightCountry Liberal Party (CLP)opposition, led byOpposition LeaderLia Finocchiaro, in alandslide.^[2][3]

The election saw the second-worst defeat of a sitting government in the Territory's history. From 14 seats at dissolution, Labor fell to four seats, its smallest presence in the Legislative Assembly since it entered the chamber in1977; it won no seats at the first ever Northern Territory election in1974. Labor also tallied its lowest primary vote in the Territory and suffered a complete wipeout in the urban areas ofDarwin andPalmerston. The CLP swelled to 17 seats, up from seven at dissolution, giving the party a four-seat majority. There was a largeswing to the CLP across Darwin, Palmerston andAlice Springs, as well as in the surrounding rural areas and inKatherine. The CLP swept the city of Palmerston and won all but two seats in Darwin and all but one seat in Alice Springs. The swing led to Eva Lawler losing her seat ofDrysdale to CLP candidateClinton Howe. She became the third Chief Minister and the first Labor Chief Minister lose her seat at an election.^[4]

Of the four remaining seats, three were won byindependents and one by left-wing minor party theGreens, whose candidateKat McNamara defeated former Chief MinisterNatasha Fyles in the seat ofNightcliff. This marked the first time the Greens entered the Legislative Assembly in the history of the Northern Territory.^[5]

For the first time in Northern Territory history, both major parties at the election were led by female leaders. Additionally, both leaders were from the city ofPalmerston; indeed, before her move to the then-new seat ofSpillett in2016, Finocchiaro was the member forDrysdale (the seat Lawler won in 2016 after Finocchiaro transferred to Spillett).Voter turnout dropped in remoteAboriginal communities, which the NTEC attributed tovoter fatigue andapathy; others suggested the rejection of theIndigenous Voice to Parliament at the2023 referendum contributed to low turnout among Indigenous voters.^[6]

With the Northern Territory election results, Labor lost its first mainland state or territory since the2018 South Australian election.

This was the first election for the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly where both major political parties were led by women, and the third in any Australian state or territory, after the1995 ACT election and2020 Queensland election.

Additionally, both leaders were from the city ofPalmerston. Before her move to the then-new seat ofSpillett in2016, Finocchiaro was the member forDrysdale, the seat Lawler won in that election.

At the2020 election, the Labor government led by Chief MinisterMichael Gunner was re-elected with a reduced majority, winning 14 of the 25 seats in the parliament. The Country Liberals (CLP) won 8 seats, whilst theTerritory Alliance party won 1 seat and a further 2 seats were won byindependents.

Robyn Lambley, the Territory Alliance's sole representative in the parliament, left the party in October 2020 to sit as an independent.^[7] Labor MLAMark Turner was expelled from the party-roomcaucus in February 2021 due to what he acknowledged as an "inappropriate relationship" with a Labor Party staffer, though he remained a Labor-designated member in the assembly.^[8]

Aby-election was held for the seat ofDaly on 11 September 2021, caused by the resignation of CLP memberIan Sloan due to health and personal issues. Labor candidateDheran Young won the seat, the first time that an incumbent government has won a seat from the opposition in the history of the Legislative Assembly.^[9]

On 10 May 2022, Chief Minister and Labor leader Michael Gunner announced his immediate resignation from both positions, citing his desire to spend more time with his family following the birth of his and his wife's second son on 29 April.^[10] Following a party-room meeting on 13 May, Labor ministerNatasha Fyles was elected unopposed to the leadership, and was sworn in as the new Chief Minister later that day.^[11] Gunner resigned from the seat ofFannie Bay on 27 July and aby-election was held on 20 August 2022. Labor retained the seat at the by-election, with Labor candidateBrent Potter retaining the seat despite a 7 per cent swing against the party.^[12]

On 17 December 2022, Labor MP forArafuraLawrence Costa died. This triggereda by-election which was held on 18 March 2023.Manuel Brown retained the seat for Labor with a 15.6% swing towards the party on thetwo-party-preferred result.

In December 2023, it was revealed that Fyles holds 754 undeclared shares inSouth32, a company that owns amanganese mine onGroote Eylandt. Fyles faced further conflict of interest allegations and calls to resign, due to her decision earlier in 2023 to not investigate health impacts from the Groote Eylandt mine, withLeader of the OppositionLia Finocchiaro calling her actions a 'profound betrayal of public trust'.^[13][14] Due to the controversy, Fyles resigned on 19 December 2023.^[14]

Three independents were elected at the 2020 election, the crossbench then increased to 4 when Mark Turner was expelled from the Labor Party.

A redistribution took place in preparation for the 2024 election, largely due to the rapid population growth ofPalmerston, but minor changes were also made to electorates outside the town.

The first redistribution proposal was published on 23 May 2023.^[15]

The Legislative Assembly has fixed four-year terms, with elections to be held on the fourth Saturday of August every four years.^[16]

• This pre-election pendulum is based on post-redistribution estimates of margins calculated by ABC election analystAntony Green.^[17]
• Members listed in italics are retiring at the 2024 election.

At the close of nominations for the election, five parties were registered with theNorthern Territory Electoral Commission (NTEC).^[18]

The following members announced that they were not contesting the 2024 election:

• Paul Kirby (Port Darwin) – announced retirement on 25 January 2024^[19]
• Nicole Manison (Wanguri) – announced retirement 12 January 2024^[20]

• Kezia Purick (Goyder) – announced retirement 15 February 2024^[21]

Finocchiaro announced the first CLP candidates in May 2023.^[22]

Labor confirmed they would not contest the seat ofMulka on 1 August 2024, with Chief MinisterEva Lawler citing her party's "good relationship with and respect for" incumbent MLAYingiya Mark Guyula.^[23]

Nominations closed on 8 August 2024 and the ballot draws were conducted the same day. In total, 80 candidates nominated for election, down from 111 at the previous election.^[24]

This is the first election since the2008 election where the only parties to field candidates were ALP, CLP, and the Greens.

Sitting members are listed in bold. Successful candidates are highlighted in the relevant colour. Where there is possible confusion, an asterisk is used.

The most prominent issue in the campaign was crime, which has dramatically increased in the Territory in recent years.^[29] Other issues included cost of living and petcrocodiles.^[30]

The Country Liberal Party (CLP) had a policy to lower theage of criminal responsibility from 12 to 10 years old, reversing the Gunner government's 2022 increase.^[31][32][33]

This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(September 2024)

Legislative Assembly (IRV) – (CV)

Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	Country Liberal	49,738	48.89	17.55	17	9
	Labor	29,292	28.79	10.64	4	10
	Independents	14,439	14.19	3.45	3	1
	Greens	8,272	8.13	3.67	1	1
Total		101,741	100.00	–	25	–
Valid votes		101,741	96.99	+0.45
Invalid/blank votes		3,160	3.01	−0.45
Total votes		104,901	100.00	–
Registered voters/turnout		153,248	68.45	−6.49
Source:ABC NewsNTEC
Two-party-preferred vote
	Country Liberal		57.4	10.4
	Labor		42.6	10.4
Total

The CLP swept Labor from power in a massive landslide, winning 58 percent of the two-party vote on a swing of 11 percent. The swing was particularly pronounced in Darwin and Palmerston. The CLP took all of Palmerston and all but two seats in Darwin, all on swings of over 10 percent. Notably, the CLP took five out of seven seats in Darwin's northern suburbs, which had been Labor's power base in the Territory since the turn of the millennium. Labor won power for the first time in 2001 by sweeping the northern suburbs, and retained all but one seat there even when defeated in2012. It initially appeared Fyles inNightcliff would be the only Labor member left in the Darwin/Palmerston area, but the Greens narrowly defeated her to complete Labor's urban wipeout.

Lawler herself was defeated in Drysdale by CLP challengerClinton Howe on a swing of over 21 percent, enough on paper to turn it into a safe CLP seat in one stroke. She is the third head of government in the Territory and the fourth major-party leader to lose their own seat. All but two members of her cabinet were defeated, the only survivors beingDeputy Chief MinisterChansey Paech andSelena Uibo.

Members in italics did not seek re-election.

• Northern Territory Electoral Commission

• 2024 elections in Australia
• August 2024 in Australia
• Elections in the Northern Territory

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