Territory Labor Party Australian Labor Party (Northern Territory Branch)
Abbreviation	NTALP NTL TL ALP
Leader	Selena Uibo
Deputy Leader	Dheran Young
Secretary	Karlee Dalton[1]
President	Erina Early[2]
Founded	August 1967; 58 years ago (1967-08)[3]
Headquarters	38 Woods Street,Darwin,Northern Territory[4]
Youth wing	Northern Territory Young Labor
Ideology	Social democracy
Political position	Centre-left
National affiliation	Australian Labor
Union affiliate	Unions NT[5]
Colours	Red
Legislative Assembly	4 / 25
House of Representatives	2 / 2 (NT seats)
Senate	1 / 2 (NT seats)
Website
territorylabor.com.au
Politics of Australia Political parties Elections

TheTerritory Labor Party,^[a] officially known as theAustralian Labor Party (Northern Territory Branch) and commonly referred to simply asTerritory Labor, is theNorthern Territory branch of theAustralian Labor Party.^[6] It has been led bySelena Uibo, the first Aboriginal woman to lead a major political party in Australia, since 3 September 2024.^[7]

The first Labor candidate from the Northern Territory—which was then represented by theNorthern Territory seat in theSouth Australian House of Assembly—wasPine Creek miner and formerCity of Adelaide alderman James Robertson in 1905. The first Labor MP wasThomas Crush, who was elected at a1908 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 theAustralian House of Representatives, theDivision of Northern Territory, was established for the1922 election, and was won by independent candidate and former union leaderHarold George Nelson, who joined the Labor caucus after the election.^[8]

In March 1928, a general meeting of theNorth Australian Workers Union resolved to establish a Northern Territory branch of the Labor Party and elected an interim executive.^[9] In July 1928, it was reported that the federal secretary had requested that theSouth Australian branch instead form aDarwin branch.^[10] 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 the1929 election.^[11] AnAlice Springs branch was established in 1947.^[12] The Northern Territory branch was upgraded to receive the status of a state branch in August 1967.^[3]

TheNorthern 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 includedTom Bell,Eric Marks,Charles Orr,Len Purkiss,Tom Ronan, andRichard Ward^{[14][15][16][8]}

In 1974, the Legislative Council was replaced by the fully electedNorthern Territory Legislative Assembly in preparation for self-governance.^[17] However, the1974 election was disastrous for Labor, which failed to win a single seat.^[18] The party recovered to some extent at the1977 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.^[19]

As a result, Labor remained in opposition until2001 election, whenClare 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.^[19] Four years later, in2005, 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.^[20] Martin retired in 2007 and was succeeded byPaul Henderson. Under Henderson, Labor won a third term with a reduced majority in2008 before being defeated by the CLP at the2012 election. After one term in opposition, Labor returned to power at the2016 election. UnderMichael Gunner, 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 in2020 with a somewhat reduced mandate of 14 seats.

The2024 election saw Territory Labor suffer its second-worst result since the establishment of self-government (second to only the first Northern Territory election in1974, when Labor won no seats), as well as Labor's lowest primary vote share in the history of the Northern Territory. Party leaderEva Lawler lost her seat to the CLP, becoming the third Chief Minister and the first Labor Chief Minister to do so.Selena Uibo was subsequently elected unopposed as Leader of Territory Labor andLeader of the Opposition in the Northern Territory on 3 September 2024, the first Aboriginal woman to lead a major political party in Australia.^[21]

• 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 – May 2022)
• Natasha Fyles (May 2022 – December 2023)
• Eva Lawler (December 2023 – September 2024)
• Selena Uibo (September 2024 – present)

Election	Leader	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Position	Status
1974	Richard Ward	8,508	30.5	0 / 19	0	2nd	No seats
1977	Jon Isaacs	12,165	38.2	6 / 19	6	2nd	Opposition
1980		15,818	39.4	7 / 19	1	2nd	Opposition
1983	Bob Collins	17,505	35.6	6 / 25	1	2nd	Opposition
1987	Terry Smith	18,307	36.0	6 / 25	0	2nd	Opposition
1990		23,827	36.6	9 / 25	3	2nd	Opposition
1994	Brian Ede	30,507	41.4	7 / 25	2	2nd	Opposition
1997	Maggie Hickey	29,365	38.5	7 / 25	0	2nd	Opposition
2001	Clare Martin	33,038	40.6	13 / 25	6	1st	Majority
2005		44,822	51.9	19 / 25	6	1st	Majority
2008	Paul Henderson	34,557	43.2	13 / 25	6	1st	Majority
2012		33,594	36.5	8 / 25	5	2nd	Opposition
2016	Michael Gunner	41,476	42.2	18 / 25	11	1st	Majority
2020		40,291	39.4	14 / 25	4	1st	Majority
2024	Eva Lawler	29,292	28.8	4 / 25	10	2nd	Opposition

• 1967 establishments in Australia
• Political parties established in 1967
• Australian Labor Party state and territory branches
• Political parties in the Northern Territory

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