1987 Northern Territory general election

A general election was held in the Northern Territory, Australia on Saturday 7 March 1987. Although the incumbent Country Liberal Party (CLP) won a majority under new leader Stephen Hatton, the party's vote was down almost 20 percentage points.

1987 Northern Territory general election

7 March 1987 (1987-03-07)
All 25 seats of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly 13 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	71.2 ( 10.4 pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Stephen Hatton Terry Smith Ian Tuxworth Party Country Liberal Labor Nationals Leader since 14 May 1986 19 August 1986 21 December 1986 Leader's seat Nightcliff Millner Barkly Last election 19 seats 6 seats Did not exist Seats won 16 6 1 Seat change 3 New Popular vote 20,074 18,307 9,058 Percentage 39.4% 36.0% 17.1% Swing 18.8 0.4 New TPP 57.3% 42.7% TPP swing 3.8 3.8
Chief Minister before election Stephen Hatton Country Liberal Elected Chief Minister Stephen Hatton Country Liberal

At the 1987 election, the CLP faced a challenge from the Northern Territory Nationals, a rebel conservative party led by former CLP Chief Minister Ian Tuxworth that was aligned with then-Queensland Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen, but not affiliated with the federal National Party of Australia. The NT Nationals took 17.79% of the primary vote, mostly from the CLP, but finished with only one member in the assembly. Hatton, despite a loss of three seats, retained a working majority.

Labor's vote remained virtually unchanged. As in 1983, its assembly tally was six.

Two former-CLP independents were re-elected in their seats. Noel Padgham-Purich was re-elected to Koolpinyah, while Denis Collins was re-elected to Sadadeen as an independent. Former Chief Minister Ian Tuxworth was also re-elected as a member of the NT Nationals.

Ian Tuxworth's election to the seat of Barkly was declared void after independent candidate Maggie Hickey challenged the result on the basis that the Labor candidate, Keith Hallet, held British nationality and was not an Australian citizen. Due to the close result (Tuxworth had won by only 19 votes), Justice John Nader voided the election on 30 July 1987, and a by-election was held on 5 September 1987, at which Tuxworth regained the seat.

Results

See also: Results of the Northern Territory general election, 1987

↓ 

16	1	2	6
CLP	Nat	Ind	Labor

Summary of the results of the 1987 Northern Territory general election, Legislative Assembly

Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	Country Liberal	20,074	39.42	18.80	16	3
	Labor	18,307	35.95	0.36	6
	NT Nationals	9,058	17.79	New	1	New
	Independents	3,489	6.85	2.47	2	2
Total		50,928	100.00	–	25	–
Valid votes		50,928	95.86
Invalid/blank votes		2,199	4.14	1.12
Total votes		53,127	100.00	–
Registered voters/turnout		74,633	71.18	10.39

Popular vote Country Liberal   37.94% Labor   34.60% NT Nationals   17.12% Independents   6.59%

Two-party-preferred vote Country Liberal   57.30% Labor   42.70%

Seats Country Liberal   64.00% Labor   24.00% NT Nationals   4.00% Independents   8.00%

Retiring MPs

Labor

• Bob Collins MLA (Arafura)

Country Liberal

• Roger Steele MLA (Elsey)

Candidates

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

Electorate	Held by	Labor candidate	CLP candidate	Nationals candidates	Independent candidates
Arafura	Labor	Stan Tipiloura	Dorothy Fox	Peter Watton
Araluen	CLP	Di Shanahan	Eric Poole	Enzo Floreani
Arnhem	Labor	Wes Lanhupuy	John Hancock	Brian Dalliston	Bruce Foley
Barkly	CLP	Keith Hallett	Gary Smith	Ian Tuxworth	Maggie Hickey
Braitling	CLP	Mike Alsop	Roger Vale	Max Stewart
Casuarina	CLP	John Reeves	Nick Dondas	Giuseppe Nicolosi
Fannie Bay	CLP	John Waters	Marshall Perron	Stephen Marshall	Edward Osgood Strider
Flynn	CLP	John Omond	Ray Hanrahan	Jacqueline Anderson
Jingili	CLP	Bob Wharton	Rick Setter	Harry Maschke
Karama	CLP	Robyn Crompton	Mick Palmer	Lionel Preston
Katherine	CLP	Phil Maynard	Mike Reed	Jim Forscutt
Koolpinyah	CLP	Peter Ivinson	Pat Loftus	David Loveridge	Noel Padgham-Purich
Leanyer	CLP	David Lamb-Jenkins	Fred Finch	David Wane
Ludmilla	CLP	Chris McMah	Col Firmin	Brian Thomas	Sydney Cross
MacDonnell	Labor	Neil Bell	J. Davis	Ron Liddle
Millner	Labor	Terry Smith	John Baban	Michael Foley
Nhulunbuy	Labor	Dan Leo	Pam Steele-Wareham	Deane Crowhurst	Pat Ellis
Nightcliff	CLP	John Rowell	Stephen Hatton	Brian Brent
Palmerston	CLP	Tony Henry	Barry Coulter	Michael Ting
Port Darwin	CLP	Russell Kearney	Tom Harris	James Maclean
Sadadeen	Independent	Meredith Campbell	Shane Stone	Lynne Peterkin	Denis Collins
Sanderson	CLP	Peter McQueen	Daryl Manzie	Lawrence Armstrong
Stuart	Labor	Brian Ede	Jim Sinclair	Ian Drennan	Vince Forrester
Victoria River	CLP	Leon White	Terry McCarthy	Ronald Wright	Lance Lawrence
Wanguri	CLP	Peter McNab	Don Dale	Graeme Bevis

Seats changing hands

Seat	Pre-1987				Swing	Post-1987
	Party		Member	Margin		Margin	Member	Party
Barkly		Country Liberals	Ian Tuxworth	10.3 (CLP)	N/A	0.5	Ian Tuxworth	NT Nationals
Koolpinyah		Independent	Noel Padgham-Purich	12.5 (CLP)	31.3	18.8	Noel Padgham-Purich	Independent
Sadadeen		Independent	Denis Collins	20.5 (CLP)	40.2	19.7	Denis Collins	Independent

Post-election pendulum

The following pendulum is known as the Mackerras pendulum, invented by psephologist Malcolm Mackerras. The pendulum works by lining up all of the seats held in the Legislative Assembly according to the percentage point margin they are held by on a two-party-preferred basis. This is also known as the swing 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.

Country Liberal seats
Marginal
Casuarina	Nick Dondas	CLP	4.0
Katherine	Mike Reed	CLP	5.9 v NAT
Fairly safe
Leanyer	Fred Finch	CLP	6.3
Karama	Mick Palmer	CLP	6.5
Jingili	Rick Setter	CLP	7.4
Sanderson	Daryl Manzie	CLP	7.6
Wanguri	Don Dale	CLP	9.4
Safe
Fannie Bay	Marshall Perron	CLP	13.3
Araluen	Eric Poole	CLP	14.2
Palmerston	Barry Coulter	CLP	15.1
Ludmilla	Col Firmin	CLP	16.1 v NAT
Victoria River	Terry McCarthy	CLP	16.9
Port Darwin	Tom Harris	CLP	17.1
Nightcliff	Stephen Hatton	CLP	18.4
Flynn	Ray Hanrahan	CLP	19.0
Very safe
Braitling	Roger Vale	CLP	25.5

Labor seats
Marginal
Arnhem	Wes Lanhupuy	ALP	5.1
Fairly safe
Nhulunbuy	Dan Leo	ALP	9.9
Safe
Millner	Terry Smith	ALP	15.2
Arafura	Stan Tipiloura	ALP	17.9
Stuart	Brian Ede	ALP	19.2
Very safe
Macdonnell	Neil Bell	ALP	24.9
Crossbench seats
Barkly	Ian Tuxworth	NAT	0.5 v IND
Koolpinyah	Noel Padgham-Purich	IND	18.8 v NAT
Sadadeen	Denis Collins	IND	19.7 v LAB