Lingiari and Solomon boundaries redrawn, as AEC readies for record election effort

About 5000 voters have moved from the federal seat of Lingiari to Solomon due to an electoral boundary redistribution expected to favour the Country Liberals in the Top End.

About 5000 voters have moved from the federal seat of Lingiari to Solomon due to an electoral boundary redistribution expected to favour the Country Liberals in the Top End.

The redistribution returns a section of Palmerston to Solomon which was removed in 2017, primarily due to a large increase in enrolments in Lingiari since then.

The federal seat of Solomon after electoral boundaries were redistributed on March 4, 2025. Picture: AEC.

Farrar, Johnston, Mitchell, Zuccoli and part of Yarrawonga have moved to the Top End seat; areas that delivered strong results for the CLP in August, and trended more conservative at the 2022 federal election.

With neither of the Territory’s seats considered safe at the federal election, the redistribution could prove significant – particularly as the old boundaries would have remained in play had the election been called before Tuesday.

The federal seat of Lingiari after electoral boundaries were redistributed on March 4, 2025. Picture: AEC.

The seat of Solomon is currently held by Labor’s Luke Gosling. He is expected to face a tough contest from 30 year-career police officer Lisa Bayliss who is the Country Liberal candidate.

Labor’s Marion Scrymgour holds the seat of Lingiari with Lisa Siebert contesting it for the CLP.

While a date is yet to be set, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese must call an election to be held by May 17 and the Australian Electoral Commission says it is ready to deliver for what’s expected to be a record number of voters heading to the polls.

The NT’s vast remoteness – and the AEC’s efforts to reach every corner – make our elections a globally unique operation, including cases of polling staff being helicoptered into remote homelands.

Territorians’ enrolment rate is at an all time high (94.3 per cent), however voter turnout is generally much lower; nearly two-thirds of enrolled voters in some remote NT electorates failed to vote in the 2024 election.

Acting Electoral Commissioner Jeff Pope. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Visiting Darwin on Wednesday, Acting Electoral Commissioner Jeff Pope said it was “an absolute focus and priority of the AEC for everyone to vote”.

Mr Pope said AEC was particularly focused on engaging youths and Indigenous voters, rolling out educational material on why it was important to have a say.

“It can be a challenge because as an independent body we cannot provide any information about candidates, parties or their policies, but we are rolling out our ‘Why vote’ campaign, with a big focus on Indigenous communities,” he said.

Eighty staff across 24 remote polling teams will attempt to reach 200 locations across the NT, including communities, hospitals, mental health and disability services.

They will have just a fortnight to do so, unlike the referendum which had a special three week pre-poll period.

“It’s our biggest mobile polling ever delivered in an election, in terms of locations, and hours,” Mr Pope said.

In total about a thousand polling staff will be engaged in the Territory, and 37 static polling places established.

AEC Northern Territory Manager Geoffrey Bloom said the 2000 households caught in the Territory’s redistribution would be notified in the coming weeks.

“With a federal election coming it is important that voters know whether they’ll be voting in either Lingiari or Solomon for the House of Representatives,” Mr Bloom said.

“There will be an automatic change made on their enrolment record but the action required by voters is simply to know what their seat is ahead of time so they can be prepared when they’re thinking about who they might vote for.”

Originally published as Lingiari and Solomon boundaries redrawn, as AEC readies for record election effort