MLAs risk losing seats

Federal election results suggest some Territory Labor MLAs are facing a serious risk of losing their seats in next year’s NT election including a key minister based in Alice Springs.

Territory Families Minister, Dale Wakefield. Picture: Justin Kennedy

Federal election results suggest some Territory Labor MLAs are facing a serious risk of losing their seats in next year’s NT election including a key minister based in Alice Springs.

Territory Families Minister Dale Wakefield faces a risk of losing her seat after polling booths in Alice Springs saw a swing to the Country Liberals during the federal election on Saturday.

Ms Dale Wakefield won the seat of Braitling by just 27 votes in the two-candidate preferred count following the 2016 Territory election.

During the election on the weekend, polling in Alice Springs saw a swing to the Country Liberals including in polling centres located at Braitling and Sadadeen.

Labor’s Solomon MP Luke Gosling may have managed to hang on to his seat however he received a hammering at the polls in Palmerston.

Labor’s two-party preferred vote dropped across all polling places in Palmerston, including the early voting centre where Labor has 44.48 per cent of the vote (2,399) compared to CLP’s 55.52 per cent (2,995).

Charles Darwin University political economist Rolf Gerritsen said some MLAs should be worried, however he doesn’t think the federal election necessarily indicates a Labor loss in next year’s Territory election.

“There is a small minority of voters that conflate sub-national and national elections. Most voters separate this out in their minds,” he said.

“People were talking about how unpopular the Gunner government is but it didn’t have a huge impact on the federal election.

CLP President Ron Kelly told the Centralian Advocate the federal election result was good news for him on the dawn of a Territory election.

“We’ll see what happens when we have a Territory election based on Territory issues,” he said. “The swing to the CLP has shown that people are looking to support us for a change.”

Ex-NT Labor member Ken Parish said the federal voting numbers also show there is a “serious chance” the Territory Labor Government could lose one or both of their seats in Palmerston in the 2020 election. He said the Member for Brennan Tony Sievers was at risk of losing his seat after a polling booth in Bakewell recorded a huge 10.34 per cent swing against Labor on Saturday.