Electoral division of Port Darwin

Port Darwin Northern Territory—Legislative Assembly
File:NT electorates - Port Darwin.png Location of Part Darwin in the Darwin/Palmerston area
Territory	Northern Territory
Created	1974
MP	John Elferink
Party	Country Liberal Party
Electors	4,730 (2012)
Area	11 km2 (4.2 sq mi)
Demographic	Urban

Port Darwin is an electoral division of the Legislative Assembly in Australia's Northern Territory. It was first created in 1974, and is an entirely urban electorate, covering only 11 km² and taking in the Darwin central business district, as well as the suburb of Larrakeyah and part of Stuart Park. There were 4,730 people enrolled in the electorate as of August 2012.

Port Darwin has almost always been a safe seat for the Country Liberal Party, although it was one of only two seats the party did not hold in the first parliament from 1974 to 1977. It was widely considered as CLP heartland, and was their safest seat in Darwin for many years. The strength of the CLP vote in the seat was seen at the 2000 by-election caused by the resignation of controversial former Chief Minister Shane Stone, when a struggling CLP still managed to easily fend off any challenge in the seat. After the Australian Labor Party victory at the 2001 election, it became the only CLP-held seat west of Palmerston. As a result, there were very few signs in the lead-up to the 2005 election that sitting member Sue Carter was in danger, with most commentators expecting her to win another term. However, on election day, there was a surprise significant and unprecedented swing to the ALP across the Territory. Though the result was so close that it was not known for several days after the election, Carter was ultimately defeated by Labor opponent Kerry Sacilotto, who held the seat until the 2008 election, when Port Darwin returned to the CLP.

Members for Port Darwin

	Member	Party	Term
	Ron Withnall	Independent	1974–1977
	Tom Harris	Country Liberal	1977–1990
	Shane Stone	Country Liberal	1990–2000
	Sue Carter	Country Liberal	2000–2005
	Kerry Sacilotto	Labor	2005–2008
	John Elferink	Country Liberal	2008–present

Election results

See also: Electoral results for the division of Port Darwin

Northern Territory general election, 2012: Port Darwin

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Country Liberal	John Elferink	2,023	55.5	+8.7
	Labor	Alan James	1,205	33.0	−4.0
	Greens	David Andrews	233	18.5	−9.8
	Sex Party	Rowena Leunig	185	5.1	+5.1
Total formal votes			3,646	97.4	+0.5
Informal votes			96	2.6	−0.5
Turnout			3,742	79.1	+6.7
Two-party-preferred result
	Country Liberal	John Elferink	2,173	59.6	+6.8
	Labor	Alan James	1,473	40.4	−6.8
	Country Liberal hold		Swing	+6.8

External links

• Division profile from the Northern Territory Electoral Commission