Electoral division of Daly

Daly Northern Territory—Legislative Assembly
Daly in the Northern Territory
Territory	Northern Territory
Created	2001
MP	Gary Higgins
Party	Country Liberal Party
Namesake	Daly River
Electors	5,386 (2016)
Area	81,818 km^2 (31,590.1 sq mi)
Demographic	Remote

Daly is an electoral division of the Legislative Assembly in Australia's Northern Territory. It was created in 2001, and takes its name from the Daly River region which lies at the heart of the electorate. Daly covers some 81,818 km², encompassing the towns of Adelaide River, Acacia Hills, Batchelor, Dundee, Nauiyu Nambiyu, Pine Creek, Timber Creek and Wadeye. There were 5,329 people enrolled in the electorate as of August 2012.

Daly is a relatively new electorate in the Northern Territory, having only been created in 2001. It replaced Victoria River, one of the Territory's original seats and best known as the seat of the Territory's first head of government, Goff Letts. It had been abolished when its namesake was moved out of the electorate by a redistribution. While Victoria River had been held by the Australian Labor Party in the past, Daly appeared on paper to be a safe seat for the Country Liberal Party, having been held easily by then-member Tim Baldwin. However, he retired at the 2005 election. While the CLP candidate, Debbi Aloisi, was widely predicted to succeed him, she was ultimately defeated by Labor challenger Rob Knight, who had lost badly to Baldwin in 2001. In the lead-up to the election, there had been almost no suggestion that Knight had any chance of defeating Aloisi. However, on election night the CLP primary vote almost halved, and Knight won on a two-party swing of 24.6 percent—almost unheard of in Australian politics—and turned Daly from a safe CLP seat into a safe Labor seat in one stroke. Knight actually took the seat without the need for preferences. He was re-elected in 2008, but was defeated by CLP candidate Gary Higgins in 2012.

Higgins narrowly weathered the massive Labor wave that swept through the Territory in 2016. He was one of only two CLP members returned at this election, and was named as leader of what remained of the CLP.

Members for Daly

Member		Party	Term
	Tim Baldwin	Country Liberal	2001–2005
	Rob Knight	Labor	2005–2012
	Gary Higgins	Country Liberal	2012–present

Election results

Northern Territory general election, 2016: Daly^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Country Liberal	Gary Higgins	1,583	42.4	−9.2
	Labor	Anthony Venes	1,361	36.5	−2.1
	1 Territory	Joan Growden	246	6.6	+6.6
	Independent	Allan McKay	166	4.5	+4.5
	Independent	Regina McCarthy	128	3.4	+3.4
	Independent	Kevin Wanganeen	119	3.2	+3.2
	Independent	Thong Sum Lee	90	2.4	+2.4
	CEC	Ian Barry	37	1.0	+1.0
Total formal votes			3,730	97.5	+3.1
Informal votes			94	2.5	−3.1
Turnout			3,824	71.0	−2.4
Two-party-preferred result
	Country Liberal	Gary Higgins	1,763	52.1	−3.1
	Labor	Anthony Venes	1,622	47.9	+3.1
	Country Liberal hold		Swing	−3.1

References

1. Daly – Electorate summary, Northern Territory Electoral Commission, 9 September 2016

External links

• Division profile from the Northern Territory Electoral Commission