Electoral division of Johnston

Johnston Northern Territory—Legislative Assembly
Location of Johnston in the Darwin/Palmerston area
Territory	Northern Territory
Created	2001
MP	Ken Vowles
Party	Australian Labor Party
Namesake	Eric Johnston
Electors	4,983 (2016)
Area	4 km^2 (1.5 sq mi)
Demographic	Urban

Johnston is an electoral division of the Legislative Assembly in Australia's Northern Territory. It was first created in 2001, replacing the abolished Jingili electorate, and is named after Commodore Eric Johnston, a former Administrator of the Northern Territory. Johnston is an urban electorate, covering only 4 km² and taking in the Darwin suburbs of Jingili, Moil, Wagaman and part of Alawa. There were 4,983 people enrolled within the electorate as of August 2016.

Johnston was essentially a reconfigured version of one of the original electorates in the Northern Territory, Jingili, which had been held by the Country Liberal Party for its entire existence and was the seat of the Territory's second head of government, Paul Everingham. At the 2001 election, however, the CLP member for Jingili, Steve Balch, was defeated by Australian Labor Party challenger Dr Chris Burns. Burns' victory was part of an unexpected Labor wave that swept through Darwin, allowing Labor to win government in the Territory for the first time. The area's CLP voting history led many commentators to suggest that it was likely to revert to the CLP at the 2005 election. As it turned out, Burns was re-elected easily amid that year's Labor landslide, with a substantially increased majority—although not as much as in similar electorates nearby. Burns retired at the 2012 election, and the seat was retained for Labor by former cricketer Ken Vowles with only a small swing against Labor—suggesting that it is now a marginal Labor seat.

Members for Johnston

Member		Party	Term
	Chris Burns	Labor	2001–2012
	Ken Vowles	Labor	2012–present

Election results

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

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labor	Ken Vowles	2,019	51.4	+3.6
	Country Liberal	Steven Klose	1,234	31.4	−7.6
	Greens	Melanie Ross	676	17.2	+9.3
Total formal votes			3,929	98.1	+1.6
Informal votes			77	1.9	−1.6
Turnout			4,006	80.4	+0.8
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Ken Vowles	2,453	64.7	+8.1
	Country Liberal	Steven Klose	1,339	35.3	−8.1
	Labor hold		Swing	+8.1

References

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

External links

• Division profile from the Northern Territory Electoral Commission