1974 Northern Territory general election

1974 Northern Territory general election

19 October 1974 (1974-10-19)
All 19 seats of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly 10 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	75.4
First party Second party   Leader Goff Letts Richard Ward Party Country Liberal Labor Leader's seat Victoria River (won seat) Did not contest Seats won 17 0 Popular vote 13,690 8,508 Percentage 49.0% 30.5% Swing N/A
Elected Majority Leader Goff Letts Country Liberal

The first general election for the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly was held in the Northern Territory on Saturday 19 October 1974.

The Country Liberal Party (CLP), formed a few months earlier from the merger of the territorial Country and Liberal parties, won a landslide victory with 49.01% of the vote. The Labor Party won 30.46% and independent candidates won 20.54%. The Country Liberals took 17 of the 19 assembly seats. The other two were held by independents; Dawn Lawrie won the seat of Nightcliff, and Ron Withnall won the seat of Port Darwin. Despite finishing second in the vote count, Labor failed to win any seats. Its support was spread out across the Territory, and was not concentrated in enough areas to translate into seats.

As the territory was still being prepared for self-government, Country Liberal leader Goff Letts took the post of Majority Leader–equivalent to a state premier. Instead of a cabinet, a seven-person "executive" managed internal affairs.

This would be the first of the CLP's eight consecutive election victories. The party would govern the territory for 28 years, one of the longest unbroken runs in government in Australia.

Results

Summary of the results of the 1974 Northern Territory general election, Legislative Assembly^[1]

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Country Liberal	13,690	49.01	17
	Labor	8,508	30.46	0
	Independents	5,737	20.54	2
Total		27,935	100.00	19
Valid votes		27,935	94.93
Invalid/blank votes		1,493	5.07
Total votes		29,428	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		39,027	75.40

Candidates

Successful candidates are highlighted in the relevant colour. Where there is possible confusion, an asterisk is used.

References

• Jaensch, Dean; Wade-Marshall, Deborah (1984). Northern Territory Electoral Atlas 1974–1984. Australian National University/Flinders University. ISBN 0959924698.

See also

• First Letts Executive
• Second Letts Executive
• Third Letts Executive
• Fourth Letts Executive