1974 Northern Territory general election

The first general election for the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly was held in the Northern Territory on Saturday 19 October 1974, and was won by the Country Liberal Party (CLP), formed a few months earlier from the merger of the territorial Country and Liberal parties.

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) N/A Seats won 17 0 Popular vote 13,690 8,508 Percentage 49.0% 30.5%
Elected Majority Leader Goff Letts Country Liberal

The CLP won 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, therefore being a landslide victory for the Country Liberals. 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.

Results

See also: Results of the 1974 Northern Territory general election

Summary of the results of the 1974 Northern Territory general election, Legislative Assembly

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

Popular vote Country Liberal   49.0% Labor   30.5% Independents   20.5%

Seats Country Liberal   89.5% Independents   10.5%

Candidates

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

Electorate	ALP candidate	CLP candidate	Independent candidates
Alice Springs	Jean Leunig	Bernie Kilgariff	Alan Gray
Arnhem	Elizabeth Pearce	Rupert Kentish
Barkly	Eric Marks	Ian Tuxworth
Casuarina	Allan Dunstan	Nick Dondas	Robert McGahey Dudley Orr
Elsey	Kevin Frazer	Les MacFarlane	Leslie James James Martin
Fannie Bay	James Bowditch	Grant Tambling	Eleanor Fisher John McCormack
Gillen	Peter Leunig	Jim Robertson
Jingili	Thomas Bell	Paul Everingham
Ludmilla	Hazel Robertson	Roger Steele	Edward D'Ambrosio Brian Smith Grahame Stewart William Sullivan
Macdonnell		Dave Pollock	Bruce Breaden Malcolm Wolf
Millner	Jack Hunt	Roger Ryan	William Forrest John Quinn
Nhulunbuy	John Flynn	Milton Ballantyne	William Hendry
Nightcliff	Edward Ellis	Alfred Hooper	Dawn Lawrie
Port Darwin	James Gallacher	William Jettner	Brian Manning Ron Withnall*
Sanderson	Mark Phelan	Liz Andrew	Alexander Allan-Stewart Herbert Sinclair
Stuart	Harry Nelson	Roger Vale	Reginald Harris
Stuart Park	Geoffrey Loveday	Marshall Perron	William Fisher John McNamee
Tiwi	John Nixon	Hyacinth Tungutalum	Peter Lawrence Robert Oaten Noel Padgham-Purich Lou Stewart
Victoria River		Goff Letts	Wiyendji Nunggula Charles Renfrey

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