Summary
- The Labor party has won the Northern Territory election, decisively.
- With 55% of the vote counted the ABC had given the party 15 seats in the 25 seat parliament and predicted another three.
- It’s expected four independents will be elected, and at least one but maybe three CLP members.
- At 10.45pm local time, there was an 18.6% swing against the CLP.
- Labor picked up 6.5% but there was a stronger swing of 8.9% towards independents.
- The CLP won the 2012 election with 16 seats to Labor’s eight.
- The outgoing chief minister Adam Giles said the result was “a thumping” and a lesson to his party about disunity and putting themselves before the electorate.
- Chief minister-elect, Michael Gunner said there were six seats still too close to call. He pledged to lead a united government which consulted Territorians.
- He pledged to work with the opposition and independents who were “not our enemies”.
- Federal opposition leader called Gunner to congratulate him, and released a statement saying Northern Territorians had “punished the CLP for four years of scandal and controversy, and rewarded Labor for working hard and listening to people.”
I’ll leave the blog there. Thanks everyone, and goodnight.
Updated
We’ll end the coverage shortly with a wrap of the night’s events. Thanks for joining us at the Guardian Australia for our first Northern Territory election live blog.
The federal opposition leader, Bill Shorten has released a statement congratulating Gunner and the NT Labor party.
I have spoken to Michael Gunner tonight to congratulate him and NT Labor on an extraordinary victory.
This is an outstanding result for Michael, his Labor team and for the people of the Northern Territory.
Territorians have punished the CLP for four years of scandal and controversy, and rewarded Labor for working hard and listening to people.
Michael listened to Territorians and offered a positive plan for creating jobs, investing in people, and restoring trust and integrity in government.
Territorians have responded to Labor’s plan, making the CLP Government the first one-term government in the Territory’s history.
Territorians sent a clear message to the Turnbull Government at the federal election, electing Labor members to three of the four representative positions. They have sent another strong message to the Liberals tonight.
I visited the territory twice during the NT election campaign and it was clear locals were ready for change.
Territorians have rejected a government that focused on itself, and voted for a government that will prioritise jobs, healthcare and education.
Michael is a decent man and a strong leader. He will lead a government of unity, stability and integrity.
I look forward to working with Michael and the new Northern Territory government.
Updated
Labor leader Michael Gunner delivers his victory speech in Darwin. Photograph: ABC
“As your public servant, as your chief minister, I thank you for the privilege and the honour and the trust you’ve placed in my team and I,” says Gunner, wrapping up.
“We will govern for all Territorians. Thank you.”
Gunner says his team had 39,000 one-on-one conversations with Territorians during the campaign.
There are a few more one-on-one conversations going on in Labor HQ during his speech too.
Gunner thanks the Labor MLAs who have regained their seat, and the successful candidates who will be joining the new parliament.
He says there are six seats tonight too close to call and notes the Labor members contesting each one - Dale Wakefield in Braitling, Sandra Nelson in Katherine, Paul Kirby in Port Darwin, Damian Hale in Blain, Anthony Venes in Daly, and Ngaree Ah Kit in Karama.
This post has been removed because the liveblogger wasn’t concentrating enough and picked up a tweet from a parody account. Sorry!
Updated
“We must have a government which plans beyond the next budget,” says Gunner.
He thanks his deputy, Lynne Walker in Nhulunbuy, for her wisdom, and Natasha Fyles who is also not here because she is on channel nine “going toe to toe with Dave Tollner”.
“Tonight let’s talk about the next four years and not the last four. We are in a contest of ideas with the CLP and the independents. They are not our enemies. I will work with them.”
Gunner thanks Giles for his contribution to the Northern Territory.
He acknowledges there are tough times coming for the Northern Territory, but says he “will fight Canberra if they come for our GST.”
Gunner talks of his family history in the NT. His grandfather first moving to Tennant Creek.
“A boy born in Alice Springs, who grew up in Tennant Creek, who now stands here as chief minister of the Northern Territory,” he says.
“In the Northern Territory you can dream big.”
“We have to be community leaders, and I personally pledge to all of you - I will work tirelessly, truthfully and selflessly.
I am a Territorian. You will come first.”
“It is a privilege to stand here today as a servant of the public and as the new chief minister of the Northern Territory,” says Gunner to rowdy applause.
“I visited all 25 seats during this campaign, I take none of you for granted.”
“You all deserve access to us and we will govern for all Territorians. As Territorians we are stronger when we are united, and we are united in our determination to make our home a better place,” he continues, to slightly less applause and some surprisingly loud background noise from people having a chat.
Michael Gunner is in the building.
Tonight is extraordinary and the people have spoken,” he says.
They have chosen to place their trust in Labor, and we will not let them down.”
On the current numbers, I have Labor on track for 15 seats, CLP 3, independent 4, and there are three that are very close: Braitling, Karama and Katherine. So Labor could end up on 18 seats.
Michael Gunner is due to arrive here at Labor HQ shortly. I’ll bring you his speech as it happens.
Nigel Scullion has called Giles’ speech “dignified” and notes Giles’ concession that disunity is a killer in government.
Scullion says it’s like a village in the NT and it doesn’t take much to upset the apple cart.
Lynne Walker is doing very well in Nhulunbuy, Ben Raue reports. He says the preference count isn’t very useful because it assumes the CLP will come second (they aren’t right now) but Walker is over 50% with sizeable vote in.
I spoke with Lynne a short time ago and she said she is “humbled” and excited by the results for her seat and for Labor, and that she is set to become the deputy chief minister of the Northern Territory.
“I’ve served two terms as the local member. The first was as a backbencher in the former Henderson government, and four years in opposition, so I feel like I have served my apprenticeship well and truly,” she says.
“And I’m really pleased we’ll have a deputy chief minister representing the remote part of the NT and a strong voice for Indigenous Territorians, and a strong voice for regions. My region has been through an incredibly tumultuous time for the last few years.”
Giles starts to wrap up, and has the beer he said he’d be drinking if he lost.
Adam Giles concedes defeat #ntvotes pic.twitter.com/vc7jnLqzRb
— Rohan Barwick (@rohwick) August 27, 2016
Giles gives commiserations to those CLP colleagues who lost their seats tonight and says many will remain friends of his.
He says the NT is a better place now than when the CLP took government from Labor in 2012, and the crowd - which sounds small - applauds.
“I busted my gut for Alice Springs, it’s my home town,” he says.
"We will rebuild," says defeated Giles
Giles has thanked the constituents of Braitling, and says Alice was neglected after 11 years of Labor and there was a lot of work to be done.
He also thanks the CLP branch of Alice Springs, the constituents of the NT for giving them the opportunity of governing, and the CLP across the NT:
“You are well-spirited people who have the interests of the Norther Territory at heart. We will rebuild. We will come back. We will remove the disagreements, we will remove the personalities of politics and we will come back bigger and better because one thing is for sure: Labor can’t manage the economy, Labor can’t manage law and order, hence one day in the future the NT will look on us to take leadership, albeit in a more concise, less personality-operated government”.
“Tonight no doubt is a landslide. It’s a thumping,” says Giles.
“Politically speaking tonight’s result is a lesson in disunity is death in politics. It’s a result of personality before the politics, it’s a lesson in looking after oneself rather than thinking about the people. that message has been heard loud and clear within the candidates and the party of the Country Liberals.”
Giles concedes.
Giles has congratulated Gunner on taking government.
“It’s a rewarding experience... and well done to him,” says Giles.
Updated
Adam Giles has arrived at a CLP event in Alice Springs. Labor is apparently waiting until he concedes before they officially claim a win, which seems like sticking the boot in a little, to be honest.
Braitling is a nailbiter. Labor’s candidate is leading outgoing chief minister Adam Giles by 21 votes. We’ve seen a small parcel of postal votes, although there are presumably more to come, but we now have all of the ordinary booths reporting.
Updated
Bill Shorten congratulates Michael Gunner
Guardian Australia understands the federal opposition leader has called leader of the Labor party in the NT, and chief minister apparent, Michael Gunner, to congratulate him on the result.
Has anyone checked on Burt?
The ageing five-plus metre psychic crocodile has never got a call wrong, but this week he picked the CLP to win. Word on the street is he stuffed up the NT News front page with that clanger.
WHAT WILL BECOME OF BURT the psychic CROC #ntvotes
— PatriciaKarvelas (@PatsKarvelas) August 27, 2016
@heldavidson Handbag.
— Amos Aikman (@amosaikman) August 27, 2016
Former CLP treasurer and controversy magnet, David Tollner, has been commenting on the channel nine panel.
"Looking at the numbers it's almost certain there'll be more independents than CLP members in parliament." - Tollner again on @9NewsDarwin.
— Jesse Dorsett (@jessedorsett) August 27, 2016
The CLP has suffered a 19.2% swing against it, with more than 20% of the vote counted.
In Katherine, a traditionally CLP seat, Labor has had unprecedented gains, says the ABC. It’s not in the bag yet though.
In Wanguri, Labor’s Nicole Manison has 59.5% of the vote according to the ABC with a little over 17% of the vote counted. The NT electoral commission has Manison holding 67% of the 2PP vote.
A few quick updates from Ben from the last few minutes, who says it’s safe to call the election for Labor but adds they could hold a comfortable majority by the time the count ends.
As for Labor’s gains, most of these seats are very close or just based on small numbers, but Labor looks like they have a chance of gaining Arnhem, Braitling, Brennan, Drysdale, Fong Lim, Katherine, Namatjira, Port Darwin and Sanderson. If Labor won all these seats they would win a comfortable majority.
Independents have either won or are in a good position to win these seats:
- Araluen
- Blain
- Goyder
- Karama
- Nelson
The Labor campaign headquarters has erupted. They have the 13 seats to hold a majority in parliament.
Antony Green has called the election
Two hours and five minutes after the polls closed, ABC says Labor has won. Which was unanimously predicted by everyone except Burt the psychic crocodile.
Updated
Let’s cross briefly to social media.
A visual representation of #ntvotes pic.twitter.com/DZ5OmM6eSg
— Dave Krantz (@weskrantz) August 27, 2016
#ntpol #ntvotes It looks like the CLP are going to have fewer seats than a Kia Carnival!
— George Hillen (@georgex_au2010) August 27, 2016
Looks very much like there could be 5 Independents - Wood, Purick and Lambley certainties, Lawrie & Mills polling strongly. #ntvotes
— Jarvis Ryan (@jarvis001) August 27, 2016
“Adam Giles is getting flogged on preferences”, says the ABC’s Antony Green.
His seat of Braitling is touch and go. Giles is leading on preferences, just, but Labor’s Dale Wakefield has 52.9% of the 2PP count so far.
Updated
Let’s take a step back for the moment and look at the very basic numbers.
There are 25 seats in the Northern Territory legislative assembly.
In 2012 the CLP won with 16 to Labor’s eight, and there was one independent.
By the time caretaker period rolled around that had dropped to 12 CLP, seven Labor, and six independents.
The most generous prediction I’ve heard for what the CLP could walk away with tonight is nine, but most have said the party might keep four.
You can read more on the background of how that happens here, but for a very quick summary this is what Ken Parish, a law academic and former Labor MLA, told me yesterday:
“My perception is that the big issues for Territorians are the chaos, dysfunction, disunity, the revolving door, members leaving and getting down to a minority, the successful leadership coup, followed by the unsuccessful coup because Giles refused to go, and then a succession of tawdry misdeeds by assorted people culminating in Mr Barrett, and … the privatisations were a big thing.”
With less than 20% of the vote counted, Port Darwin is so far going to Labor, the ABC predicts by more than 12%. Port Darwin was held by the former attorney general John Elferink who has not been seen much since the Four Corners program on Don Dale.
Elferink was already set to retire from his seat before the broadcast, but its revelations prompted Giles to sack Elferink from his justice and corrections portfolio.
Giles later said that was probably a mistake, and the Four Corners program was a media conspiracy with the Labor party.
Rohan Kelly is the CLP candidate hoping to keep the seat for the government, but Paul Kirby currently has about 58% of the two-party-preferred vote.
It’s early in the count at the moment, but here are some early predictions from Ben.
He says it’s pretty clear the CLP has lost Drysdale and Sanderson to Labor, but deputy chief minister Peter Styles (Sanderson) hasn’t written himself off yet. He’s told the ABC it’s too early to call it as there are still early votes to come in.
Ben is also predicting Arnhem and Brennan to Labor and Goyder, and Araluen to ex-CLP independents, although some of these are based on small votes.
In the Palmerston-area seat of Blain, independent candidate Terry Mills, who held the seat until 2014, is neck-and-neck with former federal Labor MP Damian Hale on primary votes from one booth, says Ben. The CLP, who technically hold the seat, are in a distant third, so we’ll be looking to preferences there.
Blain, for those wanting background, was originally held by Mills who led the CLP to victory in 2012. He was rolled as chief minister by Adam Giles, and then resigned. A byelection saw Nathan Barrett installed for the CLP, but Barrett resigned in June after a sexting scandal which involved his phone and his office and a female constituent he said he was having an affair with.
Mills came back just a couple of weeks ago to run as an independent.
Updated
AAP reports: The Northern Territory’s Country Liberal party is experiencing the expected swing against it in early counting.
Expectations are high that the CLP government led by chief minister Adam Giles will be ousted.
More than 50,000 voters – almost half – had already made their minds up ahead of Saturday’s poll.
According to the ABC election webiste, the projected swing against the CLP was 19.5% with nearly 3% counted.
The CLP won the 2012 election with 16 of the 25 seats but has been governing in minority with 11 seats after five MLAs turned independent.
But many expect a rout, with former CLP Speaker, now independent, Kezia Purick predicting the CLP will win only four seats.
Earlier on Saturday opposition leader Michael Gunner was relaxed and happy at the Parap Markets in Darwin, and said he was quietly confident of a Labor win.
In Alice Springs, the embattled chief minister voted with his family in his seat of Braitling in Alice Springs.
“I don’t think anyone ever wants [political life] to be over, it’s always an opportunity to do something,” he told reporters.
Good evening and welcome to live coverage of the Northern Territory election. A little late to start, my apologies, but we’re here for a good time not a long time, right?
I’ll take you through results as they come in, as well as the context - and scandal - which explains it all.
Ben Raue will chip in from the Tally Room with the numbers and predictions.
If you’re familiar with NT politics, let’s get going. If you’re not then, well, you’re in for a bit of an education.
Updated
