2014 Blain by-election

A by-election for the seat of Blain in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly was held on 12 April 2014. The by-election was triggered by the resignation of Country Liberal Party (CLP) member and former Northern Territory Chief Minister Terry Mills. Mills resigned in reaction to being removed as CLP leader and Chief Minister in March 2013 in a party room coup by Adam Giles. The CLP margin in the Palmerston-based seat was 13.2 points.[1]

On 3 April 2014, a week after the writ was issued for the by-election, three indigenous CLP MPs resigned from the party and moved to the crossbench. Had the CLP failed to hold Blain, it would have been reduced to a minority government and would have needed the support of at least one of the four independents to stay in office. Although Blain was a comfortably safe CLP seat on paper, the average swing against governments at by-elections in greater Darwin/Palmerston was 12 per cent.[1]

An NT News face-to-face poll of 200 voters in Blain took place from 8 to 10 April which indicated a 12-point swing away from the CLP.[2]

Candidates

The five candidates in ballot paper order were:[1]

Candidate nominations
Party Candidate Background
  Citizens Electoral Council Peter Flynn Navy officer, Earth moving contractor. Contested Lingiari at the 2010 and 2013 federal elections.[1]
  Labor Party Geoff Bahnert Professional sportsman, business operator, Police Senior Sergeant. Contested Blain at the 2012 election.[1]
  Country Liberal Party Nathan Barrett Teacher, business operator, port worker.[1]
  Independent Matthew Cranitch Northern Territory Australian Education Union President.[1]
  NT Greens Sue McKinnon City of Palmerston Councillor. Contested Blain at the 2005 election.[1]

Results
Northern Territory by-election, 2014: Blain[3][4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Country Liberal Nathan Barrett 1,768 45.5 −16.0
Labor Geoff Bahnert 1,448 37.3 +3.7
Independent Matthew Cranitch 336 8.7 +8.7
Greens Sue McKinnon 275 7.1 +7.1
CEC Peter Flynn 56 1.4 +1.4
Total formal votes 3,883 95.5 −1.1
Informal votes 184 4.5 +1.1
Turnout 4,067 68.8 −14.4
Two-party-preferred result
Country Liberal Nathan Barrett 2,067 53.2 −10.0
Labor Geoff Bahnert 1,816 46.8 +10.0
Country Liberal hold Swing−10.0

A recheck of all election night counts was conducted on Sunday 13 April, and early distribution of preferences was carried out on Tuesday 15 April. Final vote figures were published by NTEC on the evening of 22 April—the deadline for arrival of postal votes.[3]

The CLP claimed victory on election night, with the night's count indicating they had retained the seat by a 3.2 per cent margin on a two-party-preferred basis, with a 10 per cent swing against them.[5] The official declaration of the poll took place on the morning of Wednesday 16 April 2014.[3] Despite coming close to winning the seat, Bahnert was not again the ALP candidate for Blain at the 2016 election.

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See also

References
  1. 2014 Blain by-election: Antony Green ABC
  2. Exclusive poll shows CLP slightly ahead of Labor 51–49 on two-party basis in Blain: NT News 11 April 2014
  3. Legislative Assembly By-Election - Blain Archived 2014-04-13 at the Wayback Machine, Northern Territory Electoral Commission, 13 April 2014.
  4. 2014 Blain by-election results, ABC, 13 April 2014.
  5. "Blain by-election: Country Liberals claim victory in Blain by-election and a return to majority government". ABC News. 12 April 2014. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
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