1977 Northern Territory general election

Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use Australian English A general election was held in the Northern Territory on Saturday 13 August 1977. Though the election was won by the incumbent Country Liberal Party (CLP), the party lost five of its seven executive members. Surprisingly, one of the casualties was Majority Leader Goff Letts—one of the few instances where a major-party leader at any level in Australia lost his own seat. The election also marked the emergence of the Labor Party as a parliamentary force: Labor took six seats in the new assembly.

The Progress Party contested the elections, winning 9.76% of the primary vote across the territory, but failed to secure any assembly seats.

The Country Liberals chose Paul Everingham to succeed Letts as Majority Leader. Everingham appointed a new Executive, which included future Chief Ministers Marshall Perron and Ian Tuxworth. The following year, the Territory attained self-government. Everingham became Chief Minister, while his Executive became a Ministry with greatly expanded powers.

Independent Dawn Lawrie retained her seat of Nightcliff at this election, while Ron Withnall lost his seat of Port Darwin to the CLP.

Retiring MPs

CLP

• Eric Manuell MLA (Alice Springs)
• Hyacinth Tungutalum MLA (Tiwi)

Results

↓Template:Fsp

style="background:Template:Party color; width:64%;" | 12	style="color:black; background:Template:Party color; width:4%;" | 1	style="background:Template:Party color; width:32%;" | 6
CLP	Ind	Labor

Popular vote Country Liberal   40.1% Labor   38.2% Progress   9.8% Communist   0.2% Independents   11.7%

Seats Country Liberal   63.2% Labor   31.6% Independents   5.3%

Candidates

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

Electorate	Held by	ALP candidate	CLP candidate	Progress candidate	Other candidates
		Template:Australian party style|	Template:Australian party style|	Template:Australian party style|
Alice Springs	CLP	Rosalie McDonald	Template:Australian party shading/CLP|Rod Oliver	Brian Evans
Arnhem	CLP	Template:Australian party shading/Labor|Bob Collins	Rupert Kentish	Phillip Brain
Barkly	CLP	Jean Havnen	Template:Australian party shading/CLP|Ian Tuxworth	Neville Andrews	Margaret Conway Billy Foster
Casuarina	CLP	Dennis Bree	Template:Australian party shading/CLP|Nick Dondas	Robert Hoey
Elsey	CLP		Template:Australian party shading/CLP|Les MacFarlane	Deidre Killen	Davis Daniels Patricia Davies
Fannie Bay	CLP	Template:Australian party shading/Labor|Pam O'Neil	Grant Tambling	Edward Osgood	William Fisher
Gillen	CLP	John Thomas	Template:Australian party shading/CLP|Jim Robertson	Peter Johncock
Jingili	CLP	Diana Rickard	Template:Australian party shading/CLP|Paul Everingham	David Cooper	John McCormack George Tarasidis
Ludmilla	CLP	Christopher Draffin	Template:Australian party shading/CLP|Roger Steele	Terry Johnson
Macdonnell	CLP	Template:Australian party shading/Labor|Neville Perkins	Dave Pollock	Mark Fidler
Millner	CLP	Template:Australian party shading/Labor|Jon Isaacs	Roger Ryan	Elva Pearce
Nhulunbuy	CLP	Denise Fincham	Template:Australian party shading/CLP|Milton Ballantyne	Jacob De Vries
Nightcliff	Independent		Ronald Nobbs	Uldis Blums	Template:Australian party shading/Independent|Dawn Lawrie
Port Darwin	Independent	Michael Scott	Template:Australian party shading/CLP|Tom Harris	Ian Smith	Brian Manning Ron Withnall
Sanderson	CLP	Template:Australian party shading/Labor|June D'Rozario	Liz Andrew	Geoffrey Bennett	Kitty Fischer Herbert Sinclair
Stuart	CLP	Trevor Cutter	Template:Australian party shading/CLP|Roger Vale	Kenneth Kitto
Stuart Park	CLP	Judith Muras	Template:Australian party shading/CLP|Marshall Perron	Kenneth Day	Ernest Chin
Tiwi	CLP	Harry Maschke Bernard Tipiloura	Template:Australian party shading/CLP|Noel Padgham-Purich* Cyril Rioli	George Ryan	Terrence O'Brien Strider
Victoria River	CLP	Template:Australian party shading/Labor|Jack Doolan	Goff Letts	Frank Favaro

Seats changing hands

Seat	Pre-1977				Swing	Post-1977
	Party		Member	Margin		Margin	Member	Party
Arnhem	Template:Australian party style|	Country Liberal	Rupert Kentish	16.9	34.1	17.2	Bob Collins	Labor	Template:Australian party style|
Fannie Bay	Template:Australian party style|	Country Liberal	Grant Tambling	N/A	N/A	1.1	Pam O'Neil	Labor	Template:Australian party style|
Macdonnell	Template:Australian party style|	Country Liberal	Dave Pollock	7.9	20.8	13.8	Neville Perkins	Labor	Template:Australian party style|
Millner	Template:Australian party style|	Country Liberal	Roger Ryan	14.3	26.5	12.2	Jon Isaacs	Labor	Template:Australian party style|
Port Darwin	Template:Australian party style|	Independent	Ron Withnall	3.3	13.8	10.5	Tom Harris	Country Liberal	Template:Australian party style|
Sanderson	Template:Australian party style|	Country Liberal	Liz Andrew	6.5	14.8	8.3	June D'Rozario	Labor	Template:Australian party style|
Victoria River	Template:Australian party style|	Country Liberal	Goff Letts	19.7	23.4	3.7	Jack Doolan	Labor	Template:Australian party style|

See also

• Everingham Executive
• First Everingham Ministry
• Second Everingham Ministry
• Third Everingham Ministry
• Fourth Everingham Ministry