Electoral division of Arnhem

Arnhem Northern Territory—Legislative Assembly
Arnhem in the Northern Territory
Territory	Northern Territory
Created	1974
MP	Selena Uibo
Party	Australian Labor Party
Namesake	Arnhem Land
Electors	5,158 (2016)
Area	99,269 km^2 (38,328.0 sq mi)
Demographic	Remote

Arnhem is an electoral division of the Legislative Assembly in Australia's Northern Territory. It was first created in 1974, and takes its name from Arnhem Land, the region encompassing much of the northern part of the Territory.

Arnhem includes the Arnhem Land towns of Barunga, Beswick, Mataranka, Jabiru and Kakadu. In the redistribution before the 2016 election, gained territory from Arafura and Stuart, while losing territory to Nhulunbuy.^[1] There were 4,902 people enrolled within the electorate as of August 2012.

Arnhem was one of the initial electorates created along with the introduction of the Legislative Assembly in 1974. Though it consisted of predominantly indigenous towns which voted strongly for the Australian Labor Party at a federal level, it was won by the Country Liberal Party amidst their landslide victory at the election of that year, in which the Labor Party won no seats. Arnhem returned to expectations at the 1977 election, when it was won by Labor candidate Bob Collins, who was elected leader of the party in 1981. After much of the northern portion of the seat was transferred to the new seat of Arafura in 1983, Collins transferred there and was succeeded in Arafura by new Labor candidate Wes Lanhupuy. Lanhupuy was comfortably re-elected three times, but died suddenly in 1995.^[2]

Labor candidate Jack Ah Kit won the 1995 by-election resulting from Lanhupuy's death, and went on to serve as a Cabinet minister in the Martin government from 2001. He retired at the 2005 election, with former ABC TV presenter Barbara McCarthy being comfortably elected as his replacement. McCarthy was reelected unopposed in 2008, only to be ousted by the CLP's Larisa Lee in 2012 as the CLP swept into government. Lee herself sat under three different banners during the next parliament, leaving the CLP to sit as an independent, joining the Palmer United Party, before returning to be an independent. Lee was defeated by Labor's Selena Uibo in Arnhem at the 2016 election. She tallied only 117 votes or 4.0 percent, finishing in fifth and last place.^[2]

The high proportion of indigenous people in the Arnhem population has been reflected in the seat having had five consecutive indigenous MPs, and McCarthy (now a Senator) having been an outspoken advocate of indigenous rights in parliament.

Members for Arnhem

Member		Party	Term
	Rupert Kentish	Country Liberal	1974–1977
	Bob Collins	Labor	1977–1983
	Wes Lanhupuy	Labor	1983–1995
	Jack Ah Kit	Labor	1995–2005
	Malarndirri (Barbara) McCarthy	Labor	2005–2012
	Larisa Lee	Country Liberal	2012–2014
		Independent	2014
		Palmer United	2014
		Independent	2014–2016
	Selena Uibo	Labor	2016–present

Election results

Northern Territory general election, 2016: Arnhem^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labor	Selena Uibo	1,565	54.1	+9.5
	Country Liberal	Ian Gumbula	804	27.8	−25.9
	Independent	Lance Lawrence	211	7.3	+7.3
	1 Territory	James Gaykamangu	197	6.8	+6.8
	Independent	Larisa Lee	117	4.0	+4.0
Total formal votes			2,894	97.4	+1.1
Informal votes			78	2.6	−1.1
Turnout			2,972	57.6	+0.2
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Selena Uibo	1,777	64.3	+18.6
	Country Liberal	Ian Gumbula	985	35.7	−18.6
	Labor gain from Country Liberal		Swing	+18.6

References

1. "Division of Arnhem". Division Profiles. Northern Territory Electoral Commission. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
2. "Electorate: Arnhem". NT Votes 2016. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
3. Arnhem – Electorate summary, Northern Territory Electoral Commission, 9 September 2016

External links

• Division profile from the Northern Territory Electoral Commission