Electoral division of Brennan

Brennan Northern Territory—Legislative Assembly
Location of Brennan in the Darwin/Palmerston area
Territory	Northern Territory
Created	1990
MP	Tony Sievers
Party	Australian Labor Party
Namesake	Harold Brennan
Electors	5,204 (2016)
Area	8 km^2 (3.1 sq mi)
Demographic	Urban

Brennan is an electoral division of the Legislative Assembly in Australia's Northern Territory. It was first created in 1990 as a replacement for the abolished seat of Ludmilla, and derives its name from Harold "Tiger" Brennan, a former member of the Legislative Council and Mayor of Darwin. Brennan includes both rural and urban areas, covering an area of 8 km² and encompassing the Palmerston suburbs of Bakewell, Gunn, Farrar, as well as part of Rosebery. There were 5,204 people enrolled in the electorate as of August 2016.

Palmerston has long been one of the heartlands of the Country Liberal Party. Indeed, until 2005, the Australian Labor Party had never come close to winning a Palmerston-based seat in the history of the Assembly. However, Brennan is located in what had long been reckoned as a particularly conservative area, and it was the CLP's safest seat after the 2001 election. Denis Burke, who served as Chief Minister of the Northern Territory from 1999 to 2001 and had just been reelected as Opposition Leader a few months before the election, was not expected to have any difficulty holding the seat in the foreseeable future. However, in a shock result that had not been predicted by any prominent commentator, much less either candidate, Brennan fell to the ALP candidate, James Burke, at the 2005 election—only the second time that a major-party leader in the Northern Territory had been toppled in his own electorate.

Burke's victory was short-lived, as Peter Chandler regained the seat for the CLP at the 2008 election. Chandler picked up a massive swing in 2012, seemingly reverting Brennan to its traditional status as a safe CLP seat. However, Chandler was swept out four years later by Labor's Tony Sievers amid the CLP's collapse in Palmerston.

Members for Brennan

Member		Party	Term
	Max Ortmann	Country Liberal	1990–1994
		Independent	1994–1994
	Denis Burke	Country Liberal	1994–2005
	James Burke	Labor	2005–2008
	Peter Chandler	Country Liberal	2008–2016
	Tony Sievers	Labor	2016–present

Election results

Northern Territory general election, 2016: Brennan^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labor	Tony Sievers	1,939	48.0	+12.0
	Country Liberal	Peter Chandler	1,784	44.2	−19.8
	1 Territory	Dorothy Fox	314	7.8	+7.8
Total formal votes			4,037	97.1	−0.6
Informal votes			122	2.9	+0.6
Turnout			4,159	79.9	+4.8
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Tony Sievers	2,077	52.6	+16.6
	Country Liberal	Peter Chandler	1,869	47.4	−16.6
	Labor gain from Country Liberal		Swing	+16.6

References

1. Brennan – Electorate summary, Northern Territory Electoral Commission, 9 September 2016

External links

• Division profile from the Northern Territory Electoral Commission