Electoral division of Katherine

Katherine Northern Territory—Legislative Assembly
Katherine in the Northern Territory
Territory	Northern Territory
Created	1987
MP	Sandra Nelson
Party	Australian Labor Party
Namesake	Katherine River
Electors	5,285 (2016)
Area	7,442 km^2 (2,873.4 sq mi)
Demographic	Urban

Katherine is an electoral division of the Legislative Assembly in Australia's Northern Territory. The electorate was first created in 1987, replacing the abolished Elsey seat, and derives its name from the Katherine River. Katherine encompasses both urban and rural areas, covering an area of 7,442 km² and taking in the city of Katherine, as well as the RAAF Base Tindal and the Binjari Aboriginal Community.

The city of Katherine has historically been a conservative bastion, making the seat of the same name a very safe Country Liberal Party seat for most of its first three decades. Its first member, Mike Reed, was Deputy Chief Minister of the Northern Territory from 1995 to 2001. Reed retired in 2003 and was succeeded at a by-election by Fay Miller, also of the CLP. Miller narrowly held onto her seat in Labor's landslide victory at the 2005 election, weathering another massive swing to Labor that surprised commentators on election night. In the end, however, was left as one of only two CLP MLAs in the Top End. She retired at the 2008 election and was succeeded by Willem Westra van Holthe, who picked up a swing large enough to revert Katherine to its traditional status as a safe CLP seat. The 2012 election saw Westra van Holthe seemingly consolidate his grip on Katherine when he boosted his majority to 22.3 percent, making it the safest seat in the Territory.

For these reasons, there was virtually no hint that Westra van Holthe was in any danger going into the 2016 election, even though most opinion pollsters and commentators gave the CLP virtually no chance of reelection. However, in a shock result that exceeded even the most optimistic Labor projections, Westra van Holthe suffered a swing just barely exceeding the one he'd picked up in 2012, and narrowly lost the seat to Labor's Sandra Nelson. It was the first time that Labor had won a Katherine-based seat.

Members for Katherine

Member		Party	Term
	Mike Reed	Country Liberal	1987–2003
	Fay Miller	Country Liberal	2003–2008
	Willem Westra van Holthe	Country Liberal	2008–2016
	Sandra Nelson	Labor	2016–present

Election results

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

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Country Liberal	Willem Westra van Holthe	1,434	35.2	−30.9
	Labor	Sandra Nelson	1,274	31.3	+10.4
	1 Territory	Braedon Earley	744	18.3	+18.3
	Independent	Dean David	285	7.0	+7.0
	Shooters and Fishers	Chris Righton	278	6.8	+6.8
	Independent	Leon Cellier	58	1.4	+1.4
Total formal votes			4,073	98.4	+0.2
Informal votes			66	1.6	−0.2
Turnout			4,139	78.3	−5.8
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Sandra Nelson	1,843	50.5	+22.7
	Country Liberal	Willem Westra van Holthe	1,810	49.5	−22.7
	Labor gain from Country Liberal		Swing	+22.7

References

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

External links

• Division profile from the Northern Territory Electoral Commission