Fannie Bay – NT 2024

ALP 10.9%

Incumbent MP
Brent Potter, since 2022.

Geography
Central Darwin. Fannie Bay covers suburbs immediately to the northwest of the Darwin city centre, including Fannie Bay, the Gardens, Parap, East Point, Coconut Grove and Ludmilla.

Redistribution
Fannie Bay expanded slightly north, taking in Coconut Grove from Johnston and Nightcliff.

History

The electorate of Fannie Bay has existed since the first NT assembly election in 1974. The seat has tended to be safe for one party then change hands when the MP retired. The seat’s last three members have all led their party.

The CLP’s Grant Tambling won Fannie Bay in 1974, and lost the seat in 1977. He later served in the federal Parliament, first representing the Northern Territory in the House of Representatives from 1980 to 1983, and then served as a Senator for the Northern Territory from 1987 until 2001.

Labor’s Pam O’Neill won Fannie Bay off Tambling in 1977 and held the seat for two terms, losing in 1983. She later served as federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner from 1984 to 1988.

The CLP’s Marshall Perron won Fannie Bay in 1983. Perron had represented the neighbouring seat of Stuart Park since 1974, and had served as deputy chief minister since 1978. A redistribution had abolished Stuart Park, so Perron ran for Fannie Bay.

Perron held Fannie Bay until his retirement in 1995. He served as chief minister from 1988 until 1995.

Labor’s Clare Martin won Fannie Bay at the 1995 by-election. She became Labor leader in 1999 and led the party to victory in 2001, becoming the first Labor chief minister of the Northern Territory. Martin resigned as Chief Minister in late 2007 and retired from the assembly in 2008.

Labor’s Michael Gunner succeeded Martin in 2008. He was elected leader of the ALP in 2015, and led the party back into government in 2016.

Gunner won a second term in office in 2020, and stepped down from the party leadership and as Chief Minister in 2022. He resigned his seat shortly after.

The 2022 by-election was won by Labor’s Brent Potter.

Candidates

Assessment
Fannie Bay is a strong seat for Labor and they should retain the seat despite the close by-election result.

2020 result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing Redist %
Michael Gunner Labor 2,095 48.2 -8.2 48.5
Tracey Hayes Country Liberal 1,510 34.8 +1.0 33.1
Peter Robertson Greens 444 10.2 +10.2 11.1
Rebecca Jennings Territory Alliance 242 5.6 +5.6 5.9
Mark Mackenzie Independent 54 1.2 +1.2 1.1
Others 0.2
Informal 85 1.9

2020 two-party-preferred result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing Redist %
Michael Gunner Labor 2,588 59.6 -2.9 60.9
Tracey Hayes Country Liberal 1,757 40.4 +2.9 39.1

2022 by-election result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Ben Hosking Country Liberal 1,451 41.4 +6.6
Brent Potter Labor 1,139 32.5 -15.7
Jonathan Parry Greens 699 19.9 +9.7
Leah Potter Independent 103 2.9 +2.9
Raj Samson Rajwin Independent 84 2.4 +2.4
George Mamouzellos Independent 30 0.9 +0.9
Informal 76 2.1

2022 by-election two-party-preferred result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Brent Potter Labor 1,844 52.6 -7.0
Ben Hosking Country Liberal 1,662 47.4 +7.0

Booth breakdown
Two booths were contained in Fannie Bay in 2020: Ludmilla and Parap. To adjust for the redistribution, parts of Nightcliff and Millner booths were moved in from neighbouring seats.

All four of these booths had a very high Labor 2PP – over 70% in Nightcliff and Millner, and over 60% in Parap and Ludmilla.

Over half of the vote in 2020 was cast at pre-poll booths, and the Labor vote was generally lower amongst the pre-poll vote.

The election day vote was much larger in the 2022 by-election. Labor won the ordinary votes, while the CLP won the pre-poll vote.

2020 booth breakdown

Voter group ALP 2PP % Total votes % of votes
Pre-poll 57.3 2,552 52.2
Other votes 64.4 988 20.2
Parap 64.4 918 18.8
Ludmilla 61.4 282 5.8
Nightcliff 77.5 98 2.0
Millner 72.3 55 1.1

2022 by-election booth breakdown

Voter group ALP 2PP % Total votes % of votes
Parap 55.8 1,442 41.1
Pre-poll 48.2 1,189 33.9
Ludmilla 53.9 456 13.0
Other votes 52.5 419 12.0

Polling places surrounding Fannie Bay at the 2020 NT election

56 COMMENTS

  1. the lead has shortened to 40 votes but there arent enough remaining votes for the greens to win. however a recount could change that

  2. ABC News has predicted Fannie Bay will be a CLP gain as of 10 mins ago, though a recount is very likely to occur which could change the outcome, especially with the close gap between Labor and Greens.

  3. @greens…. probably yes..in that case the greens in standing have cost the alp
    The seat….. and by default helped the lnp win the seat

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here