ALP 2.1%
Incumbent MP
Paul Kirby, since 2016.
Geography
Central Darwin. Port Darwin covers the Darwin city centre and Larrakeyah.
History
The electorate of Port Darwin has existed since 1974. The seat had been held by the Country Liberal Party for all but one election up until 2016.
Independent candidate Ron Withnall won Port Darwin in 1974. Withnall was a former member of the Northern Territory Legislative Council. He sat in the Assembly for one term, losing to the CLP’s Tom Harris in 1977.
Harris held Port Darwin for thirteen years, serving as a minister from 1983 until he retired in 1990.
The Country Liberal Party’s Shane Stone won Port Darwin in 1990. Stone became chief minister in 1995, serving in that role until 1999, and leaving Parliament in 2000.
The CLP’s Sue Carter won Port Darwin at the 2000 by-election, and held the seat until 2005, when Labor’s Kerry Sacilotto narrowly won the seat in Labor’s landslide victory.
Sacilotto held Port Darwin for one term, losing in 2008 to the CLP’s John Elferink. Elferink had previously held the seat of MacDonnell, covering the southern end of the NT outback, from 1998 to 2005. Elferink had served as a shadow minister in the early 2000s, and returned to the frontbench in 2008.
Elferink was re-elected in 2012, and retired at the 2016 election.
Labor’s Paul Kirby won Port Darwin in 2016 with a 12.5% swing. Kirby was re-elected in 2020.
- Greg Dickson (Greens)
- Janey Davies (Independent)
- Robyn Cahill (Country Liberal)
- Leah Potter (Independent)
- Brian Manning (Labor)
Assessment
Port Darwin is very marginal, and the CLP could win here in 2024.
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Toby George | Country Liberal | 1,625 | 37.8 | +1.5 |
| Paul Kirby | Labor | 1,611 | 37.5 | -1.0 |
| Gary Strachan | Territory Alliance | 540 | 12.6 | +12.6 |
| Timothy Parish | Greens | 315 | 7.3 | +7.3 |
| Leah Potter | Independent | 210 | 4.9 | +4.9 |
| Informal | 112 | 2.5 |
2020 two-candidate-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Paul Kirby | Labor | 2,241 | 52.1 | -0.9 |
| Toby George | Country Liberal | 2,060 | 47.9 | +0.9 |
Booth breakdown
There was just one polling place in Port Darwin in 2020. The ALP polled 56% of the two-party-preferred vote at the Darwin City booth.
Over 60% of the vote was cast at pre-poll in 2020, and Labor narrowly won the pre-poll vote.
The CLP polled 52.2% of the other votes (including absent and postal votes).
| Voter group | ALP 2PP % | Total votes | % of votes |
| Pre-poll | 52.2 | 2,726 | 61.8 |
| Darwin City | 56.0 | 851 | 19.3 |
| Other votes | 47.8 | 836 | 18.9 |
Polling places surrounding Port Darwin at the 2020 NT election
It’s odd that the CLP haven’t announced their candidate for Port Darwin yet given that it’s one of the most likely seats to flip.
@Nether Portal they announced their candidate Robyn Cahill back in February
I’m very confident Robyn Cahill will win. Paul Kirby practically carried the Labor margin in Port Darwin. Still surprises me that this is probably the only CBD seat in all of Australia that is a traditional stronghold for
Thanks for the correction. It appears that Wikipedia has incorrectly listed her as the Greens candidate. This must be an error with the table.
Why is this seat so conservative compared to other “CBD” seats? (Even compared to similarly sized regional centres)?
can you open up general thread for nt?
Blue avatar John, I would suggest it’s a combination of a lower CBD population than other capital cities, plus the presence of the Larrakeyah Barracks. The military are known for having a rather conservative culture.
@Wilson southern Darwin is also more middle and upper-class than northern Darwin which is working-class.
@Ben Raue – Labor announced Brian Manning as their candidate for Port Darwin a couple of months ago, hoping to succeed Paul Kirby.
Source: https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/northern-territory/brian-manning-to-contest-port-darwin-for-labor-at-nt-election-following-paul-kirbys-retirement/news-story/acfb3159d76915699fffbac58e790a6b?amp
This area federally seems to have swung massively to Labor
In the two polling booths that are in Solomon
2007: Darwin Booth: ALP 46.3%
2022: Darwin Booth: ALP 62.7 (16.4% better)
2007: Larrakeyah Booth: ALP: 39.0
2022: Larrakeyah Booth: ALP: 59.8 (20.8% better)
Probably too small of a margin for Labor to keep, but I think it might vote more ALP than the territory average for I think the first time ever.
@Drake federal Labor had a big swing to them in Solomon in 2022 which was balanced out by the above-average swing to the CLP in Lingiari.
Curious why Robyn runs for the racist party. Didn’t’ she work in the department of health?
@J Her husband is a CLP supporter I believe
@J there are no racist parties or people elected to Australian legislatures. We are not a racist country. We have racism but only a very small minority of people are racist, and fuck those people.
Is this the most affluent seat in the NT. Usually, when an area has Port in the name we think industrial or working class but Darwin is a small city.
@Nimalan I’m having a look at that. I think Fannie Bay might be richer?
Pls can people not use the
F###K WORD on this site
Just my request
Nope the richest seat is Casuarina. The annual income there is $135,660 meaning it’s an upper or upper-middle class seat (Fannie Bay, Nightcliff and Port Darwin are too).
Thanks NP
It maybe the case that affluence does not equal strong support for LNP in Greater Darwin as compared to bigger state capitals as much of the population is transient and may only live for a few years before moving back to their home state.
@Nether Portal coming from an Indian background, the only racism I’ve seen in Australia is from certain members of the Indian community. Some of them (hindu nationalists) are openly racist and especially islamophobic. I actually love going out to One Nation-voting bush towns because the people there are so friendly compared to the city.
A A, we clearly have a very different experience of coming from non-white immigrant backgrounds. I’ve found One Nation-voting bush towns to be the worst of all for racism.
I’ve found that no. White people are more racist then white people
@ AA
I am South Asian and i would certainly disagree with that. There is no racism coming from South Asian community at all. Reverse racism is not a thing and Racism is Prejudice plus Power not just prejudice or sectarian tension. Racism is something done by people in power so it is really an Anglo problem in Australia. It like saying a minority group such as Jews are responsible for Islamophobia when it really comes from the majority community. By your argument, i will point out that Hindus have been mistreated in Pakistan and Bangladesh but i am not accusing those communities in Australia of spreading hate/discriminatory practice in Australia. Tell me who is responsible in this country for deaths in custody, Cronulla Riots, police brutality, accusing Chinese Australians of dual loyalty, comments about African gangs in Melbourne, suggesting White South Africans are fleeing persecution and are they Hindus/Sikhs etc or not.
@Nimalan
My comments there are probably a bit misguided and came out wrong. I absolutely understand that there is a problem with racism from the white ruling class – as you said, shown by the Cronulla riots, deaths in custody, African gangs comments and further on. There absolutely is racism from white people towards minority groups, and it is a significant problem. Especially coming from those in power – I absolutely hate Peter Dutton and Pauline Hanson for the division they’ve created, and the relentless target of minority groups.
I should’ve been more clear – I’m just talking about the racism I’ve personally seen and experienced as a young person, living in the city, who is from a CALD background. And my opinions are shared by many other south Asian people I know. The majority of south asians are lovely people, but from my experience, there are certain groups within that community who hold very racist views, and are blatantly and openly racist towards other minority groups. I have friends who live in the bush and vote One Nation, and I have spend a fair bit of time in those communities. My personal experience is that people in these communities are extremely welcoming and friendly.
I acknowledge and understand that there is a major problem in Australia with racism from white people – much more significant than any racism coming from minority groups – and my comments were misguided and came out wrong. I was just trying to explain my personal experience.
Edit: Wanguri is actually the richest seat. The yearly income there is $146,704.
@ AA
All good. I accept their maybe tensions between minority groups in society often driven by conflicts in other countries for example between Serbs and Croaitions. That is different to racism which is systematic and not driven by an individual’s personal feelings. It is hard to know what is truly in someones heart. Often people say the American South is racist due to Jim Crow etc but in the North there was and still is de-facto segregation caused by Redlining etc so in the end you get the same result. I accept your experience with One Nation voters in the Bush, I can say that i have had positive experiences with Anglos in the Sutherland Shire where there is a reputation for Nationalism and i have enjoyed their company on youtube there is numerous jokes that poke fun at the reputation of the Shire being full of boys with Southern Cross tattoos. I can never say for a fact whether Teal areas like the Northern Beaches are free of racism or is the case that people there are good at covering it up and are just more Sophisticated in their racism.
Yep, totally understand what you mean by conflicts vs actual racism. What I’m talking about with some people in the Indian community relates to personal feelings. Good to know the difference.
Honestly it’s hard to know whether Northern Beaches are actually racist or not, I think there’s a lot who are, but are just good at covering it up. There’s a lot of strong opinions in those areas about multicultural areas (Bankstown, Blacktown, Fairfield, even Parramatta and Cabramatta) – but they never usually mention race.