Drysdale – NT 2016

CLP 11.5%

Incumbent MP
Lia Finocchiaro, since 2012.

Geography
Palmerston. Drysdale covers western parts of the city of Palmerston, to the east of Darwin. Drysdale covers the suburbs of Moulden, Yarrawonga, Gray and part of Farrar, along with the Palmerston golf course.

Redistribution
Drysdale shifted south in the recent redistribution. Drysdale lost the suburb of Durack to the new electorate of Spillett, which straddles the Darwin and Palmerston areas. Drysdale then gained Moulden from Blain, along with slightly more of the Farrar area from Brennan. The redistribution cut the CLP margin from 15.9% to 11.5%.

History
The electorate of Drysdale has existed since 1997. In that time, the Country Liberal Party has won the seat at all but one election.

The CLP’s Stephen Dunham won Drysdale, and held the seat for two terms. Drysdale was considered to be very safe before the 2005 election, when Dunham lost in a shock result to Labor’s Chris Natt.

Natt only held Drysdale for one term, losing the seat in 2008 to the CLP’s Ross Bohlin.

Bohlin himself only lasted for one term. He lost preselection in the lead up to the 2012 election, and ran for the seat unsuccessfully as an independent, losing to the CLP’s Lia Finocchiaro.

Candidates
Sitting Country Liberal MP Lia Finocchiaro is running for the new seat of Spillett.

• Lyle Mackay (Independent)
• David Cartwright (1 Territory)
• Hayden Bray (Greens)
• Ben Hosking (Country Liberal)
• Eva Lawler (Labor)
• Margy Kerle (Independent)

Assessment
In normal circumstances, the CLP should have no trouble retaining Drysdale. While there are a number of other safer CLP seats, those seats have traditionally been less loyal to the CLP than Drysdale. On the other hand, the lack of an incumbent, along with the CLP’s position having been weakened by the redistribution, might make this seat vulnerable if Labor wins in a landslide.

2012 result

2012 two-party-preferred result

Booth breakdown
There are four booths in Drysdale. The largest booths, Moulden Park, has been transferred into Drysdale from Blain. Changes near the Farrar booth meant that half of this booth was transferred from Brennan to Drysdale. Drysdale already covered Gray and Driver booths.

The Country Liberal Party’s two-party-preferred majority ranged from 58.2% in Moulden Park to 64.2% in Driver. The CLP did particularly well on the pre-poll vote, polling 64%.