CLP 15.4%
Incumbent MP
Lia Finocchiaro, since 2016. Previously member for Drysdale 2012-2016.
Geography
Spillett covers the outer suburbs of Palmerston, including Durack, Johnston, Marlow Lagoon, Pinelands and Zuccoli.
Redistribution
Spillett previous straddled the Darwin and Palmerston areas, but most of the south-eastern Darwin suburbs, including Berrimah and the Narrows, were transferred to Karama and Fong Lim. Spillett gained a small number of voters from Drysdale. These changes increased the CLP margin from 13.1% to 15.4%.
History
Spillett was created as a new seat in 2016, mostly taking in parts of Fong Lim, as well as other outer suburbs in the town of Palmerston.
Fong Lim was won in 2008 by CLP candidate Dave Tollner, who had previously held the federal seat of Solomon for two terms from 2001 to 2007.
Tollner held Fong Lim for two terms. Tollner was appointed as a minister after the CLP won the 2012 election, and served as deputy chief minister from 2013 to 2014.
The redistribution before the 2016 election made Fong Lim much less friendly for the CLP, pulling the seat into the Darwin area, while a new seat of Spillett was created. Tollner contested CLP preselection but lost to Drysdale MP Lia Finocchiaro.
Finocchiaro had won the Palmerston-area seat of Drysdale in 2012.
The 2016 election was very bad for the Country Liberal Party, and Finocchiaro was one of only two CLP members to hold their seat. She served as deputy leader of the CLP until early 2016, when she became leader.
Candidates
- Tristan Sloan (Labor)
- Vanessa Mounsey (Territory Alliance)
- Lia Finocchiaro (Country Liberal)
Assessment
Spillett is the only safe CLP seat in the territory, and Finocchiaro should hold on.
2016 result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| Lia Finocchiaro | Country Liberal | 2,277 | 56.1 | -5.6 | 59.1 |
| Phil Tilbrook | Labor | 1,247 | 30.7 | +4.0 | 29.3 |
| Jeff Norton | 1 Territory | 237 | 5.8 | +5.8 | 6.1 |
| Richard Smith | Independent | 175 | 4.3 | +4.3 | 3.3 |
| Sonia Mackay | Independent | 95 | 2.3 | +2.3 | 1.6 |
| Trudy Campbell | Citizens Electoral Council | 29 | 0.7 | +0.7 | 0.7 |
| Informal | 76 | 1.8 |
2016 two-party-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| Lia Finocchiaro | Country Liberal | 2,438 | 63.1 | -4.9 | 65.4 |
| Phil Tilbrook | Labor | 1,428 | 36.9 | +4.9 | 34.6 |
Booth breakdown
Spillett contains two ordinary polling booths: Durack and Johnston, although the pre-poll vote was a larger factor than either of these booths on their own.
The CLP won over 60% of the two-party-preferred vote in every area, ranging from 62% in the other vote to 68% in pre-poll.
| Voter group | CLP 2PP % | Total votes | % of votes |
| Pre-poll | 67.6 | 1,274 | 37.8 |
| Durack | 65.9 | 1,011 | 30.0 |
| Other votes | 61.8 | 607 | 18.0 |
| Johnston | 62.9 | 479 | 14.2 |
Does the Territory Alliance have a chance of winning this? My family briefly lived in Durack in 2008-2009, when Mills was opposition leader. I attended Palmerston Christian School (in Marlow Lagoon), the school that Terry Mills was the first principal of. In the time I was there, Ros Mills (his wife) was an occasional substitute teacher. Our family would often go for walks through Palmerston Golf Course (in Durack), and a few times we bumped into him and Ros walking their dog. Does he actually live in Durack? (I cannot find any source indicating where he lives.) It would almost seem that he has a stronger personal connection with Spillett than with Blain.