NORTHERN TERRITORY: INDIGENOUS PARTICIPATION
Tenth Assembly - General Election 18 June 2005
This election saw Labor returned with an increased majority to win 19 of the 25 seats in the Assembly. of 79
five out of 25
September 2006 (by election)
Eleventh Assembly - General Election 9 August 2008 From a position of only four members at the previous election, the Country Liberals achieved a significant comeback with 11 members in this Assembly, the Labor government held 13 and there was one independent member. Perhaps regretfully for them, the Country Liberals did not to field candidates in the seats of MacDonnell (now Namatjira) or Arnhem where the Labor Members were returned unopposed.
The Member for MacDonnell later left Labor and joined the Country Liberals giving the Opposition 12, the Government 12. The independent however supported Labor to retain government.
This was the first time that the number of Aboriginal candidates at a general election hit double figures. of 67
five out of 25
Twelfth Assembly - General Election 25 August 2012 At this election, the First Nations Political Party ran candidates in the seats of Arafura, Barkly, Blain, Namatjira and Stuart but did not have any of their candidates elected to the Assembly. The Country Liberals regained the ‘bush seats’ of Arnhem (lost to that party in 1977), Stuart (lost in 1983)
and won the seat of Arafura which had never been held by the Country Liberals since its creation in 1983 (Its predecessor seat of Tiwi had previously been held by the Country Liberals.)
As at January 2015, the Country Liberals Government retains 14 seats (two previous members – Arnhem and Namatjira, both Aboriginal Members – now sit on the cross bench), Labor has eight seats with one independent member making up the total.
Former NSW Senator Aden
Ridgeway said in 2010 that it is not secret that indigenous people in this country do not vote in such numbers to make a difference to any side of politics . However, in 2012, the political orthodoxy that the Northern Territory government’s fortunes are based on the seats in the northern suburbs of Darwin was turned on its head as it was the change of vote in the bush seats which resulted in the change of government. Four previously Labor held bush seats went to the Country Liberals. With 20 Aboriginal
candidates at this election, it would appear that Aboriginal peoples are strongly engaged in politics in the Northern Territory making up 23% of the candidates and winning 24% of the seats. of 86
out of 25
Looking at a cross section of all the existing 25 electorates, 15 of the existing seats and 16 of a total of existing and predecessor seats have been contested by Aboriginal candidates over the past 40 years.
Policies or Aboriginality? Do Aboriginal voters elect Aboriginal candidates? It becomes a moot point when all
of the candidates are Aboriginal as was the case in three contested seats at the 2012 NT general election.
On 21 June 2007, then Prime Minister Howard announced a significant intervention into the administration of welfare for Aboriginal recipients within 73 communities in the Northern Territory.
Aboriginal voters appear to have reacted strongly to the policy. Voting patterns in the Federal seat of Lingiari at the 2007 election are of interest because that electorate holds all of the 73 Aboriginal communities targeted by the policy . Votes in booths in those Aboriginal communities delivered votes in the 90 percentile range to the Labor party (the opposition party to the party of the then Prime Minister). While the numbers of votes at the Lingiari booths do not change governments at the national level, of 723 voters at the Wadeye booth at the 2007 election only 26 voted for the candidate from the same side of politics as the then Prime Minister (Country Liberals). At Angkarripa in Central Australia 5 out of 503 votes went to the Country Liberals and at Yirrikala in Northern East Arnhem land of 266 votes cast at that booth, two went to the Country Liberal candidate.
However, five years later, the Northern Territory Assembly seats located within the boundaries of the federal seat of Lingiari were delivered to the Country Liberals who took Government at the August 2012 NT election. The candidate in the federal seat of Lingiari in 2007 is now the Chief Minister for the Northern Territory and, incidentally, is a person of Aboriginal heritage.
Perhaps the Loveday and Jaensch research from 1984 which indicates policies and not
Aboriginality per se are the key to electoral outcomes remains relevant today.
Conclusion
Whether people of specific racial or ethnic backgrounds can address the specific aspirations or difficulties faced by those of the same background is another matter, however, participation is surely in and of itself important to finding solutions to a range of the problems that inspires people to be involved in representative politics.
It is often easy to group the Northern Territory with all other Australian jurisdictions when considering the history of under-representation of Aboriginal peoples in parliament, whereas the reality is different.
While such participation may not have been ‘enough’ or met expectations, there is an abundant and rich history of political activity amongst Aboriginal peoples in the Northern Territory in spite of the obstacles such as lower rates of literacy, language barriers and cultural matters.
Former Northern Territory Minister John Ah Kit said on this matter that the growth in the number of Aboriginal Members in the Northern Territory should be a source of pride to all Territorians and an indication that the Territory was moving beyond the politics of exclusion and towards and open and just society. While challenges continue and representative democracy requires vigilance, for such a young jurisdiction, only 40 years old, the Northern Territory is a mature participant in regard to Aboriginal representation and the only jurisdiction in Australia to consistently elect Aboriginal members of its House of Assembly at every election since coming into existence.
The Parliamentarian | 2015: Issue One | 37
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