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ABC News
03-05-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Labor wins both NT seats after knife-edge election race against the CLP in Solomon
The Australian Labor Party has held onto its two seats in the Northern Territory despite the Country Liberal Party (CLP) challenger running a tight race to try to claim the Top End seat of Solomon. Late on election night, the ABC called the NT's two seats of Solomon and Lingiari for Labor. Long-term Labor MP and army veteran Luke Gosling held off a knife-edge challenge by former police officer Lisa Bayliss to win Solomon for a fourth term, marking a new record tenure for the seat. Election essentials: Australian federal election 2025 The seat takes in the NT capital of Darwin and its neighbouring satellite city of Palmerston. Despite Labor's win, Ms Bayliss eroded Mr Gosling's margin of more than 8 per cent to come within an inch of winning the NT electorate for the CLP for the first time in more than a decade. Lisa Bayliss came close to unseating Luke Gosling in Solomon, but ultimately fell short. ( ABC News: Hamish Harty ) The CLP ran hard on a platform of stamping out crime and anti-social behaviour in the urban seat, which has been increasingly gripped by community concerns over high crime rates. The seat had been considered in play this election and Mr Dutton made repeated trips to the seat during the campaign, as recently as late in April, in the days after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also visited the seat, including to promise more than $60 million for a new aged care centre in the area. NT CLP senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price told the ABC on Saturday night she attributed the swing in Solomon to the ongoing impacts of serious crime. Jacinta Nampijinpa Price says crime has been a key concern for Solomon voters. ( ABC News: Pete Garnish ) "Crime's a huge issue right throughout the Northern Territory," Ms Nampijinpa Price said. "There was obviously the stabbing death of the shop owner in Nightcliff just the other week. " Those issues … a lot of Territorians are doing it bloody tough and they're feeling the impact of things like crime, and that is why we're getting the swing in terms of Solomon. " The tight race came nine months after Read more about the federal election: Want even more? Here's where you can find all our 2025 Catch the latest interviews and in-depth coverage on It also featured an impressive run by community independent Phil Scott, who claimed nearly 3,500 first-preference votes during the election, taking him to third place, ahead of the Australian Greens and Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party. In Lingiari, the vast NT bush seat that takes in all of the territory's Aboriginal communities as well as its regional towns of Alice Springs, Katherine, Nhulunbuy and Tennant Creek, Labor has also held onto and extended its margin. Lingiari Ms Scrymgour fended off a challenge by former Australian Federal Police officer Lisa Siebert, and continues the Labor Party's hold on the seat for more than two decades. Marion Scrymgour has won the seat of Lingiari for Labor. ( ABC Darwin: Peter Garnish ) Loading Having trouble seeing this form? Try
ABC News
02-05-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
NT electorates Solomon and Lingiari key seats to watch this election
The Northern Territory has just two lower house seats — and both have been held by Labor for years. Labor has won Solomon, which takes in the urban Top End, at the past three elections, and the party has retained the vast outback seat of Lingiari since its inception. Election essentials: Find out where your But after the A campaign centred on crime and the economy saw the CLP more than double its numbers at the August election, gaining a 17-member majority and whittling Territory Labor down to just four seats. But are the same issues on NT voters' minds as they cast their ballots for federal representatives? An analysis of Read more about the federal election: Want even more? Here's where you can find all our 2025 Catch the latest interviews and in-depth coverage on National security has also featured in the campaign, with both major parties promising to More than 40 per cent of the Northern Territory's 150,000-odd voters have already cast their ballot at pre-polling and Solomon Photo shows An aerial view of the city of Darwin at sunset. The NT seat of Solomon's been relatively safe Labor for nearly a decade. But social, economic and political factors could see it in play this election. In January, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton proclaimed that Last year's NT election also left Labor holding no parliamentary seats within the boundaries of Solomon — a sign it is battling to keep the federal electorate this Saturday despite holding it on a "safe" 8.4 per cent margin. However, incumbent MP Luke Gosling, a defence force veteran who has held the seat for nine years, has been Luke Gosling says the Labor government has invested "billions of dollars" in the Northern Territory. ( ABC News: Hamish Harty ) "We're putting billions of dollars into health, into bulk-billing in particular … our cost-of-living support from tax cuts to energy bill relief are really making a difference," he said. He is up against the CLP's Lisa Bayliss, a former police officer and daughter of a former CLP minister, who has promised to work with the NT government on battling crime. Lisa Bayliss says the federal government can do more to reduce crime in the Northern Territory. ( ABC News: Hamish Harty ) "In the last eight years we've had crime just get out of control," she said. "We say crime is an NT government issue [but] it's actually also something hand-in-hand [with the federal government]." The NT's first Climate 200-backed independent, Phil Scott, also stands to gain ground as Lingiari The electorate of Lingiari takes in almost all of the territory, including 73 remote Aboriginal communities and the regional towns of Alice Springs, Tennant Creek and Katherine. It is here where voter apathy is most prevalent. One in three enrolled voters did not cast a ballot in the 2022 election. Photo shows An Aboriginal woman, wearing a patterned head scarf, navy blue top sitting in a bushland area. The Coalition will be hoping to win the seat of Lingiari for the first time this federal election. Currently held by Labor's Marion Scrymgour on a slim margin of 1.7 per cent, the seat is also firmly in the Coalition's sights. Ms Scrymgour, a former NT deputy chief minister and Northern Land Council head, helped push Marion Scrymgour won Lingiari by about 800 votes at the last election. ( ABC News: Michael Franchi ) "Over the last three years, as a federal representative, I have worked hard to reset the ledger and to make sure that the federal government was listening," she said. The CLP's Lingiari candidate is Lisa Siebert, another former police officer, while former NT Australian of the Year Blair McFarland is running for the Greens. Lisa Siebert, who grew up in the remote NT, is also running for the federal seat of Lingiari. ( ABC News: Xavier Martin ) Ms Siebert, who has often appeared alongside CLP senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price during the campaign, has also promised to deliver practical outcomes to remote and regional voters. "We need to show results and we need to show that there are practical solutions and outcomes that are delivered in the policies that we have," she said. Loading Having trouble seeing this form? Try
News.com.au
01-05-2025
- Politics
- News.com.au
Full list of NT polling booths, where to vote on election day 2025
Voters in the Northern Territory will head to the polls on May 3 for the 2025 federal election. Voting centres across the state will open at 8am and close at 6pm. It's shaping up to be a tight contest in the Northern Territory electorates of Lingiari and Solomon. Both seats are held by Labor with incumbents Marion Scrymgour (Lingiari) and Luke Gosling (Solomon) being challenged by a number of candidates. Voting is compulsory in Australia and polling booths are located across local schools, churches, community halls and public buildings. See the full list of polling booth locations below: Polling booths will open at 8am on Saturday, May 3 and close at 6pm sharp. IS VOTING COMPULSORY? Yes, voting is compulsory for Australian citizens over the age of 18. WHICH ELECTORATE AM I IN? Who you vote for on election day will depend on which federal electorate you are in. You can find out the electorate you are in by clicking here. WHO ARE THE CANDIDATES FOR SOLOMON AND LINGIARI? Click here for the full list of Solomon candidates. Click here for the full list of Lingiari candidates. WHERE TO FIND A DEMOCRACY SAUSAGE The democracy sausage is a voting tradition in Australia. Here are the polling booths that will have snags on the barbie this Saturday. WHO YOUR NEIGHBOURS VOTED FOR Find out what party won the first preference vote in every polling place across Australia between 2004 and 2022. WHAT HAPPENS IF I DON'T VOTE? If you don't vote in a federal election, you will receive a letter from the Australian Electoral Commission.
ABC News
23-04-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Foreign airlines could soon fly domestic routes to and from Darwin, but would it reduce prices?
Booking a return flight from Darwin can cost upwards of $1,000. And that's for flights that depart and arrive around midnight or the early morning hours. It's little wonder airfares are a key issue in the Northern Territory this election campaign. Candidates in the Darwin-based seat of Solomon are all promising to push for lower prices as a cost-of-living measure. The Coalition has now announced if elected it would change laws to allow international airlines to carry domestic passengers to and from Darwin and the east coast. But would the policy be effective? Return airfares from Darwin regularly cost more than $1,000. ( Facebook: Darwin International Airport ) What is being promised? The Coalition has promised to implement a two-year trial allowing international airlines to fly between Darwin and east coast capital cities, if it wins government. Currently, federal laws restrict foreign carriers from flying domestic routes. The Coalition said it would remove the "outdated" laws which it said had "kept Darwin airfares high and restricted services". The changes would allow airlines to stop over in Darwin while on an international route, enabling them to pick up and drop off passengers. Under the proposed changes, airlines would be able to pick up and drop off passengers in Darwin, while on an international route. ( ABC News: Michael Franchi ) Are foreign airlines interested? Current Member for Solomon Luke Gosling has previously The Labor MP said Darwin could become "a pilot location" for cabotage, but there was A Labor spokesperson said the federal government's Aviation White Paper "already commits us to opening up domestic routes to international carriers on a case-by-case basis". "We will consider requests by airlines when demand is there," they said. Luke Gosling says there is no demand for cabotage. ( ABC News: Hamish Harty ) Asked repeatedly whether the Coalition had spoken to international carriers before announcing its policy, Shadow Minister for Transport Bridget McKenzie didn't provide a direct answer. "Once we actually open that opportunity for international airlines, then there will be a demand because we know even the Darwin-Brisbane flight, that's at nearly 88 per cent capacity," she told ABC Radio Darwin on Wednesday. "Airlines are interested where there is demand, where they can actually make money. "That's why we're putting it on the table to trial it here for two years and give that opportunity to international carriers, such as [those in] the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore." Bridget McKenzie Asian airlines could be interested in flying Australian domestic routes. ( ABC News: Luke Stephenson ) Neil Hansford, an international aviation consultant, says airlines aren't interested in Darwin stopovers on international routes. "There's no incentive for them to do it because they've got all the traffic rights they need to, to fly directly to the major markets of Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne," he said. "The consumer doesn't want intermediate stops. "This is going against the trend of Australians who want to fly direct with no stops." Neil Hansford says international airlines aren't interested in Darwin stopovers. ( ABC News ) Are Darwin airport fees a turn-off for airlines? The Virgin has claimed the fees ADG has Nevertheless, Mr Hansford says the fees are another reason international airlines may not take interest in the Coalition's proposed changes. "Currently the high cost of using our airports is what drives the prices," he says.
