Electoral division of Araluen

Araluen is an electoral division of the Legislative Assembly in Australia's Northern Territory. It was first created in 1983, replacing the electorate of Alice Springs, which had been abolished as part of the enlargement of the Assembly. The electorate covers a 8 km2 (3.1 sq mi) area to the south and west of Alice Springs, including the Alice Springs CBD, the suburb of Araluen, and some surrounding rural areas. There were 5,742 people enrolled in the electorate as of August 2020.

Araluen
Northern Territory—Legislative Assembly
Location of Araluen in the Alice Springs area
TerritoryNorthern Territory
Created1983
MPRobyn Lambley
PartyIndependent
NamesakeAraluen
Electors5,742 (2020)
Area8 km2 (3.1 sq mi)
DemographicUrban

The current member for Araluen is Robyn Lambley, who has held the seat since 2010. She was originally elected as a member of the Country Liberal Party (CLP), but resigned from the party in 2015 and was re-elected as an independent at the 2016 election. In 2020 she joined the Territory Alliance.

History

The city of Alice Springs has traditionally been a strong support base for the conservative Country Liberal Party, and for most of its first 33 years Araluen was one of the CLP's safest seats. In the first three decades of Araluen's existence, the CLP's hold on the seat was only seriously threatened once. In 2001, the retirement of veteran Cabinet minister Eric Poole and two prominent independent candidacies nearly delivered the seat to Labor. New CLP candidate Jodeen Carney only held the seat by 134 votes, making Araluen the CLP's most marginal seat.

Carney proved to be a popular local member, and was one of only four CLP members to be returned amidst the Labor landslide at the 2005 election. She proved to be in the least danger of the CLP's elected members; indeed, she was the only one to actually pick up a swing in her favour. She subsequently served as the territory's Opposition Leader after the election from 2005 until January 2008. Carney was re-elected with nearly 70 per cent of the primary vote at the 2008 election, reverting Araluen to its traditional status as a comfortably safe CLP seat. Carney resigned on 3 September 2010; a by-election to replace her was held on 9 October 2010 which saw Robyn Lambley retain the seat for the CLP. Lambley resigned from the CLP on 18 June 2015 to sit as an independent.[1] She easily retained the seat at the 2016 election. In 2020 she joined the newly created centrist Territory Alliance. Lambley was narrowly reelected at the 2020 election as the only TA member to win their seat.

In 2011, as part of a redistribution, it was proposed to rename the seat to Perkins, in honour of Hetty Perkins, an Arrernte elder.[2] However, the proposal was later abandoned after local opposition.[3]

Members for Araluen
MemberPartyTerm
  Jim Robertson Country Liberal 1983–1986
  Eric Poole Country Liberal 1986–2001
  Jodeen Carney Country Liberal 2001–2010
  Robyn Lambley Country Liberal 2010–2015
  Independent 2015–2020
  Territory Alliance 2020
  Independent 2020–present

Election results
See also: Electoral results for the division of Araluen
This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2020 Northern Territory general election § Araluen[edit]
2020 Northern Territory general election: Araluen[4][5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Country Liberal Damien Ryan 1,659 38.0 +1.6
Territory Alliance Robyn Lambley 1,276 29.2 −10.5
Labor Jackson Ankers 789 18.1 −5.8
Greens Bernard Hickey 455 10.4 +10.4
Australian Federation Domenico Pecorari 114 2.6 +2.6
Independent Wayne Wright 71 1.6 +1.6
Total formal votes 4,364 96.5 N/A
Informal votes 157 3.5 N/A
Turnout 4,521 78.7 N/A
Two-party-preferred result[lower-alpha 1][6]
Country Liberal Damien Ryan 2,732 62.6 +6.9
Labor Jackson Ankers 1,632 37.4 −6.9
Two-candidate-preferred result
Territory Alliance Robyn Lambley 2,203 50.5 −8.1
Country Liberal Damien Ryan 2,161 49.5 +8.1
Territory Alliance hold Swing−8.1

Notes
  1. Estimated two-party count by Antony Green.

References
  1. (17 June 2015) "Robyn Lambley quits CLP to sit as Independent" - ABC News
  2. (31 May 2011). "Central Australian seats get Indigenous names" – ABC News. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  3. Antony Green. Northern Territory votes: Araluen – ABC News. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  4. "Electorate summary: Araluen". NTEC. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  5. "Arafura". ABC Elections. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  6. Green, Antony. "2020 Northern Territory Election – Analysis of Results". Antony Green's Election Blog. Retrieved 6 September 2020.

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