Northern Territory Legislative Assembly

TheLegislative Assembly of the Northern Territory(also known as theParliament of the Northern Territory) is theunicamerallegislature of Australia’sNorthern Territory.The Legislative Assembly has 25 members, each elected insingle-member electoratesfor four-year terms.The voting method for the Assembly is thefull-preferential votingsystem, having previously beenoptional preferential voting.Elections are on the fourth Saturday in August of the fourth year after the previous election, but can be earlier in the event of ano-confidencevote in thegovernment.The most recent election for the Legislative Assembly was the2024 election held on 24 August.The next election is scheduled for 26 August 2028.

Legislative Assembly
15th Assembly
Coat of Arms of the Northern Territory
Legislative Assembly logo
Type
Type	Unicameral
History
Founded	1974(1974)
Leadership
Speaker	Robyn Lambley since 15 October 2024
Deputy Speaker	TBD
Leader of Government Business	Steve Edgington,Country Liberal
Government Whip	Andrew Mackay,Country Liberal since 24 August 2024
Structure
Seats	25
Political groups	Government(17) Country Liberal(17) Opposition(4) Labor(4) Crossbench (4) Greens(1) Independent(3)
Length of term	4 years
Elections
Voting system	Full preferential voting
First election	19 October 1974
Last election	24 August 2024
Next election	22 August 2028
Meeting place
Parliament House,Darwin
Website
parliament.nt.gov.au
Constitution
Northern Territory (Self-Government) Act 1978(Cth)

Persons who are qualified under theCommonwealth Electoral Act 1918to vote for a member for the Northern Territory in theHouse of Representativesare qualified to vote at an election for the Legislative Assembly. Voting is compulsory for all those over 18 years of age. Since 2004, elections have been conducted by theNorthern Territory Electoral Commission,which also organises regular electoral redistributions.

Bills passed by the Legislative Assembly become laws once given assent by theAdministrator of the Northern Territory,the representative of theCommonwealth Governmentand theCrown in right of the Northern Territory.

Current distribution of seats

As of 5 September 2024,the current distribution of seats is:

Party		Seats
		Current Assembly(Total 25 Seats)
	Country Liberal	17	17
	Labor	4	4
	Independent	3	3
	Greens	1	1

• 13 votes as a majority are required to pass legislation.

Powers

The legislative assembly chamber

In 1978, the Northern Territory was granted limited self-government by theNorthern Territory (Administration) Act 1974(Cth), an act of thefederal parliament.The federal government retains control of certain legislative areas, including Aboriginal land, industrial relations, national parks and uranium mining. For inter-governmental financial purposes the Northern Territory has been regarded by the Commonwealth as a State since 1 July 1988.

All questions arising in the Assembly are determined by a majority of votes and the Speaker, or other member presiding, is also entitled to vote. Where there is an equality of votes the Speaker, or other member presiding, shall have a casting vote.

Legislation passed by the Assembly requires assent by theAdministrator of the Northern Territory,acting on the advice of the Government, a practice analogous to theroyal assentof an Australian state governor. Under Australian constitutional practice, assent is usually a formality. After the Administrator gives assent, theGovernor-General of Australiaalso has the power to reject a law on the advice of thePrime Minister of Australiaand the federal Cabinet, but this power has also been only rarely exercised. The federal government also retains power to legislate for the Territory in all matters, including the right to override legislation passed by the Assembly.

The party or coalition with the most seats in the Assembly is invited by the Administrator to form government. The leader of that party subsequently becomes theChief Minister of the Northern Territory,and their senior colleagues become ministers responsible for various portfolios. As Australian political parties traditionally vote along party lines, most legislation introduced by the party commanding a majority will pass through the Legislative Assembly.

Source of legislative power

The Legislative Assembly acting with the assent of the administrator is vested with general legislative power, similar to that of the state parliaments.TheNorthern Territory (Administration) Act 1974(Cth) granted self-government to the Territory. The federal government retains control of certain legislative areas, including Aboriginal land, industrial relations, national parks and uranium mining.

However, while the state parliaments derive their legislative powers from constitutional sources, the Northern Territory derives its legislative power from the delegation of powers from the Commonwealth. TheAustralian Parliamentthus retains the right to legislate for the Territory, if it chooses to exercise it. This includes the power to override any legislation passed by the Northern Territory Parliament.

For example, in response to the Northern Territory Parliament's passage of theRights of the Terminally Ill Act 1995,the Territory'svoluntary euthanasialaw, the federal Parliament passed theEuthanasia Laws Act 1997,which amended the laws granting self-government to the territories–in the Northern Territory's case, theNorthern Territory (Self-Government) Act 1978–to remove that area from the legislative competences of the territories.

History

WhenSouth Australiaturned the Northern Territory over to Commonwealth hands in 1911, the federal government ran the Territory directly through the relevant minister, and the only elective body in the Territory was the Darwin town council. The territory was split in 1927 into the territories ofNorth AustraliaandCentral Australia,both of which had a four-member Advisory Council that was half-elected and half-appointed; in addition, development of North Australia was left to the locally-based North Australia Commission. These changes were reversed in 1931, with the Northern Territory reformed and the federal government resuming control until the 1947 formation of theNorthern Territory Legislative Council,which was half-elected and half-appointed.

The first Northern Territory Legislative Assembly, 1976

The Legislative Assembly was created in 1974 by theNorthern Territory (Administration) Act 1974(Cth), an act of the Australian federal parliament, which was a fully-elected body in contrast to the Legislative Council. The Legislative Assembly consisted of 19 fully elected members, but initially lacked significant powers, until limited self-government was granted in 1978.For the1983 election,the number of members was increased to 25.

From its inception prior to the1974 electionuntil the2001 election,the Legislative Assembly was controlled by the conservativeCountry Liberal Party,which since 1979 has been affiliated with the federalLiberal–Nationalcoalition.In 2001, theLabor Partywon a one-seat majority, andClare Martinbecame the Territory's first Labor and first female chief minister. At the2005 election,the Martin-led ALP won 19 seats to the CLP's 4; however, Martin resigned in 2007 and was succeeded byPaul Hendersonas ALP leader, and retained government with another one-seat majority at the2008 election.Labor lost its majority whenMarion Scrymgourwent to the cross-benches as an independent. She re-joined the party afterAlison Andersonleft the party to sit as an independent. Anderson joined the CLP in September 2011. The2012 electionresulted in the return of the CLP underTerry Millswith 16 seats to the ALP's 8. Mills resigned in 2013 andAdam Gilesbecame CLP leader. The CLP was reduced to a one-seat majority in 2014 when three CLP members defected to join thePalmer United Party.One defector later rejoined the CLP. After further defections, CLP numbers fell tominority governmentstatus in July 2015.

The2016 electionsaw a landslide CLP defeat which brought Labor to power led by Chief MinisterMichael Gunner.The position ofSpeaker of the Northern Territory Legislative Assemblywas held by CLP-turned-independent MPKezia Purickfrom 23 October 2012. Despite Labor's massive majority following the 2016 election, the incoming Labor government re-appointed Purick as Speaker.Following an ICAC investigation into allegationsKezia Purickhad engaged in corrupt conduct, she resigned, and the role was filled byChansey Paechon 23 June 2020. Following the 2020 election, Paech resigned in September 2020 to serve as a minister in Gunner's cabinet, andNgaree Ah Kitwas acting speaker for a month until her substantive election on 20 October 2020.

See also

• 2024 Northern Territory general election
• Parliaments of the Australian states and territories
• Members of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly
• Northern Territory ministries
• List of museums in the Northern Territory
• List of Northern Territory by-elections

External links

• Northern Territory Legislative Assembly