Consisting of Darwin and its satellite town of Palmerston, the electorate of Solomon was created when the Northern Territory was divided into two electorates at the 2001 election. This appeared set to be reversed at the 2004 election, when the Northern Territory was found to be 295 residents short of the requisite number. Since both major parties felt they could win both seats (a more sound judgment in Labor’s case, at least at the time), the second seat was essentially legislated back into existence. This has left the two Northern Territory electorates with by far the lowest enrolments in the country: at the time of the 2010 election, Solomon had 59,879 enrolled voters and Lingiari 61,126, compared with a national average of around 94,000.
The Northern Territory gained its first member of federal parliament in 1922, but the member did not get full voting rights until 1968. Perhaps not coincidentally, the Northern Territory electorate had recently fallen to Sam Calder of the Country Party after a long period in Labor hands. With Calder’s retirement in 1980, the seat transferred to the Country Liberal Party, which had been established as a local alliance of Liberals and Nationals to contest elections in the newly established Northern Territory parliament. Labor gained the seat with the election of the Hawke government in 1983, defeating CLP member Grant Tambling (who returned as a Senator four years later). It subsequently changed hands with great frequency: future Chief Minister Paul Everingham recovered the seat for the CLP in 1984, Warren Snowdon won it back for Labor in 1987, Nick Dondas held it for the CLP for one term from 1996, and Snowdon recovered it in 1998.
Going into the 2001 election, the new seat of Solomon had a notional CLP margin of 2.3% while Lingiari had a notional Labor margin of 3.7%. Warren Snowdon naturally opted for the safer option of Lingiari, and Solomon emerged as an extremely tight contest between Labor’s Laurene Hull and David Tollner of the CLP. Tollner suffered a 2.2% swing against the national trend, but was able to hang on by 88 votes. The Northern Territory recorded only a modest swing to Labor at the 2007 election, but it proved just sufficient to deliver them their first victory in Solomon, with former football coach Damien Hale prevailing by 196 votes. The defeated Tollner returned to politics after winning the seat of Fong Lim in the Northern Territory parliament at the 2008 election, and has been health, housing and alcohol rehabilitation minister since the CLP’s election win in August 2012. Hale meanwhile enjoyed a short tenure as member, suffering a 1.9% swing in 2010 and what by the electorate’s historical standards was a relatvely large 1.8% defeat. The seat has since been held for the CLP by Natasha Griggs, who had previously been the deputy mayor of Palmerston.
Solomon’s distinguishing demographic characteristics are a high proportion of indigenous persons (10.3% in the 2006 census compared to a national figure of 2.3%) and a low number of persons aged over 65 (5.3% against 13.3%). Darwin is divided between newer Labor-leaning suburbs in the north, including Nightcliff, Casuarina, Jingili and Sanderson, and the town centre and its surrounds south of the airport, an area marked by higher incomes, fewer families and greater support for the CLP. Stronger still for the CLP is Palmerston, a satellite town established 20 kilometres south-east of Darwin in the 1980s that accounts for just over a quarter of the electorate’s voters: it is less multicultural than Darwin and has a high proportion of mortgage-paying young families.
Labor’s preselected candidate for the coming election is Luke Gosling, a staffer to Senator Trish Crossin and volunteer operations manager of a charity he co-founded which works in East Timor. Griggs meanwhile faces a preselection challenge from Peter Bourke, a doctor at Royal Darwin Hospital.
guytaur
News report on radio was stating that reps from the AWU were in meetings with Bluescope this morning
victoria
That tweet by the Kouk would be a good slogan
guytaur
Agreed.
victoria
Cesar Melham State Secretary of AWU was just on News24 talking about it.
I was given the book Pacific 360 by Roland Perry re Australia’s Battle for survival in WW2, what a wonderful book it is. I knew from history what PM Curtin did, but I had no idea how much he actually did. It was a “warts and all” book ie his depression was not glossed out and I for one am thankful we had such a wonderful Labour Prime Minister. Think it probably hastened his demise, although the cigarettes etc would not have helped.
There is a BISON in there somewhere:
mari
A lot, not all smokers do because of depression I have heard somewhere. Just like with drinking.
Its a seriously debilitating disease because of other behaviours it engenders.
All the more credit to Mr Curtin for what he did.
@abcnews: #Centrelink forced to apologise to 80,000 single parents for telling them to destroy pensioner concession cards http://t.co/06ayQz6L
[guytaur
Posted Monday, January 14, 2013 at 10:00 am | PERMALINK
mari
A lot, not all smokers do because of depression I have heard somewhere. Just like with drinking.
Its a seriously debilitating disease because of other behaviours it engenders.
All the more credit to Mr Curtin for what he did.]
Yes and of course not so much was known then about smoking problems, although Curtin’s doctors convinced him to give up some. If you can get the book read it , it is incredible
Kate Lundy presser on Aussie response to doping in next 15 to half hour.
Kate Lundy to give press conference shortly about OZ cycling doping. ABC95.
@TonyIKnow: Check out all the Tony Abbott #StopTheStunts memes at http://t.co/KpT5sUFr by @geeksrulz and rate your favourites and share the fun!
@CraigEmersonMP: Meeting Japanese Foreign Minister Kishida. Good discussion on Japan country strategy for Asian Century White Paper. http://t.co/XkpW4CqC
As posted on the WA thread I’m very dubious about this claimed “52.5-47.3” (??) Morgan as it could well be a case of confusion between two Twitter users resulting in the same figure from last time being incorrectly claimed as new. Leroy has been asking about this today and there has been nothing in response to confirm it.
Kevin Bonham
One of those linked to a 3AW story. Think, when posted was new. This where the confusion comes from.
Kevin @ 464
found this
Roy Morgan @roymorganonline
@bryanckyle the next poll is due late this week, sorry i can’t give you a solid date at the moment.
Kevin Bonham.
As I have not seen one reliable source back that poll claim, I would take it with a grain of salt.
Until evidence suggests otherwise, assume that someone mistook the last results for current ones, or some hack is just trying to spin things…
Kate Lundy Presser Now News 24
Kevin b
We should know soon whether the morgan is correct.
Wasn’t T’Abbott leadout-man for Lance Armstrong in the TdF?
TLBD
One cheat leading another?
What is kate lundys presser about pls?
confessions
Cycling and Aus Govt measures on doping
If you are wondering what Julie Bishop is up to.
@delimiterau: Bishop visits Twitter HQ as Aussie office planned: http://t.co/NXpvCfGL
Meguire Bob – that tweet was a reply to one regarding a NZ poll.
I rang the Roy Morgan people, there will be a Federal Face to Face poll released this afternoon, or tomorrow at the latest. It will be based on info collected over the last two weekends (which I think means last two days and the weekend before). They must be trying to get it out quickly to match Essential as having the first poll out.
S-weeeet!
News sure to bring Abbott, Hockey & their MSM backers close to tears Rising iron ore prices could put budget surplus back on track
[An unexpected surge in the global iron ore price has put the budget surplus back within reach.
The iron ore price had climbed from a September low of $US86 a tonne to $US135 a tonne when the Treasurer, Wayne Swan, abandoned his commitment to a budget surplus late last month. It has since risen to $US158 a tonne.
Forecasters from Deutsche Bank are expecting the price to hit $US170 a tonne within weeks.
If sustained, the near doubling of the iron ore price would boost company tax revenues and lead to a surge in mining tax payments, putting government revenue back to near what was forecast in the budget.
In abandoning his commitment to a surplus, Mr Swan stressed he was only doing so because revenues had collapsed. He would continue to restrain spending so that if they recovered a surplus would still be possible.]
:smirk:
Cycling should be suppressed as a sport, it’s corrupt from top to bottom.
Thanks guytaur
leroy @ 475
ok thanks, didnt realise that
[News sure to bring Abbott, Hockey & their MSM backers close to tears Rising iron ore prices could put budget surplus back on track…]
They’ll make some cute comment wtte that the only way Swan can guarantee a surplus is to abandon the idea.
As soon as he does, the economy will go the opposite way.
He is such a poor economic manager, that whatever he says, the opposite happens etc. etc.
Last week I wondered if the surge in iron ore prices could make a surplus possible. Peter Martin wonders the same.
[Rising iron ore prices could put budget surplus back on track
An unexpected surge in the global iron ore price has put the budget surplus back within reach.
The iron ore price had climbed from a September low of $US86 a tonne to $US135 a tonne when the Treasurer, Wayne Swan, abandoned his commitment to a budget surplus late last month. It has since risen to $US158 a tonne.
Forecasters from Deutsche Bank are expecting the price to hit $US170 a tonne within weeks.]
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/rising-iron-ore-prices-could-put-budget-surplus-back-on-track-20130113-2cnno.html#ixzz2Hu1UQwUK
This is the original Morgan “leak” tweet.
https://twitter.com/AndrewJaffrey/status/290418053517303808
https://twitter.com/AndrewJaffrey
Seems to work in media if you google his name, and there are past messages between him and other radio people. I’ve never heard of him. I’m suspicious because it reads like the old one, but I don’t think he is an ALP booster.
OPT
It would be hilarious if the govt deliver a surplus after all the hysteria from those opposite. 🙂
OPT and Confessions
If Iron Ore prices do stay up and a surplus comes what a deliciously funny election campaign it will be
OzPol Tragic
Too quick for me ! 🙂
Guytaur @ 439
Did you not see my 🙂
@ 437 I was humourously reflecting on the irony that everyone had now gone italics.
I was not criticising you in any way.
See Confessions @ 428
psyclaw
Yeah somehow I missed that. Sorry.
@ChrisOBrienABC: . @theqldpremier 6 month acshon plan @ABCNewsBrisbane http://t.co/eCLggYhM
Need more grunt? Maria Sharapova is on centre court.
Why do we import people like Jim Courier to tell us what is going on?! Tennis will be on zero volume for the next two weeks.
@smh: Opinion: @JuliaGillard’s bizarre act of faith leaves vulnerable unprotected, writes David Marr. http://t.co/0qyLBR30
Colin Powell Rips into GOP
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/13/colin-powell-gop_n_2467768.html
poroti
[OzPol Tragic
Too quick for me ! :)]
Think of it as an additional hit for fairfax online 😉
I only picked it up because I was searching for updates on the Warrumbungle fires.
The whole area (town itself – used to have some great club/ pub food) – National Park, Observatory) was a fave spot OH and I visited frequently as we drove the Gore-Newell highways through it to and from places to the South – once through a blazing summer heat-wave at a very overpriced and under service-oriented (eg no aircon) motel-camping complex: thereafter, we stayed in town & drove into the park.
So sad to hear that so much of it razed, with so much loss of homes & other structures, livestock etc. Should be more about it later in Coonabarabran Times; Facebook page @ http://www.facebook.com/pages/Coonabarabran-Times/146421222083083 It’s asked for photos etc.
Did the ABC guy (#488) really spell “action” as “acshon”?
Sohar
Not the abc guy. That by twitter convention of names is Qld Premier Newman
Ta, Guytaur.
@edhusicMP: BAM! No prisoners taken here: “@ABCtech: Interesting: An open letter to Malcolm Turnbull http://t.co/dnN1Gg6N from @sortius
[smh.com.au @smh
#Bushfire in the Blue Mountains sparked by a father and son who torched clandestine meth labs, police say http://ow.ly/gMdQV ]
Penalties should take account of the damage done, not just “lighting a fire”.
A good article about the inbuilt biases which affect our thinking
http://io9.com/5974468/the-most-common-cognitive-biases-that-prevent-you-from-being-rational
BK – Likely busy:
http://www.cfs.sa.gov.au/site/news_media/current_incidents.jsp
Most alerts gone now but lots of ‘Tree Down’ earlier in the Adelaide Hills.
Interestingly despite winning this seat, the CLP primary vote fell in 2010 (from 2007); the Greens went up 4 to 13%. One Nation polled 3%. If ON don’t field a candidate (does anyone know?) then most of that will likely go back to the CLP. Looks like this one will continue to be marginal (one way or the other) post-2013 election.