Electoral division of Elsey

Elsey was an electoral division of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly in Australia. One of the original divisions, it was first contested in 1974 and was abolished in 1987. It was named after Elsey National Park. It was largely replaced by the new and considerably smaller electorate of Katherine, as population growth in the town of Katherine had resulted in the removal of much of the rural area of the electorate in the 1986 electoral redistribution.[1]

Members for Elsey

Member		Party	Term
	Les MacFarlane	Country Liberal	1974–1983
	Roger Steele	Country Liberal	1983–1987

Election results

Elections in the 1970s

1974 Northern Territory general election: Elsey[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Country Liberal	Les MacFarlane	800	63.5
	Labor	Kevin Frazer	362	28.8
	Independent	Leslie James James Martin	97	7.7
Total formal votes			1,259	95.5
Informal votes			60	4.5
Turnout			1,319	70.0
	Country Liberal win		(new seat)

• Preferences were not distributed.
• The number of votes each individual Independent received is unknown.

1977 Northern Territory general election: Elsey[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Country Liberal	Les MacFarlane	617	44.2
	Independent	Davis Daniels Patricia Davies	696	49.8
	Progress	Deidre Killen	84	6.0
Total formal votes			1,397	98.2
Informal votes			26	1.8
Turnout			1,423	69.0
Two-candidate-preferred result
	Country Liberal	Les MacFarlane	726	52.0
	Independent		671	48.0
	Country Liberal hold		Swing

• The number of votes each individual Independent received is unknown.
• The independent candidate that came second on preferences is unknown.

Elections in the 1980s

1980 Northern Territory general election: Elsey[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Country Liberal	Les MacFarlane	879	45.0	+0.8
	Labor	Maged Aboutaleb	580	29.7	+29.7
	Independent	James Forscutt	188	9.6	+9.6
	Independent	Patricia Davies	174	8.9
	Independent	Laurence Hughes	93	4.8	+4.8
	Independent	R.T. Reilly	38	1.9	+1.9
Total formal votes			1,952	96.4
Informal votes			73	3.6
Turnout			2,025	74.6
After distribution of preferences
	Country Liberal	Les MacFarlane	1,014	51.9
	Labor	Maged Aboutaleb	655	33.6
	Independent	James Forscutt	283	14.5
	Country Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

• Preferences were not distributed to completion.

1983 Northern Territory general election: Elsey[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Country Liberal	Roger Steele	978	49.7
	Labor	Trevor Surplice	540	27.5
	Independent	James Forscutt	448	22.8
Total formal votes			1,966	97.7
Informal votes			47	2.3
Turnout			2,013	81.5
Two-party-preferred result
	Country Liberal	Roger Steele	1,294	65.8
	Labor	Trevor Surplice	672	34.2
	Country Liberal hold		Swing

References

1. Jaensch, Dean; Loveday, Peter. Challenge from the Nationals: The Territory Election 1987 (PDF). pp. 132, 201.
2. Wade-Marshall, Dean Jaensch, Deborah (1994). Point of order! : the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory 1974-1994. Darwin: Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory. ISBN 0731520769.
3. 1980 Legislative Assembly Results, Northern Territory Electoral Commission, 7 June 1980
4. "Legislative Assembly General Election 1983" (PDF). Northern Territory Electoral Commission. Retrieved 28 August 2020.