A by-election for the seat of Blain in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly was held on 12 April 2014. The by-election was triggered by the resignation of Country Liberal Party (CLP) member and former Northern Territory Chief Minister Terry Mills. Mills resigned in reaction to being removed as CLP leader and Chief Minister in March 2013 in a party room coup by Adam Giles. The CLP margin in the Palmerston-based seat was 13.2 points.2014 Blain by-election: Antony Green ABC
On 3 April 2014, a week after the writ was issued for the by-election, three indigenous CLP MPs resigned from the party and moved to the crossbench. Had the CLP failed to hold Blain, it would have been reduced to a minority government and would have needed the support of at least one of the four independents to stay in office. Although Blain was a comfortably safe CLP seat on paper, the average swing against governments at by-elections in greater Darwin/Palmerston was 12 per cent.
Candidates The five candidates in ballot paper order were: Candidate nominations Party Candidate Background Citizens Electoral Council Peter Flynn Navy officer, Earth moving contractor. Contested Lingiari at the 2010 and 2013 federal elections. Labor Party Geoff Bahnert Professional sportsman, business operator, Police Senior Sergeant. Contested Blain at the 2012 election. Country Liberal Party Nathan Barrett Teacher, business operator, port worker. Independent Matthew Cranitch Northern Territory Australian Education Union President. NT Greens Sue McKinnon City of Palmerston Councillor. Contested Blain at the 2005 election.
Results
A recheck of all election night counts was conducted on Sunday 13 April, and early distribution of preferences was carried out on Tuesday 15 April. Final vote figures were published by NTEC on the evening of 22 April—the deadline for arrival of postal votes.
The CLP claimed victory on election night, with the night's count indicating they had retained the seat by a 3.2 per cent margin on a two-party-preferred basis, with a 10 per cent swing against them. The official declaration of the poll took place on the morning of Wednesday 16 April 2014. Despite coming close to winning the seat, Bahnert was not again the ALP candidate for Blain at the 2016 election.
Opinion polling Date Firm Samplesize Primary vote2PP vote 12 Apr 2014 2014 by-election 45.5% 37.3% 8.7% 8.5% 53.2% 46.8% 11 Apr 2014 NT News 200 40.8% 39.2% 12.5% 7.5% 51% 49% 7 Apr 2014 Matthew Cranitch 150 31% 35% 23% 10% 25 Aug 2012 2012 election 61.6% 33.6% — 4.9% 63.2% 36.8%
See also List of Northern Territory by-elections
References
External links 2014 Blain by-election: Antony Green ABC 2014 Blain by-election: NTEC