Electoral division of Drysdale

Drysdale Northern Territory—Legislative Assembly
Interactive map of boundaries as of the 2024 election
Territory	Northern Territory
Created	1997
MP	Clinton Howe
Party	Country Liberal
Namesake	Fred Drysdale
Electors	5,828 (2020)
Area	5 km2 (1.9 sq mi)
Demographic	Urban
Electorates around Drysdale: Nelson Spillett Spillett Nelson Drysdale Spillett Blain Blain Brennan

Drysdale is an electoral division of the Legislative Assembly in Australia's Northern Territory. It was first created in 1997, and is named after Fred Drysdale, a former member of the Legislative Council. It is an urban electorate covering 5 km² in north-western Palmerston including the CBD and the suburbs of Driver, Gray, Yarrawonga and most of Moulden. There were 5,828 people enrolled within the electorate as of August 2020.

History

Palmerston had long been considered a conservative stronghold, and for the first eight years of its life, Drysdale was considered to be a safe seat for the Country Liberal Party. CLP candidate Stephen Dunham easily won the seat at the 1997 election and easily retained it at the 2001 election.

Most commentators predicted that the CLP's dominance in Drysdale would continue at the 2005 election, although the Labor Party were running a high-profile candidate, former AFL Northern Territory general manager Chris Natt. However, there was a significant swing to the ALP across the territory on election day, and Dunham was ultimately defeated, along with several other CLP sitting members. The final result took several days to be decided, but ultimately Natt won the seat on a swing of 17.5 percent. Even more surprisingly, he won enough primary votes to take the seat without the need for preferences. However, before the 2008 election, a redistribution erased Natt's majority and made Drysdale a notional CLP seat. Ross Bohlin regained the seat for the CLP on a large swing, but lost his preselection in 2012 and contested the election as an independent candidate. He was defeated by the CLP's endorsed candidate, Lia Finocchiaro.

After a redistribution transferred much of Finocchiaro's base to the new seat of Spillett, Finocchiaro opted to transfer to Spillett even though Drysdale was still a safe CLP seat on paper. However, at the 2016 election, the CLP's primary vote plunged by over 20 percent amid the party's near-total meltdown in Palmerston. Eva Lawler took the seat for Labor on a swing of over 16 percent, becoming only the second Labor member ever to win it. She then increased her majority at the 2020 election, becoming the first Labor MLA to retain a Palmerston seat.

Lawler became Chief Minister in late 2023. However, at the 2024 Territory election, Lawler was routed in her own seat by the CLP's Clinton Howe amid Labor's meltdown in Darwin and Palmerston. Howe reclaimed the seat for the CLP on a swing of over 20 percent, enough to revert Drysdale to its traditional status as a safe CLP seat. He actually won an outright majority on the primary vote, enough to take the seat off Labor without the need for preferences.

Members for Drysdale

Member		Party	Term	Notes
	Stephen Dunham	Country Liberal	30 August 1997–18 May 2005	Served as a minister under Denis Burke. Lost seat.
	Chris Natt	Labor	18 May 2005–2008	Former Australian rules footballer. Lost seat.
	Ross Bohlin	Country Liberal	9 August 2008–July 2012	Lost seat.
		Independent	July 2012–25 August 2012
	Lia Finocchiaro	Country Liberal	25 August 2012–27 August 2016	Served as a minister under Terry Mills. Contested and won Spillett in 2016. Later became Opposition Leader.
	Eva Lawler	Labor	27 August 2016–2024	Served as a minister under Michael Gunner and Natasha Fyles. Later became Chief Minister. Lost seat.
	Clinton Howe	Country Liberal	2024–present

Election results

See also: Electoral results for the division of Drysdale

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2024 Northern Territory general election § Drysdale.[edit]

2024 Northern Territory general election: Drysdale

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Country Liberal	Clinton Howe	2,466	58.7	+28.4
	Labor	Eva Lawler	1,254	29.8	−12.1
	Independent	Cindy Mebbingarri Roberts	484	11.5	+11.5
Total formal votes			4,204	96.4
Informal votes			156	3.6
Turnout			4,360	68.7
Two-party-preferred result
	Country Liberal	Clinton Howe	2,732	65.0	+20.4
	Labor	Eva Lawler	1,472	35.0	−20.4
	Country Liberal gain from Labor		Swing	+20.4

External links

• Division profile from the Northern Territory Electoral Commission