Johnston by-election, 2020

Cause of by-election
Independent MP Ken Vowles, a former member of the ALP, announced his resignation from parliament in November 2019.

MarginALP 14.7%

Geography
North Darwin. Johnston covers the suburbs of Millner and Moil, along with part of Alawa, to the north of the airport.

History
The electorate of Johnston has existed since 2001, and has always been won by Labor.

Labor’s Chris Burns won Johnston in 2001. Burns was a minister in the Labor government from 2002 to 2012. He was re-elected in 2005 and 2008, and retired in 2012.

Labor’s Ken Vowles succeeded Burns in 2012. Vowles was re-elected in 2016. He served as a minister in the newly-elected Labor government but was sacked as a minister and kicked out of the Labor caucus in December 2018. He announced his retirement in November 2019.

Candidates

    • Aiya Goodrich Carttling (Greens)
    • Josh Thomas (Country Liberal)
    • Joel Bowden (Labor)
    • Trevor Jenkins (Independent)
    • George Mamouzellos (Independent)
    • Steven Klose (Territory Alliance)
    • Braedon Earley (Ban Fracking Fix Crime Protect Water)

Assessment
It’s always hard to predict the result of an NT election, particularly in the absence of a sitting member. This is a strong area for Labor and they would be the favourite, but it’s not clear what impact the departure of Ken Vowles might have on local Labor support.

2012 result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Ken Vowles Labor 2,019 51.4 +3.6
Steven Klose Country Liberal 1,234 31.4 -7.6
Melanie Ross Greens 676 17.2 +9.3
Informal 77 1.9

2012 two-party-preferred result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Ken Vowles Labor 2,453 64.7 +8.1
Steven Klose Country Liberal 1,339 35.3 -8.1
Exhausted 137 3.5

Booth breakdown
There are two booths in Johnston: Millner in the west and Moil in the east. Labor polled 62% of the two-candidate-preferred vote in Moil and 67% in Millner.

The Greens vote ranged from 16.6% in Moil to 18.6% in Millner.

Voter group GRN % ALP 2PP % Total votes % of votes
Millner 18.6 67.0 821 20.9
Moil 16.6 62.2 1,045 26.6
Other votes 21.5 64.7 717 18.2
Pre-poll 14.6 65.2 1,346 34.3