ALP 15.5%
Incumbent MP
Joel Bowden, since 2020.
Geography
North Darwin. Johnston covers the suburbs of Millner and Moil, along with parts of Alawa and Coconut Grove, to the north of the airport.
Redistribution
Johnston lost part of Alawa to Casuarina and gained part of Coconut Grove from Fannie Bay. These changes reduced the margin (based on the 2016 election) from 15.7% to 15.5%.
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.
Labor candidate Joel Bowden narrowly won the seat of Johnston at a February 2020 by-election.
Candidates
- Aiya Goodrich Carttling (Greens)
- Joel Bowden (Labor)
- Gary Haslett (Country Liberal)
- Joshua Thomas (Independent)
- Steven Klose (Territory Alliance)
Assessment
This seat was very close at the 2020 by-election. It could be close again at the general election, although Territory Alliance might be focusing its attention on other seats which may give Bowden an easier chance to retain his seat for a full term.
2016 result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| Ken Vowles | Labor | 2,019 | 51.4 | +3.6 | 53.0 |
| Steven Klose | Country Liberal | 1,234 | 31.4 | -7.6 | 30.6 |
| Melanie Ross | Greens | 676 | 17.2 | +9.3 | 14.9 |
| Others | 1.4 | ||||
| Informal | 77 | 1.9 |
2016 two-party-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| Ken Vowles | Labor | 2,453 | 64.7 | +8.1 | 65.5 |
| Steven Klose | Country Liberal | 1,339 | 35.3 | -8.1 | 34.5 |
2020 by-election result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Joel Bowden | Labor | 983 | 29.9 | -21.5 |
| Steven Klose | Territory Alliance | 728 | 22.1 | +22.1 |
| Aiya Goodrich Carttling | Greens | 565 | 17.2 | 0.0 |
| Josh Thomas | Country Liberal | 536 | 16.3 | -15.1 |
| Braedon Earley | Ban Fracking | 343 | 10.4 | +10.4 |
| Trevor Jenkins | Independent | 80 | 2.4 | +2.4 |
| George Mamouzellos | Independent | 57 | 1.7 | +1.7 |
| Informal | 123 | 3.6 |
2020 by-election two-candidate-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Joel Bowden | Labor | 1,731 | 52.6 | |
| Steven Klose | Territory Alliance | 1,561 | 47.4 |
Booth breakdown
Johnston contains two polling places: Moil and Millner. A small number of votes from the Nightcliff booth were moved into Johnston in the redistribution. Pre-poll also made up 34% of the vote in 2016 and 45% in 2020.
Labor won a sizeable majority of the two-party-preferred vote at every booth at the general election.
At the 2020 by-election, Labor topped the poll in every area, with TA coming second.
2016 booth breakdown
| Voter group | GRN prim % | ALP 2PP % | Total votes | % of votes |
| Pre-poll | 12.1 | 66.2 | 1,475 | 34.2 |
| Moil | 16.6 | 62.2 | 1,045 | 24.2 |
| Millner | 18.6 | 67.0 | 821 | 19.0 |
| Other votes | 17.3 | 65.6 | 808 | 18.7 |
| Nightcliff | 0.0 | 73.4 | 161 | 3.7 |
2020 by-election booth breakdown
| Voter group | CLP prim % | TA prim % | ALP prim % | Total votes | % of votes |
| Pre-poll | 16.7 | 22.3 | 31.2 | 1,495 | 45.4 |
| Moil | 15.7 | 23.0 | 26.8 | 964 | 29.3 |
| Millner | 15.7 | 21.0 | 31.3 | 687 | 20.9 |
| Other votes | 18.5 | 19.9 | 30.1 | 146 | 4.4 |
Ben, Great commentary and analysis. You could add history under previous names, in this case Jingili as it was held by Paul Everingham the Chief Minister. Some of the other seats have similar histories pre current names. Keep up the good work.