The
Northern Territory Legislative Council was the partly elected governing body of the
Northern TerritoryThe Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
of
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
from 1947 until its replacement by the fully elected
Northern Territory Legislative AssemblyThe Northern Territory Legislative Assembly is the unicameral parliament of the Northern Territory in Australia. It sits in Parliament House, located on State Square, close to the centre of the city of Darwin.-History:...
in 1974.
Prior to 1947, there had been several attempts by sections of the Northern Territory population to introduce a self-governing body for the region. In 1943, the
Minister for External AffairsIn the Government of Australia, the Minister for Foreign Affairs is responsible for overseeing the international diplomacy section of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. In common with international practice, the office is often informally referred to as Foreign Minister...
, HV Evatt (who at that time had responsibility for the Northern Territory) recommended the foundation of a Legislative Council, arguing that Northern Territorians should have the same self-governing rights as those living in Australian administered
New GuineaNew Guinea, located north of Australia, is the world's second largest island. It became separated from the Australian mainland when the area now known as the Torres Strait flooded after the last glacial period. The name Papua has long been associated with the island...
.
In 1947,
Prime MinisterThe Prime Minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia, holding office on commission from the Governor-General. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful political office in Australia...
Ben ChifleyJoseph Benedict Chifley , Australian politician and 16th Prime Minister of Australia, was one of Australia's most influential Prime Ministers...
government created a 13 member Legislative Council consisting of six elected members and seven nominated by the federal government, including the
Administrator of the Northern TerritoryIn accordance with the provisions of the Northern Territory Act 1978 , the Northern Territory received self-government on 1 July 1978 under its own Administrator of the Northern Territory appointed by the Governor-General of Australia...
, who held both deliberative and casting votes.
The
Northern Territory Legislative Council was the partly elected governing body of the
Northern TerritoryThe Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
of
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
from 1947 until its replacement by the fully elected
Northern Territory Legislative AssemblyThe Northern Territory Legislative Assembly is the unicameral parliament of the Northern Territory in Australia. It sits in Parliament House, located on State Square, close to the centre of the city of Darwin.-History:...
in 1974.
Prior to 1947, there had been several attempts by sections of the Northern Territory population to introduce a self-governing body for the region. In 1943, the
Minister for External AffairsIn the Government of Australia, the Minister for Foreign Affairs is responsible for overseeing the international diplomacy section of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. In common with international practice, the office is often informally referred to as Foreign Minister...
, HV Evatt (who at that time had responsibility for the Northern Territory) recommended the foundation of a Legislative Council, arguing that Northern Territorians should have the same self-governing rights as those living in Australian administered
New GuineaNew Guinea, located north of Australia, is the world's second largest island. It became separated from the Australian mainland when the area now known as the Torres Strait flooded after the last glacial period. The name Papua has long been associated with the island...
.
In 1947,
Prime MinisterThe Prime Minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia, holding office on commission from the Governor-General. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful political office in Australia...
Ben ChifleyJoseph Benedict Chifley , Australian politician and 16th Prime Minister of Australia, was one of Australia's most influential Prime Ministers...
government created a 13 member Legislative Council consisting of six elected members and seven nominated by the federal government, including the
Administrator of the Northern TerritoryIn accordance with the provisions of the Northern Territory Act 1978 , the Northern Territory received self-government on 1 July 1978 under its own Administrator of the Northern Territory appointed by the Governor-General of Australia...
, who held both deliberative and casting votes. The Council could "make Ordinances for the peace, order and good government of the Territory" but could be vetoed by the federal government and had no authority over money matters.
The total enrolment for the 1947 election was 4443, all of whom were white. The Territory was split into five electorates: Darwin, Alice Springs, Tennant Creek, Batchelor and Stuart (see Table for further information).
| Electorate |
Area |
Enrolment |
Members |
| Darwin |
DarwinDarwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 120,652, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities...
and surrounds |
2080 |
2 |
| Alice Springs |
Alice Springs and surrounds |
735 |
1 |
| Tennant Creek |
Tennant Creek and surrounds |
300 |
1 |
| Batchelor |
All area north of latitude 20 degrees The 20th parallel south is a circle of latitude that is 20 degrees south of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses the Atlantic Ocean, Africa, the Indian Ocean, Australasia, the Pacific Ocean and South America....
excluding Darwin |
915 |
1 |
| Stuart Stuart is an electoral division of the Legislative Assembly in Australia's Northern Territory. Named after explorer John McDouall Stuart, it was initially created in 1947 as one of the five inaugural electoral divisions of the Northern Territory Legislative Council...
|
All area south of latitude 20 degrees The 20th parallel south is a circle of latitude that is 20 degrees south of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses the Atlantic Ocean, Africa, the Indian Ocean, Australasia, the Pacific Ocean and South America....
excluding Alice Springs and Tennant Creek |
413 |
1 |
There were redistributions in 1959 (increasing the number of electorates to eight), 1962, 1965 and 1968 (eleven electorates).
Every candidate at the 1947 election was an independent and it was not until the 1951 election that the
Country PartyThe National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing rural voters, it was originally called the Country Party, but adopted the name National Country Party in 1975 and changed to its present name in 1982...
became the first political party to stand a candidate. Later the
Australian Labor PartyThe Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party.Known as the ALP for short, the party is the current governing party of Australia, since the 2007 federal election...
ran candidates and usually returned between two and four members at each election, while the North Australia Party formed in 1965 and elected Tony Greatorex, who then joined the Country Party.
Legislative Council members continued to oppose the federal government's reluctance to grant them more power. The Government believed that the Northern Territory needed to be self-supporting before greater powers could be given. This stand-off led to the elected members resigning their seats enmasse in protest in April 1958. They were all re-elected at subsequent by-elections, leading to a promise from the federal government of a new structure encompassing eight elected members, six government appointees and three nominees to be drawn from outside the public service.
In 1962, indigenous people first gained the franchise to vote in Territory elections, although none sat on Council throughout its existence. Previous to this, the only non-white people eligible to vote were
MāoriThe Māori are the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand . The group probably arrived in southwestern Polynesia in several waves at some time before 1300...
.
Further reforms were made in 1965, when the Administrator was replaced by an elected Council President, and in 1968 when the three non-government nominees were replaced by 3 further elected members. However, the Commonwealth still held the right of veto.
In 1973, the
Gough WhitlamEdward Gough Whitlam, AC, QC , known as Gough Whitlam , is a former Australian politician, representing the New South Wales seat of Werriwa, and 21st Prime Minister of Australia....
led federal Labor government formed a joint committee of parliament to consider the establishment of a Legislative Assembly in the Northern Territory and as a response, the Legislative Council was abolished to make way for a fully elected Legislative Assembly, which held its first election in
1974The first general election for the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly was held in the Northern Territory on Saturday 19 October 1974, and was won by the incumbent Country Liberal Party ....
.