Solomon
On a Roll
Marginal Country Liberal, 2.8%
Solomon is a semi-urban/provincial electorate that takes in the city and suburbs of Darwin and the satellite town of Palmerston. David Tollner has held the seat for the Country Liberal Party since it was created in 2001, when he looked a goose after arriving at a polling booth, cameras in tow, only to discover he wasn’t on the electoral roll. Before the last election, Solomon was the Coalition’s most marginal seat, but Tollner achieved a swing in his favour of 2.7 per cent, despite – or perhaps because of – some colourful incidents during his first term.
It was originally thought that population changes would mean the Northern Territory would end up with just one seat in 2004, but Labor and the Coalition intervened and rewrote the rules. They consequently have a seat each in the Top End.
Labor’s vote in Territory elections is now stronger in Darwin than it is in the rural areas that make up the NT’s other seat, Lingiari. If Labor can harvest some of that support in the Darwin mortgage belt at federal level then the 2.8 per cent swing needed to take Solomon looks easily achievable for their candidate, Damien Hale. It’s another seat that Labor needs to win.
Declared Candidates
- Trudy Campbell, Citizens Electoral Council
- Damien Hale, Australian Labor Party
- Deborah Hudson, Greens
- Dave Tollner, CLP - The Territory Party
2 PARTY PREFERRED BOOTH SWINGS 2004 ELECTION
2 PARTY PREFERRED VOTE BY BOOTH 2004 ELECTION
LEGEND:
Blue: Country Liberals
Red: Labor
Size of figure reflects the number of votes cast at booth
