Labor swing in the NT may see Giles lose seat

The Northern Territory’s Chief Minister Adam Giles is in a precarious position in the lead up to the 27 August election with a poll predicting a 20-point swing against the Country Liberal Party (CLP).

Chief Minister Adam Giles will face a battle for his seat of Braitling in the upcoming Northern Territory election Source: AAP

The seat of Braitling may be up for grabs with Adam Giles sitting only 5 points ahead of Labor in the primary vote, according to an independent poll conducted by MediaReach and commissioned by the NT News.

A spokesman from MediaReach claimed that Braitling “is no longer a safe seat and Giles can’t expect to just walk into it the way he has in the past.”

The result may come down to preferences on the election night, with 20 per cent of those surveyed still undecided.

The results for Braitling come on the back of a significant swing towards the Labor party, sitting at 64 per cent to the CLP’s 36 on a two party preferred basis. Growing support for the Labor party in the Alice Springs region and a lack of trust in the CLP’s economic policies has been suggested to have been a strong force behind the swing.

The poll also highlights a lack of faith in the current government’s record on incarceration in the wake of the Don Dale scandal, with 57 per cent of respondents agreeing that the CLP-led government has mismanaged youth detention.

Former Correction Minister John Elferink is strongly disliked by the electorate with over half of the respondents indicating a negative view of him. After losing his portfolio in the wake of the Don Dale revelations, the current Attorney-General will not be seeking re-election.

The poll of nearly 900 respondents was conducted late last week and has a 3 per cent margin of error.  

The Country Liberal Party, which was elected in 2012 under the leadership of Terry Mills, has been led by Adam Giles since 2013. The leadership spill occurred after Mills lost the confidence of the CLP and was ousted by Giles whilst on a trade mission in Japan.

Giles, a Kamilaroi man, became the first Indigenous person to head the government of an Australian state or territory.

All 25 seats of the Northern Territory’s Legislative Assembly are up for grabs. The CLP originally held 16 seats however four parliamentarians have left the party since the 2012 election reducing them to minority government.