Northern Territory Legislative Assembly

Northern Territory Legislative Assembly
Type
Type	Unicameral
History
Founded	1974
Leadership
Speaker	Kezia Purick, Independent Since 23 October 2012
Structure
Seats	25
Political groups	Government      Labor (18) Opposition      Country Liberal (2) Crossbench      Independent (5)
Elections
Last election	27 August 2016
Meeting place
Parliament House, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
Website
www.nt.gov.au/lant

Government

Opposition

Crossbench

The Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory is the only house of the Parliament of the Northern Territory, Australia. The Legislative Assembly has 25 members each elected for single-member electorates. The voting method changed in February 2016 from full-preferential voting to optional preferential voting. The term of the Legislative Assembly is four years, and elections are on the fourth Saturday in August of the fourth year after the previous election, but can be earlier in the event of a no confidence vote in the Government. The last election for the Legislative Assembly was the 2016 election held on 27 August 2016. The next election is scheduled for 22 August 2020.

Persons who are qualified under the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 to vote for a member for the Northern Territory in the House of Representatives are qualified to vote at an election for the Legislative Assembly. Voting is compulsory for all those over 18 years of age. Since 2004, elections have been conducted by the Northern Territory Electoral Commission, which also organises regular electoral redistributions.

As of the 2016 election the party affiliation of members of the Legislative Assembly were as follows:

In 1978, the Northern Territory was granted limited self-government by the Northern Territory (Administration) Act 1974 (Cth), an Act of the Australian federal parliament. The federal government retains control of certain legislative areas, including Aboriginal land, industrial relations, national parks and uranium mining. For inter-governmental financial purposes the Northern Territory has been regarded by the Commonwealth as a State since 1 July 1988.