Electoral division of Blain

Blain is an electoral division of the Legislative Assembly in Australia's Northern Territory. It was first created in 1997 and is named after Adair Blain, the second member for the federal Northern Territory electorate, and the only Australian sitting federal MP to ever become a prisoner of war. Blain is an urban electorate, covering 4 km² and taking in Palmerston suburbs of Bellamack and Woodroffe and the suburb of Moulden. There were 5,695 people enrolled within the electorate as of August 2020.

Blain Northern Territory—Legislative Assembly
Interactive map of boundaries as of the 2024 election
Territory	Northern Territory
Created	1997
MP	Matthew Kerle
Party	Country Liberal Party
Namesake	Adair Blain
Electors	5,695 (2020)
Area	4 km2 (1.5 sq mi)
Demographic	Urban
Electorates around Blain: Nelson Drysdale Brennan Darwin Harbour Blain Brennan Darwin Harbour Daly Daly

The current member for Blain is Matthew Kerle, who was elected for the CLP at the 2024 election.

History

For the better part of four decades, Palmerston was reckoned as a bastion of conservatism, and all the seats in the city were usually held by the Country Liberal Party. For the first three decades of its existence, Blain was reckoned as a particularly safe CLP seat even by Palmerston standards, with successive members winning it without serious difficulty. This was further emphasised at the 2005 election, when Blain was one of only four CLP-held seats retained by the party after a landslide victory by the Labor Party, and the only CLP seat in the Darwin/Palmerston area.

Longtime CLP MP and Deputy Chief Minister Barry Coulter, who had represented Palmerston-area electorates since 1983 (Berrimah from 1983 to 1987 and Palmerston from 1987 to 1997) held this seat for the final term of his parliamentary career. He was succeeded by Terry Mills, who became a prominent member of the CLP frontbench after the CLP lost power for the first time in 2001. He eventually became CLP leader from 2003 to 2005, returning to the leadership in 2008. After narrowly losing the 2008 Territory election, he led the CLP to victory in 2012 and became Chief Minister.

Mills was deposed in a party-room coup less than a year later, and Nathan Barrett retained the seat for the CLP at the ensuing by-election despite a 10 percent swing.

Barrett was forced out of politics in 2016 after he sent a lewd video to a constituent. At the 2016 election, the CLP was pushed into third place after its primary vote plummeted to 25 percent, losing more than half of its primary vote from 2012. The seat was nearly swept up in the massive Labor wave that swept through the metropolitan area. However, Mills, contesting his old seat as an independent, narrowly defeated former federal MP Damian Hale to return to the legislature. Mills founded the Territory Alliance party in November 2019, but was defeated at the 2020 election, with Mark Turner winning the seat for Labor.

Members for Blain

Member		Party	Term
	Barry Coulter	Country Liberal	1997–1999
	Terry Mills	Country Liberal	1999–2014
	Nathan Barrett	Country Liberal	2014–2016
		Independent	2016
	Terry Mills	Independent	2016–2019
		Territory Alliance	2019–2020
	Mark Turner	Labor	2020–2021
		Independent Labor	2021–2023
		Independent	2023–2024
	Matthew Kerle	Country Liberal	2024–present

Election results

See also: Electoral results for the division of Blain

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2024 Northern Territory general election § Blain.[edit]

2024 Northern Territory general election: Blain

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Country Liberal	Matthew Kerle	1,895	46.5	+12.9
	Independent	Mark Turner	1,584	38.9	+38.9
	Labor	Danielle Eveleigh	596	14.6	−25.9
Total formal votes			4,075	96.2	−0.1
Informal votes			161	3.8	+0.1
Turnout			4,236	65.8
Two-candidate-preferred result
	Country Liberal	Matthew Kerle	2,106	52.0	+2.2
	Independent	Mark Turner	1,946	48.0	+48.0
	Country Liberal gain from Labor		Swing	+3.3

External links

• Division profile from the Northern Territory Electoral Commission