Electoral Division of Katherine

Electoral Division Of Katherine

Katherine is an electoral division of the Legislative Assembly in Australia's Northern Territory. The electorate was first created in 1987 and derives its name from the Katherine River. Katherine encompasses both urban and rural areas, covering an area of 7,428 km² and taking in the city of Katherine, as well as the Tindal RAAF Base and the Binjari Aboriginal Community. There were 5,184 people enrolled in the electorate as of August 2012. The city of Katherine has always been a conservative bastion, making the seat of the same name traditionally a very safe Country Liberal Party seat. Despite this, the seat saw a very large swing to the Australian Labor Party at the 2005 election, surprising commentators on election night. In the end, however, while she was re-elected with a much smaller majority, incumbent member Fay Miller proved to be in the least danger of all the sitting CLP members. She retired in 2008 and was replaced by Willem Westra van Holthe, also of the CLP.