Electoral Division of Sanderson

Electoral Division Of Sanderson

Sanderson is an electoral division of the Legislative Assembly in Australia's Northern Territory. It was first created in 1974, and derives its name from the name initially given to the area in 1879, before its division into suburbs. Sanderson is an urban electorate, covering 5.51 km² and taking in the Darwin suburbs of Anula, Marrara, Wulagi and part of Malak. There were 5,110 people enrolled in the electorate as of August 2012.

Sanderson has tended to only change hands at times of major electoral change in the Territory. It was initially won by the Country Liberal Party's Liz Andrew in 1974, when the CLP won all but two seats in the Assembly (both of which went to independents). However, Andrew was defeated by the Australian Labor Party's June D'Rozario when the ALP swept into the Assembly in 1977, taking several seats. D'Rozario served until 1983, when she was defeated in the CLP's landslide victory, and was replaced by Daryl Manzie. Manzie was a popular incumbent, and held the seat relatively easily until his retirement in 2001. Sanderson then reverted to the ALP in 2001, when the party had its first serious electoral swing since 1977 and swept through the seats of suburban Darwin. The seat was targeted by the CLP at the 2005 election as one they hoped to win back, but Kiely had little difficulty winning a second term amidst a massive territory-wide swing to the ALP. He was defeated in 2008 by Peter Styles.