Created 1983 Electors 5,850 (2016) Founded 1983 Member of parliament Robyn Lambley Party Independent politician | MP Robyn Lambley Demographic Urban Area 192 km² Elector 5,850 (2016) | |
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Namesake Araluen, Northern Territory | ||
Araluen is an electoral division of the Legislative Assembly in Australia's Northern Territory. It was first created in 1983, replacing the electorate of Alice Springs, which had been abolished as part of the enlargement of the Assembly. The electorate covers a 192 km2 (74 sq mi) area to the south and west of Alice Springs, including the Alice Springs CBD, the suburb of Araluen, and some surrounding rural areas. There were 4,817 people enrolled in the electorate as of August 2012.
The city of Alice Springs has traditionally been a strong support base for the conservative Country Liberal Party, and for most of its first 33 years Araluen was one of the CLP's safest seats. In the first three decades of Araluen's existence, the CLP's hold on the seat was only seriously threatened once. In 2001, the retirement of veteran Cabinet minister Eric Poole and two prominent independent candidacies nearly delivered the seat to Labor. New CLP candidate Jodeen Carney only held the seat by 134 votes, making Araluen the CLP's most marginal seat.
Carney proved to be a popular local member, and was one of only four CLP members to be returned amidst the Labor landslide at the 2005 election. She proved to be in the least danger of the CLP's elected members; indeed, she was the only one to actually pick up a swing in her favour. She subsequently served as the territory's Opposition Leader after the election from 2005 until January 2008. Carney was re-elected with nearly 70 per cent of the primary vote at the 2008 election, reverting Araluen to its traditional status as a comfortably safe CLP seat. Carney resigned on 3 September 2010; a by-election to replace her was held on 9 October 2010 which saw Robyn Lambley retain the seat for the CLP. Lambley resigned from the CLP on 18 June 2015 to sit as an independent. She easily retained the seat at the 2016 election.
In 2011, as part of a redistribution, it was proposed to rename the seat to Perkins, in honour of Hetty Perkins, an Arrernte elder. However, the proposal was later abandoned after local opposition.