Clare Martin
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Clare Majella Martin (born June 15, 1952) is an Australian politician. A former journalist, she was elected to the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly in a shock by-election win in 1995. She was appointed Opposition Leader in 1999, and won a surprise victory at the 2001 territory election, becoming the first ever Australian Labor Party and first female Chief Minister of the Northern Territory.
Martin was born in the Sydney suburb of Lindfield. Her parents were strong Catholics and passionate Democratic Labor Party supporters. Her uncle, Kevin Cairns, was a Liberal minister and MP in the McMahon government, but the family was not inclined towards his conservative politics.
Martin graduated from the University of Sydney in 1972 with an arts degree, and began working as a reporter for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in Sydney and Canberra. After several years, she began to take an interest in presenting, but was told that she would not be given a position in Sydney unless she had experience elsewhere. Then, in 1983, Martin was then offered a six-month position presenting a morning radio show in Darwin.
She had little intention of staying there, and briefly returned to Canberra at the conclusion of the six months, before being offered a job in Sydney. However, at the same time, Martin's partner was offered a partner's position at the law firm he had worked in in Darwin. He liked living in Darwin and was keen to take up the position, so Martin agreed to decline the Sydney job and return to Darwin. Once back there, she found herself work in a number of small radio roles, then gained another position on a morning show, before moving into television.
Martin had been interested in political journalism for some years, although she was not a member of any party, believing that party affiliation compromises journalistic integrity. Then, in 1994, she was approached to contest the Darwin Legislative Assembly seat of Casuarina for the Australian Labor Party at the 1994 election. However, she was defeated by Country Liberal Party candidate Peter Adamson. She soon resigned from the party and returned to journalism, but when CLP Chief Minister Marshall Perron resigned from his Darwin seat of Fannie Bay, sparking a by-election, she decided to make another attempt to enter parliament. While in some ways the odds of success were even less than in 1994, she rejoined the ALP and successfully gained pre-selection. In one of the largest upsets in the Territory during the 1990s, Martin went on to win the seat by 69 votes, becoming one of only two ALP MLAs in Darwin.
Martin worked hard to retain her seat, and was ultimately successful, holding Fannie Bay despite a heavy defeat for the ALP at the 1997 election. She subsequently served as Shadow Minister for Lands under then-leader Maggie Hickey. When Hickey unexpectedly resigned in February 1999, Martin was in a position to succeed her, and was soon appointed as Opposition Leader. She soon emerged as a vocal critic of the Burke government's policy of mandatory sentencing, and began preparing the ALP for the election, which was then two years away.
Martin faced her first electoral test as leader at the 2001 election. At the time, the Country Liberal Party had held office for the 27 years since self-government, and the Australian Labor Party had never come particularly close to government. However, the ALP was coming off a particularly successful eighteen months, and Martin ran a skilled campaign. She was also able to take advantage of a number of gaffes made by Chief Minister Denis Burke, such as the decision to preference the One Nation Party over the ALP - which lost the CLP a number of votes in crucial Darwin seats. Despite this, most commentators were predicting a close result with the CLP returned. However, in a shock result, the ALP achieved majority government by one seat, and Martin became the first ever ALP and first female Chief Minister in the history of the Northern Territory.
As Chief Minister, Martin immediately set about making changes, repealing the territory's controversial mandatory sentencing laws, and introducing freedom of information legislation, which had been neglected during the CLP's 27-year rule. In the longer term, she oversaw the completion of the Adelaide-Darwin railway, which had begun under the Burke government, and vowed to resurrect the stalled statehood movement. She also managed to markedly boost the ALP's standing amongst the electorate, as seen in the 2003 Katherine by-election, which saw a major swing to the party.
As Chief Minister, Martin led the ALP to the 2005 election, which was their first as an incumbent government in the Territory. Martin campaigned largely on law and order issues which, while popular with marginal voters, were not necessarily popular with her constituency. It was widely predicted that the ALP would win a relatively narrow victory, but virtually no one predicted the size of her ultimate landslide victory. While the exact numbers are still unclear, as of June 19, it appears likely that Martin has overseen the largest landslide in the electoral history of the Territory, including unseating the Opposition Leader, Denis Burke, in the most unexpected victory of all. As a result of her victory at the election, Martin will most likely remain Chief Minister until at least 2009, as she has committed to serving out a full term. It was suggested during the campaign that Martin may enter federal politics at the completion of this term.
Martin and her partner have a son and a daughter.
| Preceded by: Maggie Hickey | Opposition Leader of the Northern Territory 1999–2001 | Succeeded by: Denis Burke |
| Preceded by: Denis Burke | Chief Minister of the Northern Territory 2001–present | Succeeded by: Incumbent |