The sitting MPs in Labor's only two Northern Territory electorates have retained their seats in a result regarded as a surprise given the coalition's election win.
There were predictions Darwin-based Solomon MP Luke Gosling and veteran Lingiari MP Warren Snowdon would win in very tight contests, but that was based on the expected nationwide swing towards Labor that didn't transpire.
Country Liberal candidate Kathy Ganley did cut into Mr Gosling's 6.1 per cent margin from the last election with a 3.8 per cent swing to her but it wasn't enough.
When asked how he had won his Darwin seat when Labor could not win government, Mr Gosling said he believed he had run a positive campaign that included policies while Ms Ganley had ran a scare campaign relating to the indebted NT Labor government.
Solomon has spent more time in Liberal than Labor hands,
"I'm really proud of the vision we put out for our country about the future; no doubt it was difficult when you're faced with not much policy and a lot of scare campaigns," he told reporters at a party function in Darwin.
"I just put our result down to the great volunteers, the fact that for years and years I have been getting out making and myself available to Territorians ... whether it's doorknocking, at roadsides in the morning, or standing up down in Canberra for Territorians."
Ms Ganley also said she was proud of her campaign in a concession speech and attacked Labor for damaging the reputation of the Territory and its right to self-government because "it could not spend within its means".
Snowdon, who has been an NT federal MP for all but two of the past 32 years held on to Lingiari, which includes Alice Springs and the rest of the Northern Territory excluding Darwin.
High-profile CLP candidate Jacinta Price, a Celtic-Aboriginal woman, had enjoyed a 4.5 per cent swing, leaving Mr Snowdon with a 3.7 per cent margin.
Australian Associated Press
