Editing Clare Martin (section)

==Term as Chief Minister==
Martin faced her first electoral test as leader at the [[2001 Northern Territory legislative election|2001]] election. At the time, the Country Liberal Party had held office for 27 years, and Labor had never come particularly close to government.  Indeed, it had never managed to win more than nine seats at any election. 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 then-Chief Minister [[Denis Burke (Australian politician)|Denis Burke]], such as the decision to preference [[One Nation (Australia)|One Nation]] over the ALP – which lost the CLP a number of votes in crucial Darwin seats.  The election also came during a bad time for the federal Coalition government, which was under fire for introducing a [[Goods and Services Tax (Australia)|GST]] after previously vowing not to do so.

Despite this, most commentators were predicting the CLP would be returned for a ninth term in government, albeit with a reduced majority. However, in a shock result, Labor scored an eight-seat swing, achieving majority government by one seat.  It did so on the strength of an unexpected Labor wave in Darwin.  Labor had gone into the election holding only two seats in the capital—those of Martin and [[Paul Henderson (politician)|Paul Henderson]]—and had never held more than two seats in Darwin at any time.  In the 2001 election, however, Labor took all but one seat in Darwin, including all seven seats in the northern part of the city.  Darwin's northern suburbs are somewhat more diverse than the rest of the city.  In the process, they ousted four sitting MLAs; Labor had not unseated a CLP incumbent since 1980.<ref>[[Antony Green|Green, Antony]]. [http://www.abc.net.au/elections/nt/2005/guide/summary.htm 2005 election summary]. [[ABC News (Australia)|ABC News]], 15 April 2005.</ref> Although the CLP won a bare majority of the two-party vote, Labor's gains in Darwin were enough to make Martin the first ALP and first female Chief Minister in the history of the Northern Territory.  Martin herself was reelected with a healthy swing of 9.2 percent in Fannie Bay, turning it into a safe Labor seat in one stroke.

As Chief Minister, Martin immediately set about making changes, repealing the territory's controversial mandatory sentencing laws,<ref name="smh"/> and introducing [[freedom of information legislation]], which had been neglected during the CLP's 27-year rule. {{Citation needed|date=July 2007}}

===Aboriginal issues===
Although Martin appointed [[Indigenous Australians|Aboriginal]] Territorians to her cabinet, she has been criticised for not improving the lot of her Aboriginal constituents, who on average have a life expectancy well below that of white Australians. A respected commentator in ''[[The Bulletin (Australian periodical)|The Bulletin]]'' suggested that she had gone slow on Aboriginal issues because she feared a white backlash that could have resulted in her government being toppled.{{Citation needed|date=July 2007}}

The life expectancy of the Northern Territory's Aboriginal citizens did not increase markedly during Martin's administration. {{Citation needed|date=July 2007}} Alcohol abuse continued to be a major issue in Aboriginal communities and third-world diseases like [[trachoma]] could be seen in remote Aboriginal townships.<ref>{{cite journal| url = http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/175_07_011001/taylor/taylor.html| title = eMJA: Taylor, Trachoma in Australia| journal = Medical Journal of Australia| date = 25 September 2001| volume = 175| issue = 7| last1 = Taylor| first1 = Hugh R.| pages = 371–372| doi = 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2001.tb143622.x| pmid = 11700815| s2cid = 46535213| url-access = subscription}}</ref> However, in 2006, Martin rejected accusations by [[John Howard]] and Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister, [[Mal Brough]], that her government had been underfunding Aboriginal communities.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22008970-17001,00.html | title=Clare Martin denies underfunding Aboriginal communities – NEWS.com.au }} {{Dead link|date=June 2012|bot=RjwilmsiBot}}</ref> A summit between the federal and territory governments was proposed by Mal Brough in May 2006, but this was snubbed by Martin.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2006/s1642122.htm| title = Lateline – 18 May 2006: Martin snubs summit| website = [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]]| date = 18 May 2006}}</ref>

Martin was critical of the Federal Government's intervention in Aboriginal communities as announced in 2007. She opposed certain aspects of the intervention such as removal of the permit system. In response, the Federal Government rejected the Territory's argument, saying it was essential to remove artificial barriers to Aboriginal townships that prevent the measures needed to improve living conditions for Indigenous children<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2007/s1973945.htm| title = PM – NT changes stance on Federal Indigenous plan| website = [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]]}}</ref>

===Achievements===
In the longer term, she oversaw the completion of the [[the Ghan|Adelaide-Darwin railway]], which had begun under the [[Denis Burke (Australian politician)|Burke government]], and vowed to resurrect the stalled statehood movement.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au/stateline/nt/content/2003/s862748.htm |title=Stateline Northern Territory |website=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]] |access-date=16 July 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060521201247/http://www.abc.net.au/stateline/nt/content/2003/s862748.htm |archive-date=21 May 2006 |url-status=dead  }}</ref> She also managed to markedly boost the ALP's standing among the electorate, as seen in the [[2003 Katherine by-election]], which saw a major swing to the party.

By 2005, the Northern Territory, under Martin's leadership, had achieved the following:
* the highest economic growth in Australia at 7.2 per cent
* the lowest small business taxes
* record population growth
* the highest building approval rates
*surging house prices and record levels of home ownership.
* Property crime almost halved
* Approval for $1 billion development of Darwin wharf precinct<ref name="smh">{{cite news| url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/The-race-is-on/2005/06/16/1118869048130.html | work=The Sydney Morning Herald | title=The race is on | date=17 June 2005}}</ref>

As Chief Minister, Martin led the ALP to the [[2005 Northern Territory legislative election|2005 election]], which was their first as an incumbent government in the Territory. Martin campaigned largely on law and order issues. It was predicted that the ALP would win a relatively narrow victory.  However, in a result that had not been predicted by any commentators or even the most optimistic Labor observers, Martin led the ALP to a smashing victory.  The final result gave 19 seats to the ALP, 4 to the opposition CLP and 2 to independents. The ALP won six seats from the CLP, four of which they had never won before in any election.  Two of them were in [[Palmerston, Northern Territory|Palmerston]], an area where Labor had never previously come close to winning.  In the most unexpected victory of all, the ALP even managed to unseat the [[Opposition Leader of the Northern Territory|Opposition Leader]] and former Chief Minister, Burke, in his own Palmerston-area electorate.  Labor won the second-largest majority government in the history of the Territory, bettered only by the CLP's near-sweep of the Legislative Assembly at the first elections, in 1974.

On 10 September 2007, [[Premier of Queensland|Queensland Premier]] [[Peter Beattie]] announced he would leave politics that week. This left Martin as Labor's longest-serving current state or territory leader, and as the longest-serving state or territory head of government in Australia, until she herself announced her resignation on 26 November 2007.

===Resignation===
On 26 November 2007, Clare Martin and her deputy [[Syd Stirling]] announced their resignations at a media conference in Darwin.<ref>Murdoch, Lindsay: [http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/clare-martin-and-deputy-quit/2007/11/26/1195975915525.html Clare Martin and deputy quit], ''[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]'', 26 November 2007.</ref> Education Minister [[Paul Henderson (politician)|Paul Henderson]] was elected as the new leader and Chief Minister by the ALP caucus.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20071128102603/http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/11/26/2101345.htm Henderson confirmed as new NT Chief Minister], [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]], 26 November 2007.</ref>