Editing Clare Martin (section)

==Political career==
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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.<ref name="asn" /> In 1994, she was approached to contest the [[Darwin, Northern Territory|Darwin]] [[Northern Territory Legislative Assembly|Legislative Assembly]] seat of [[Electoral division of Casuarina|Casuarina]] for the [[Australian Labor Party (Northern Territory Branch)|Labor Party]] at the [[1994 Northern Territory general election|1994 election]]. However, she was defeated by [[Country Liberal Party]] candidate [[Peter Adamson (Australian politician)|Peter Adamson]]. She soon resigned from the party and returned to journalism, but when former CLP Chief Minister [[Marshall Perron]] resigned from his Darwin seat of [[Electoral division of Fannie Bay|Fannie Bay]], Martin opted to contest the ensuing by-election as the Labor candidate.  Fannie Bay, like most Darwin electorates, had been a CLP stronghold; Perron held it with a majority of 8 percent.  However, in a considerable upset, 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 at the [[1997 Northern Territory general election|1997 election]], and was successful, holding Fannie Bay despite a heavy defeat for the ALP. 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 elected party leader, and hence Opposition Leader. She soon emerged as a vocal critic of the [[Denis Burke (Australian politician)|Burke]] government's policy of [[mandatory sentencing]], and began preparing the ALP for the next election, which was then two years away.