1983 Western Australian state election
Appearance
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All 57 seats in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly and 18 (of the 34) seats to the Western Australian Legislative Council 29 Assembly seats were needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Elections were held in the state of Western Australia on 19 February 1983 to elect all 57 members to the Legislative Assembly and 18 members to the 34-seat Legislative Council.
The three-term Liberal-National Country coalition government, led by Premier Ray O'Connor since 25 January 1982 (after the retirement of Sir Charles Court) was defeated by the Labor Party, led by Opposition Leader Brian Burke since 10 September 1981.
Results
[edit]Legislative Assembly
[edit]
Western Australian state election, 19 February 1983 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Enrolled voters | 744,986[1] | |||||
Votes cast | 663,153 | Turnout | 87.93% | +2.66% | ||
Informal votes | 18,799 | Informal | 2.83% | –0.69% | ||
Summary of votes by party | ||||||
Party | Primary votes | % | Swing | Seats | Change | |
Labor | 342,536 | 53.16% | +7.21% | 32 | + 9 | |
Liberal | 256,846 | 39.86% | –3.89% | 20 | – 6 | |
National Country[2] | 22,148 | 3.44% | –0.86% | 3 | ± 0 | |
National[2] | 10,767 | 1.67% | –1.29% | 2 | – 1 | |
Democrats | 5,178 | 0.80% | –1.16% | 0 | ± 0 | |
Socialist | 905 | 0.14% | –0.12% | 0 | ± 0 | |
Other parties | 5,974 | 0.93% | +0.75% | 0 | ± 0 | |
Independent | 3,229 | 0.50% | –0.15% | 0 | ± 0 | |
Total | 644,354 | 57 | ||||
Two-party-preferred | ||||||
Labor | 350,996 | 53.74% | +4.71% | |||
Liberal/NCP | 302,100 | 46.26% | –4.71% |
Notes:
- 1 754,226 electors were enrolled to vote at the election, but one seat, Narrogin, held by the National Country Party's Peter Jones and representing 9,239 electors, was held unopposed.
- 2 The National Country Party (NCP) and the National Party (NP) were two separate parties, the former in coalition with the Liberal Party, the latter an independent party which had split from the NCP on 10 August 1978.
Legislative Council
[edit]
Western Australian state election, 19 February 1983[1] | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Enrolled voters | 754,225 | |||||
Votes cast | 671,102 | Turnout | 88.98% | +0.57% | ||
Informal votes | 24,962 | Informal | 3.72% | –0.66% | ||
Summary of votes by party | ||||||
Party | Primary votes | % | Swing | Seats won |
Seats held | |
Labor | 327,129 | 50.63% | +5.85% | 7 | 13 | |
Liberal | 268,626 | 41.57% | –5.93% | 9 | 19 | |
National Country[2] | 20,553 | 3.18% | –0.64% | 0 | 0 | |
National[2] | 20,336 | 3.15% | –0.28% | 1 | 1 | |
Democrats | 9,356 | 1.45% | +1.45% | 0 | 0 | |
Other parties | 0 | 0.00% | –0.47% | 0 | 0 | |
Total | 646,140 | 17 | 34 | |||
Two-party-preferred | ||||||
Labor | 341,236 | 52.81% | +5.17% | |||
Liberal/NCP | 304,904 | 47.19% | –5.17% |
Seats changing parties
[edit]Seat | Pre-1983 | Swing | Post-1983 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Member | Margin | Margin | Member | Party | ||||
Bunbury | Liberal | John Sibson | 1.3 | 4.0 | 2.7 | Phil Smith | Labor | ||
Mandurah | Liberal | notional | N/A | N/A | 0.3 | John Read | Labor | ||
Mount Marshall | National Country | Ray McPharlin | 10.8* | 16.5 | 5.7** | Bill McNee | Liberal | ||
Mundaring | Liberal | Tom Herzfeld | 3.5 | 3.6 | 0.1 | Gavan Troy | Labor | ||
Pilbara | Liberal | Brian Sodeman | 1.6 | 19.1 | 17.5 | Pam Buchanan | Labor | ||
Scarborough | Liberal | Ray Young | 6.2 | 11.9 | 5.7 | Graham Burkett | Labor | ||
Whitford | Liberal | Mick Nanovich | 8.3 | 16.0 | 7.7 | Pam Beggs | Labor |
- Members listed in italics did not contest their seat at this election.
- * figure is vs. Liberal
- ** figure is vs. National (NP)
Post-election pendulum
[edit]Liberal/NCP seats (23) | |||
Marginal | |||
Dale | Cyril Rushton | LIB | 0.06% |
Murchison-Eyre | Peter Coyne | LIB | 1.3% |
Subiaco | Tom Dadour | LIB | 1.6% |
Albany | Leon Watt | LIB | 2.3% |
Mount Lawley | Ray O'Connor | LIB | 3.4% |
Murdoch | Barry MacKinnon | LIB | 4.0% |
Clontarf | Tony Williams | LIB | 4.2% |
South Perth | Bill Grayden | LIB | 4.5% |
Mount Marshall | Bill McNee | LIB | 5.7% v NAT |
Karrinyup | Jim Clarko | LIB | 5.9% |
Fairly safe | |||
Cottesloe | Bill Hassell | LIB | 6.3% |
Darling Range | George Spriggs | LIB | 6.6% |
Murray-Wellington | John Bradshaw | LIB | 8.2% |
East Melville | Anthony Trethowan | LIB | 8.9% |
Floreat | Andrew Mensaros | LIB | 9.6% |
Safe | |||
Kalamunda | Ian Thompson | LIB | 10.1% |
Gascoyne | Ian Laurance | LIB | 11.8% |
Moore | Bert Crane | NCP | 13.3% v LIB |
Nedlands | Richard Court | LIB | 14.1% |
Vasse | Barry Blaikie | LIB | 14.2% |
Greenough | Reg Tubby | LIB | 21.2% |
Katanning-Roe | Dick Old | NCP | 32.1% |
Narrogin | Peter Jones | NCP | Unopp |
National seats (2) | |||
Stirling | Matt Stephens | NAT | 6.1% v LIB |
Merredin | Hendy Cowan | NAT | 15.0% v NCP |
Opinion polling
[edit]Date | Primary vote | Leader's approval rating | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Labor | Liberal-NCP | Labor | Liberal | |
February–April 1981 | 44 | 48 | 39 | 47 |
June–August 1981 | 49 | 42 | 37 | 51 |
18 September 1981 | Brian Burke replaces Ron Davies as leader of the Labor Party | |||
September–November 1981 | 51 | 39 | 33 | 47 |
December 1981–January 1982 | 46 | 46 | 39 | 63 |
21 January 1982 | Ray O'Connor replaces Charles Court as leader of the Liberal Party | |||
February–April 1982 | 51 | 42 | 52 | 50 |
May–June 1982 | 49 | 44 | 54 | 59 |
July–August 1982 | 51 | 44 | 56 | 63 |
September–October 1982 | 48 | 42 | 54 | 62 |
November–December 1982 | 47 | 48 | 58 | 61 |
19 February 1983 election | 53.8 | 44.2 | — | — |
See also
[edit]- Candidates of the 1983 Western Australian state election
- Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, 1980–1983
- Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, 1983–1986
References
[edit]- ^ "Results for".
- ^ Hamilton, John (1988). Burkie: A biography of Brian Burke. St. George Books. p. 217. ISBN 0867780363.