1974 Queensland state election
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All 82 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland 42 Assembly seats were needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Elections were held in the Australian state of Queensland on 7 December 1974[1] to elect the 82 members of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland.[1]
The National-Liberal Coalition won a third consecutive victory under Joh Bjelke-Petersen, and the seventh consecutive victory for the National Party in Queensland, which had renamed itself from the Country Party since the previous election. The Labor Party lost two-thirds of its seats, including that of leader Perc Tucker, its worst showing in an election until 2012 and thus a landslide victory for the Coalition.
Labor was reduced to only 11 seats, leading observers to call Labor's caucus a "cricket team." William Bowe of Crikey wrote that for years, the election stood as "the gold standard for Australian election massacres".[2]
Key dates
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 23 October 1974 | Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen announced the early election date at a news conference.[3] |
| 2 November 1974 | The Legislative Assembly was dissolved.[4] |
| 2 November 1974 | Writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election.[5] |
| 8 November 1974 | Close of nominations. |
| 7 December 1974 | Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm. |
| 23 December 1974 | The Bjelke-Petersen Ministry was reconstituted.[6] |
| 11 January 1975 | The writ was returned and the results formally declared.[7] |
| 3 February 1975 | Deadline for return of the writs. |
| 25 February 1975 | Parliament resumed for business.[8] |
Results
|
Queensland state election, 7 December 1974 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Enrolled voters | 1,186,378 | |||||
| Votes cast | 1,060,910 | Turnout | 89.42% | -2.99% | ||
| Informal votes | 16,742 | Informal | 1.58% | +0.05% | ||
| Summary of votes by party | ||||||
| Party | Primary votes | % | Swing | Seats | Change | |
| Labor | 376,187 | 36.03% | -10.72% | 11 | -22 | |
| Liberal | 324,682 | 31.09% | +8.87% | 30 | +9 | |
| Nationals | 291,088 | 27.88% | +7.88% | 39 | +13 | |
| Independent | 29,582 | 2.83% | -0.49% | 2 | ±0 | |
| Queensland Labor | 19,952 | 1.91% | -5.78% | 0 | ± 0 | |
| Australia | 1,929 | 0.18% | +0.18% | 0 | ±0 | |
| Australian Advancement | 416 | 0.04% | +0.04% | 0 | ±0 | |
| Socialist | 332 | 0.03% | +0.03% | 0 | ±0 | |
| Total | 1,044,168 | 82 | ||||
Seats changing hands
| Seat | Pre-1974 | Swing | Post-1974 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Member | Margin | Margin | Member | Party | ||||
| Albert | Labor | Bill D'Arcy | 4.1 | -14.2 | 10.1 | Ivan Gibbs | National | ||
| Baroona | Labor | Pat Hanlon | 14.1 | -15.8 | 1.7 | Dennis Young | Liberal | ||
| Barron River | Labor | Bill Wood | 3.4 | -4.1 | 0.7 | Martin Tenni | National | ||
| Belmont | Labor | Fred Newton | 14.9 | -18.5 | 3.6 | David Byrne | Liberal | ||
| Belyando | Labor | Eugene O'Donnell | 1.3 | -8.7 | 7.4 | Vince Lester | National | ||
| Brisbane | Labor | Brian Davis | 9.7 | -10.9 | 1.2 | Harold Lowes | Liberal | ||
| Cook | Labor | Bob Scott | 4.2 | -6.8 | 2.6 | Eric Deeral | National | ||
| Everton | Labor | Gerry Jones | 8.3 | -11.0 | 2.7 | Brian Lindsay | Liberal | ||
| Ipswich West | Labor | Vi Jordan | 11.5 | -12.0 | 0.5 | Albert Hales | National | ||
| Isis | Labor | Jim Blake | 8.3 | -12.4 | 4.1 | Lin Powell | National | ||
| Mount Isa | Labor | Alex Inch | 16.4 | -19.9 | 3.5 | Angelo Bertoni | National | ||
| Mourilyan | Labor | Peter Moore | 7.2 | -8.9 | 1.7 | Vicky Kippin | National | ||
| Pine Rivers | Labor | Kenneth Leese | 6.8 | -18.7 | 11.9 | Rob Akers | Liberal | ||
| Redlands | Labor | Ted Baldwin | 5.1 | -14.8 | 9.7 | John Goleby | National | ||
| Salisbury | Labor | Doug Sherrington | 16.7 | -22.1 | 5.4 | Rosemary Kyburz | Liberal | ||
| South Brisbane | Labor | Fred Bromley | 11.0 | -16.0 | 5.0 | Colin Lamont | Liberal | ||
| Stafford | Labor | Roy Harvey | 11.0 | -16.0 | 5.0 | Terry Gygar | Liberal | ||
| Toowoomba North | Labor | Ray Bousen | 14.9 | -17.2 | 2.3 | John Lockwood | Liberal | ||
| Toowoomba South | Labor | Peter Wood | 6.9 | -14.6 | 7.7 | John Warner | National | ||
| Townsville West | Labor | Perc Tucker | 2.2 | -5.8 | 3.6 | Max Hooper | National | ||
| Warrego | Labor | Jack Aiken | 13.4 | -14.4 | 1.0 | Neil Turner | National | ||
| Wynnum | Labor | Edward Harris | 14.5 | -14.6 | 0.1 | Bill Lamond | National | ||
- Members listed in italics did not recontest their seats.
Post-election pendulum
| Labor seats (11) | |||
| Marginal | |||
| Bulimba | Jack Houston | ALP | 1.7% |
| Wolston | Evan Marginson | ALP | 2.3% |
| Bundaberg | Lou Jensen | ALP | 2.5% |
| Sandgate | Harold Dean | ALP | 3.5% |
| Rockhampton | Keith Wright | ALP | 3.6% |
| Nudgee | Jack Melloy | ALP | 4.1% |
| Archerfield | Kevin Hooper | ALP | 5.0% |
| Fairly safe | |||
| Rockhampton North | Les Yewdale | ALP | 6.1% |
| Lytton | Tom Burns | ALP | 6.7% |
| Cairns | Ray Jones | ALP | 7.3% |
| Safe | |||
| Port Curtis | Martin Hanson | ALP | 15.7% |
| Crossbench seats (2) | |||
| Townsville South | Tom Aikens | IND | 5.8 v ALP |
| Mackay | Ed Casey | IND | 20.5 v NAT |
See also
- Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 1972–1974
- Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 1974–1977
- Candidates of the Queensland state election, 1974
- Bjelke-Petersen Ministry
References
- ^ a b "Parliament of Queensland, Legislative Assembly election results for 7 December 1974". Australian Politics and Elections Archive 1856-2018. University of Western Australia. Archived from the original on 10 April 2020. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
- ^ Bowe, William (26 March 2012). "The hole where Queensland Labor used to be". Crikey. Archived from the original on 11 October 2012. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
- ^ "250 will contest poll: Premier tips a 'smashing win' on December 7". The Courier-Mail. 24 October 1974. p. 1.
- ^ "A Proclamation". Queensland Government Gazette. 2 November 1974. p. 247:887.
- ^ "Extraordinary". Queensland Government Gazette. 2 November 1974. p. 247:889.
- ^ "Extraordinary". Queensland Government Gazette. 23 December 1974. p. 247:1629–1632.
- ^ "Notices of Results of General Election". Queensland Government Gazette. 11 January 1975. p. 248:37–51.
- ^ "A Proclamation". Queensland Government Gazette. 23 January 1975. p. 248:249.
| General elections | |
|---|---|
| Local elections | |
| Mayoral elections | |
| Referendums | |
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