1973 New South Wales state election
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All 99 seats in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 50 Assembly seats were needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Legislative Assembly after the election | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Elections for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly were held in the state of New South Wales, Australia, on Saturday 17 November 1973. The result was a win for the Liberal-Country Party coalition under Sir Robert Askin, which had been in office since 1965.
Issues
The Legislative Assembly had been enlarged by three members to 99 adding the seats of Woronora, Penrith and Ku-ring-gai.
The election was held just eleven months after the Liberal/Country coalition lost the federal election after 23 years in power. Askin called an early election to take advantage of the increasing economic issues which had been attributed to the Whitlam Labor government.
Leader of the Legislative Council Neville Wran, who would become Premier at the next election moved from the unelected Legislative Council to the Legislative Assembly after the late retirement of Clarrie Earl in the seat of Bass Hill.
Key dates
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 19 October 1973 | The Legislative Assembly was dissolved, and writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election.[1] |
| 25 October 1973 | Nominations for candidates for the election closed at noon. |
| 17 November 1973 | Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm. |
| 3 December 1973 | The sixth Askin-Cutler ministry was constituted. |
| 4 December 1973 | Parliament resumed for business. |
| 7 December 1973 | The writ was returned and the results formally declared. |
Results
The Democratic Labor Party won its only lower house seat at the 1973 election following the Liberal Party's incumbent for the northern Sydney seat of Gordon — Harry Jago failed to nominate in time. Conservative voters were urged to vote for the DLP candidate, Kevin Harrold.
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New South Wales state election, 17 November 1973[2][3] | ||||||
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| Enrolled voters | 2,767,876[1] | |||||
| Votes cast | 2,560,653 | Turnout | 92.51 | -0.75 | ||
| Informal votes | 69,225 | Informal | 2.70 | +0.36 | ||
| Summary of votes by party | ||||||
| Party | Primary votes | % | Swing | Seats | Change | |
| Labor | 1,069,614 | 42.93 | –2.09 | 44 | – 1 | |
| Liberal | 843,325 | 33.85 | –1.89 | 34 | + 2 | |
| Country | 261,504 | 10.48 | +1.83 | 18 | + 1 | |
| Democratic Labor | 148,378 | 5.96 | +2.79 | 1 | + 1 | |
| Australia | 104,821 | 4.21 | +3.15 | 0 | ± 0 | |
| Communist | 838 | 0.03 | –0.06 | 0 | ± 0 | |
| Independent | 63,358 | 2.54 | –3.24 | 2 | ± 0 | |
| Total | 2,491,428 | 99 | ||||
- 1 There were 2,788,733 enrolled voters but 20,857 were enrolled in Broken Hill (Labor) which was uncontested at the election.
Post-election Pendulum
- The results for Coogee was based on the result of the by-election that was held as a result of the decision by the Court of Disputed Returns due to the closeness off the result for the electorate at the 1973 election.
See also
Notes
- ^ Parliament of New South Wales. "1973 Election". Retrieved 6 February 2010.
- ^ Australian Government and Politics Database. "Parliament of New South Wales, Assembly election, 17 November 1973". Retrieved 6 February 2010.
- ^ Hughes, Colin A. (1977). A handbook of Australian government and politics, 1965-1974. ANU Press. p. 108. ISBN 978-0-7081-1340-0.
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