1984 New South Wales state election

New South Wales state election, 1984

24 March 1984 (1984-03-24)
All 99 seats in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly and 21 (of the 42) seats in the New South Wales Legislative Council
First party Second party   Leader Neville Wran Nick Greiner Party Labor Liberal/National coalition Leader since 17 November 1973 15 March 1983 Leader's seat Bass Hill Ku-ring-gai Last election 69 seats 28 seats Seats won 58 seats 37 seats Seat change 11 9 Percentage 48.77% 43.00% Swing 6.95 4.16
Premier before election Neville Wran Labor Elected Premier Neville Wran Labor

Elections were held in the state of New South Wales, Australia, on Saturday 24 March 1984. The Labor government led by Neville Wran won a fourth term in office, though with a reduced (if still sizeable) majority and a 7% swing against it.

As the two previous elections each saw the sitting Opposition Leader lose the election and failing to be elected to Parliament, the 1984 election saw Nick Greiner becoming the first Opposition Leader to lose an election and retain his seat since Pat Hills in 1974.

Independents Ted Mack and John Hatton retained their seats of North Shore and South Coast respectively. They were joined on the cross benches by a third independent and Bruce Duncan.

Duncan, a former National Country Party member, withdrew from the party in protest at their change to the National Party of Australia name. He ran on an "Independent Country Party" ticket and won his seat of Lismore.

At a 1981 referendum, voters had approved an increase in the maximum parliamentary term from three years to four.

Key dates

Date	Event
5 March 1984	The Legislative Assembly was dissolved, and writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election.
9 March 1984	Nominations for candidates for the election closed at noon.
24 March 1984	Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm.
5 April 1984	The Wran Ministry was reconstituted.
30 April 1984	The writ was returned and the results formally declared.
1 May 1984	Parliament resumed for business.

Results

Legislative Assembly

See also: Results of the New South Wales state election, 1984 (Legislative Assembly A-K)

See also: Results of the New South Wales state election, 1984 (Legislative Assembly L-Z)

New South Wales state election, 24 March 1984 Legislative Assembly << 1981–1988 >>
Enrolled voters		3,330,350
Votes cast		3,081,226		Turnout	92.52	+1.37
Informal votes		74,316		Informal	2.41	–0.67
Summary of votes by party
Party		Primary votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Labor	1,466,413	48.77	–6.95	58	– 11
	Liberal	1,026,901	34.15	+6.53	23	+ 9
	National	266,095	8.85	–2.37	15	+ 1
	Democrats	85,604	2.85	+0.42	0	± 0
	Ind. Country	25,227	0.84	+0.84	1	+ 1
	Call to Australia	2,347	0.08	+0.08	0	± 0
	Socialist Labour	2,113	0.07	+0.07	0	± 0
	Independent	130,013	4.32	+1.53	3	+ 1
	Other[1]	2,197	0.07	+0.07	0	± 0
Total		3,006,910			99

¹ One candidate each from the Citizens Action, Rainbow, Uninflated and National Action Parties.

Legislative Council

See also: Results of the New South Wales state election, 1984 (Legislative Council)

New South Wales state election, 24 March 1984 Legislative Council
Enrolled voters		3,330,350
Votes cast		3,081,223		Turnout	92.52	+1.38
Informal votes		205,275		Informal	6.66	–0.18
Summary of votes by party
Party		Primary votes	%	Swing	Seats won	Seats held
	Labor	1,348,348	46.88	–4.90	7	24
	Liberal/National Coalition	1,225,519	42.61	+8.84	7	18
	Call to Australia	175,068	6.09	–3.02	1	2
	Democrats	90,634	3.15	–0.88	0	1
	Concerned Citizens	14,036	0.49	+0.49	0	0
	Progress	6,416	0.22	+0.11	0	0
	Silent Majority	3,899	0.14	+0.14	0	0
	Independent	12,028	0.42	+0.35	0	0
Total		2,875,948			15

Post-election pendulum

LIBERAL/NATIONAL SEATS (37)
Marginal
Cronulla	Malcolm Kerr	LIB	0.5%
Byron	Don Beck	NAT	0.8%
Hurstville	Guy Yeomans	LIB	0.9%
Bligh	Michael Yabsley	LIB	1.2%
Wakehurst	John Booth	LIB	1.2%
Murrumbidgee	Adrian Cruickshank	NAT	1.5%
Burwood	Paul Zammit	LIB	1.6%
Miranda	Ron Phillips	LIB	1.8%
Goulburn	Robert Webster	NAT	2.3%
Clarence	Ian Causley	NAT	4.3%
Manly	David Hay	LIB	4.5%
Fairly safe
Camden	John Fahey	LIB	7.2%
Castlereagh	Roger Wotton	NAT	7.3%
Orange	Garry West	NAT	8.0%
Hornsby	Neil Pickard	LIB	9.2%
Upper Hunter	Col Fisher	NAT	9.5%
Safe
Coffs Harbour	Matt Singleton	NAT	11.3%
Gloucester	Leon Punch	NAT	11.9%
Oxley	Bruce Jeffery	NAT	12.7%
Barwon	Wal Murray	NAT	13.0%
Tamworth	Noel Park	NAT	13.4%
Wagga Wagga	Joe Schipp	LIB	14.0%
Eastwood	Jim Clough	LIB	14.8%
Dubbo	Gerry Peacocke	NAT	14.9%
Willoughby	Peter Collins	LIB	15.4%
Davidson	Terry Metherell	LIB	15.5%
Pittwater	Max Smith	LIB	15.5%
Lachlan	Ian Armstrong	NAT	15.9%
Hawkesbury	Kevin Rozzoli	LIB	18.0%
The Hills	Fred Caterson	LIB	18.9%
Lane Cove	John Dowd	LIB	19.2%
Mosman	Phillip Smiles	LIB	19.5%
Northcott	Bruce Baird	LIB	20.0%
Murray	Tim Fischer	NAT	22.6%
Vaucluse	Rosemary Foot	LIB	24.6%
Gordon	Tim Moore	LIB	30.3%
Ku-ring-gai	Nick Greiner	LIB	30.9%
CROSSBENCH SEATS (4)
Wollongong	Frank Arkell	IND	4.2% v ALP
North Shore	Ted Mack	IND	7.7% v LIB
South Coast	John Hatton	IND	26.0% v ALP
Lismore	Bruce Duncan	IND	26.9% v ALP

See also

• Candidates of the New South Wales state election, 1984

References

• University of Western Australia Australian Government and Politics Database: 1984 New South Wales Assembly Election