New South Wales state election, 1991

New South Wales state election, 1991

1988 ← 25 May 1991 (1991-05-25) → 1995

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 Nick Greiner Bob Carr Party Liberal/National coalition Labor Leader since 15 March 1983 6 April 1988 Leader's seat Ku-ring-gai Maroubra Last election 59 seats 43 seats Seats won 49 seats 46 seats Seat change 10 3 Percentage 44.68% 39.05% Swing 4.87 0.56

Premier before election Nick Greiner Liberal/National coalition Resulting Premier Nick Greiner Liberal/National coalition

Elections to the 50th Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday 25 May 1991. All seats in the Legislative Assembly and half the seats in the Legislative Council were up for election. The Liberal-National Coalition government of Premier Nick Greiner, which enjoyed a considerable majority following their landslide win at the 1988 election, was seeking a second term in office against new Labor Opposition Leader Bob Carr.

The government had reduced the number of lower house seats from 109 to 99 for the 1991 election, reversing an increase approved by the Unsworth Labor government.

Background

The 1988 election generated a two-party preferred swing to the Coalition of 8.4% and saw the Labor Party record its lowest primary vote in half a century. This was a clear rejection of the Unsworth Government, although it was less clear whether the electorate was endorsing the full range of Coalition policies. Qualms about the meaning of its mandate were clearly of little concern to the new Government under Nick Greiner which immediately began introducing wide ranging reforms to the New South Wales public sector.

The finance and administration of all government trading enterprises was put on a more commercial basis, with standard rates of return on capital set and separate community service obligations for specific public funding identified. There were major expenditure cuts and dramatic price increases in education, public transport and electricity. The Government spoke of New South Wales living beyond its means, introduced new user-pay charges, proposed the sale of underused public assets to help pay State debt and flagged the use of private capital to build public infrastructure. It was a radical agenda at the time, but a package of reforms that would become standard across Australia over the next decade.

The Government implemented “truth in sentencing” laws which required judges to set minimum terms for convicted criminals and abolished time off for good behaviour in gaol. Responding to the corruption allegations that had regularly swirled around New South Wales politics, the Government also created a standing royal commission, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), as an independent body to investigate allegations of corruption and maladministration.

The Government attracted most controversy over changes to education and the confrontational style of Education Minister Terry Metherell. There were major cutbacks in teaching and ancillary staff, closures of schools and an increase in class sizes and the number of composite classes. The Government dezoned State schools, allowing parents to enrol their children outside of the local district, and allowed the creation of new selective and specialist high schools.

The Labor Opposition initially struggled in the face of the Government’s rapidly moving agenda. Ten Ministers had either retired or been defeated at the 1988 election and the former Environment and Planning Minister Bob Carr had reluctantly accepted the Party Leadership. The Opposition had some encouraging results at by-elections as the Government’s new taxes and charges began to bite. Labor made important gains at the March 1990 Federal election, but the electoral position had been reversed by the end of the year.

The economic recession of the early-1990s hit the State’s finances, but New South Wales was substantially better off than interstate Labor administrations that had accumulated debt and gambled on failed commercial ventures. The hard medicine introduced by the Greiner Government was unpopular, but it was becoming apparent that New South Wales was in a better position as a result of the financial changes. The surprise resignation of Metherell over tax charges in July 1990 provided a boost for the Government by removing its most controversial Minister. Opinion polls showed the Government trailing by seven points in March 1990 but 15 points ahead in December. The Government was now well placed for an early election and keen to avoid the opprobrium of another tough budget.

The opportunity came with the finalisation of a redistribution in March 1991. The Coalition had promised to cut the size of the Legislative Assembly from 109 to 99 seats, reversing the previous Government’s increase and automatically triggering a redistribution. Without control of the Legislative Council, the Coalition was unable to alter Labor’s projected enrolment quotas, but did insert a new provision in the Constitution Act so that a redistribution could take place after one term if more than one-quarter of districts differed from the average enrolment by more than 5% for two consecutive months.

The Coalition’s promise to cut the number of MPs was an attempt to overturn what it considered a Labor Party gerrymander. Despite winning 56.0% of the two-party preferred vote in 1988, the Coalition could have lost its majority with a swing of just 1.3%. The redistribution gamble worked in part, as the swing needed for the Government to lose its majority increased to 2.9% on the new boundaries. With the boundaries finalised, an early election was called for 25 May 1991.

The Government campaigned on its record, arguing good financial management had prevented New South Wales suffering the sort of financial collapse caused by interstate Labor Governments. The Labor Party campaigned on those same Government reforms, but concentrated on how the Government’s new taxes and charges had hurt lower to middle income families.

The result was a stalemate. The Coalition recorded 52.7% of the two-party preferred vote, but won only 49 of the 99 seats. Four seats that would normally have been held by the Coalition were won by Independents. Both John Hatton in South Coast and Clover Moore in Bligh were re-elected. They were joined by former National Party member Tony Windsor in Tamworth and local councillor Dr Peter Macdonald in Manly. The Coalition also lost control of the Legislative Council at the election.

Windsor quickly came to an accommodation with the Government, but the three non-aligned Independents used their position to negotiate a comprehensive memorandum of understanding. Signed in October 1991, it was a document that concentrated more on issues of accountability and process rather than specific policies. Most importantly, the agreement introduced fixed four-year Parliamentary terms, a provision entrenched in the Constitution with 76% support at a referendum called in conjunction with the 1995 election.

Coming so close to victory was a shock for the Labor Party, having entered the 1991 election merely hoping to hold what it had and regain traditional Labor seats lost to Independents in 1988. The Coalition was over-confident that perceptions of good economic management would see it re-elected. It ran a presidential campaign that won the overall vote but resulted in the loss of key seats. The Coalition’s best results were in safe Liberal Party seats on Sydney’s North Shore while Labor won the battle in marginal seats.

Labor defeated the four Independents elected to safe Labor seats in 1988, and in addition re-gained Broken Hill, Drummoyne and Port Stephens, seats that on the new boundaries were notionally Coalition held. Former Labor MPs were returned to Parliament in both Cessnock and Bathurst, while the issue of user-pay charges played an important part in Labor gaining both Parramatta and Penrith.

Key dates

Date	Event
3 May 1991	The Legislative Assembly was dissolved, and writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election.[1]
8 May 1991	Nominations for candidates for the election closed at noon.
25 May 1991	Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm.
6 June 1991	The Greiner-Murray Ministry was reconstituted.
28 June 1991	The writ was returned and the results formally declared.
2 July 1991	Parliament resumed for business.

Results

New South Wales state election, 25 May 1991 Legislative Assembly << 1988 — 1995 >>
Enrolled Voters		3,631,618
Votes Cast		3,400,092		Turnout	93.62%	+0.04%
Informal Votes		316,832		Informal	9.32%	+6.04%
Summary of votes by party
Party		Primary Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Labor	1,204,066	39.05%	+0.57%	46	+ 3
	Liberal	1,053,100	34.16%	–1.64%	32	– 7
	National	324,214	10.52%	–3.22%	17	– 3
	Democrats	165,229	5.36%	+3.55%	0	± 0
	Call to Australia	36,807	1.19%	+0.75%	0	± 0
	Country Residents	16,557	0.54%	+0.54%	0	± 0
	Greens NSW	16,556	0.54%	+0.54%	0	± 0
	CEC	5,198	0.17%	+0.17%	0	± 0
	Other parties	5,310	0.17%	–1.39%	0	± 0
	Independent	256,223	8.31%	+0.14%	4	– 3
Total		3,083,260			99
Two-Party Preferred
	Liberal/National	1,540,770	52.47%	–3.31%
	Labor	1,422,826	47.53%	+3.31%

See also

• Candidates of the New South Wales state election, 1991

Notes

1. ^ Parliament of New South Wales. "1991 Election". http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/resources/nswelectionsanalysis/1991/Home.htm. Retrieved 18 February 2010. 

References

• University of Western Australia Australian Government and Politics Database: 1991 New South Wales Assembly Election