- New South Wales state election, 1981
-
New South Wales state election, 1981 
1978 ← 19 September 1981 → 1984 All 99 seats in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
and 15 (of the 44) seats in the New South Wales Legislative CouncilFirst party Second party 
Leader Neville Wran Bruce McDonald Party Labor Liberal/National coalition Leader since 17 November 1973 1 June 1981 Leader's seat Bass Hill contested North Shore and lost Last election 63 seats 35 seats Seats won 69 seats 28 seats Seat change 
6
7Percentage 55.73% 38.83%
Premier before election
Elected Premier
Elections were held in the state of New South Wales, Australia, on Saturday 19 September 1981. The result was a second "Wranslide": a landslide victory for the Australian Labor Party under Neville Wran, in which the government increased its already sizeable majority.
The Liberals suffered the double indignity of losing the seat contested by their leader Bruce McDonald to an independent, and of being reduced to the same number of seats in parliament as their ostensible junior coalition partner. In fact it was the second election in a row in which the sitting Liberal leader had failed to be elected to Parliament after Peter Coleman in 1978. Both the Liberals and National Country Party finished with 14 seats.
The election marked another milestone for electoral reform in New South Wales. The allocation of preferences became optional, gerrymandering was eliminated Two further reforms were proposed—and passed—in referendums put to voters on the same day.
Ted Mack, a former mayor of the North Sydney Council, won the Electoral district of North Shore from Opposition Leader Bruce McDonald. John Hatton was re-elected unopposed in the Electoral district of South Coast.
Changes to the process for setting electoral district boundaries took effect at this election: eliminating both partisan gerrymandering and the routine creation of smaller rural seats to boost the share of country representatives in parliament.
Contents
Key dates
Date Event 28 August 1981 The Legislative Assembly was dissolved, and writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election.[1] 3 September 1981 Nominations for candidates for the election closed at noon. 19 September 1981 Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm. 2 October 1981 The fourth Wran Ministry was constituted. 23 October 1981 The writ was returned and the results formally declared. 28 October 1981 Parliament resumed for business. Results
Legislative Assembly
New South Wales state election, 19 September 1981[2][3]
Legislative Assembly
<< 1978 — 1984 >>Enrolled Voters 3,178,225[1] Votes Cast 2,897,033 Turnout 91.15 –1.62 Informal Votes 89,306 Informal 3.08 +0.80 Summary of votes by party Party Primary Votes % Swing Seats Change Labor 1,564,622 55.73 –2.04 69 + 6 Liberal 775,463 27.62 +0.64 14 – 4 National Country 314,841 11.21 +1.31 14 – 3 Democrats 68,252 2.43 –0.22 0 ± 0 Communist 6,150 0.22 –0.08 0 ± 0 Independent 78,399 2.79 +0.55 2 + 1 Total 2,807,727 99 - 1 There were 3,212,657 enrolled voters but 34,432 were enrolled in South Coast (Independent) which was uncontested at the election.
Legislative Council
New South Wales state election, 19 September 1981[4]
Legislative CouncilEnrolled Voters 3,212,657 Votes Cast 2,927,971 Turnout 91.14 –1.63 Informal Votes 200,367 Informal 6.84 +2.79 Summary of votes by party Party Primary Votes % Swing Seats
wonSeats
heldLabor 1,412,426 51.78 –3.13 8 24 Liberal/National Coalition 921,081 33.77 –2.49 5 18 Call to Australia 248,425 9.11 +7.80 1 1 Democrats 109,939 4.03 +1.25 1 1 Environmental Action 18,056 0.66 +0.66 0 0 Australian Republicans 10,184 0.37 +0.37 0 0 Progress 3,121 0.11 +0.11 0 0 Social Democrats 2,512 0.09 +0.09 0 0 Independent 24,786 0.07 –0.83 0 0 Total 2,727,604 15 See also
- Candidates of the New South Wales state election, 1981
References
- ^ Parliament of New South Wales. "1981 Election". http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/resources/nswelectionsanalysis/1981/Home.htm. Retrieved 6 February 2010.
- ^ Australian Government and Politics Database. "Parliament of New South Wales, Assembly election, 19 September 1981". http://elections.uwa.edu.au/elecdetail.lasso?keyvalue=760. Retrieved 6 February 2010.
- ^ Hughes, Colin A. (1986). A handbook of Australian government and politics, 1975-1984. ANU Press. p. 192. ISBN 0-08033-038-X.
- ^ Hughes (1986), p.194.
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Legislative Parliament • Legislative Assembly • Legislative Council • Electoral districts • MPs • MLCs • Speaker of the Legislative Assembly • President of the Legislative Council • Opposition Leader • Shadow CabinetJudicial Categories:- Elections in New South Wales
- 1981 elections in Australia
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