New South Wales state election, 1984

New South Wales state election, 1984

1981 ← 24 March 1984 (1984-03-24) → 1988

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 52.4% 47.6%

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, although with a reduced margin and a 7% swing against it.

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.[1]
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

New South Wales state election, 24 March 1984[2][3] 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

New South Wales state election, 24 March 1984[4] 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

See also

• Candidates of the New South Wales state election, 1984

Notes

1. ^ Parliament of New South Wales. "1984 Election". http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/resources/nswelectionsanalysis/1984/Home.htm. Retrieved 18 February 2010. 
2. ^ Australian Government and Politics Database. "Parliament of New South Wales, Assembly election, 24 March 1984". http://elections.uwa.edu.au/elecdetail.lasso?keyvalue=761. Retrieved 18 February 2010. 
3. ^ Hughes, Colin A. (1986). A handbook of Australian government and politics, 1975-1984. ANU Press. p. 195. ISBN 0-08033-038-X. 
4. ^ Hughes (1986), p.196.

References

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