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.
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All 99 seats in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly and 15 (of the 45) seats in the New South Wales Legislative Council 50 Assembly seats were needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Two-candidate-preferred margin by electorate | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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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 1973.
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 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
edit| 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 seventh Wran Ministry was reconstituted. |
| 30 April 1984 | The writ was returned and the results formally declared. |
| 1 May 1984 | Parliament resumed for business. |
Results
editLegislative Assembly
edit|
New South Wales state election, 24 March 1984[1][2][3] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | 22 | + 8 | |
| 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[a] | 2,197 | 0.07 | +0.07 | 0 | ± 0 | |
| Total | 3,006,910 | 99 | ||||
| Two-party-preferred | ||||||
| Labor | 52.4% | -6.3% | ||||
| Liberal/National | 47.6% | +6.3% | ||||
Legislative Council
edit|
New South Wales state election, 24 March 1984[4] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | ||||
Seats changing hands
edit| Seat | Pre-1984 | Swing | Post-1984 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Member | Margin | Margin | Member | Party | ||||
| Bligh | Labor | Fred Miller | 2.7 | -3.9 | 1.2 | Michael Yabsley | Liberal | ||
| Burwood | Labor | Phil O'Neill | 7.2 | -8.8 | 1.6 | Paul Zammit | Liberal | ||
| Camden | Labor | Ralph Brading | 2.0 | -7.2 | 5.2 | John Fahey | Liberal | ||
| Clarence | Labor | Don Day | 6.6 | -10.9 | 4.3 | Ian Causley | National | ||
| Cronulla | Labor | Michael Egan | 5.3 | -5.8 | 0.5 | Malcolm Kerr | Liberal | ||
| Hurstville | Labor | Kevin Ryan | 9.2 | -10.1 | 0.9 | Guy Yeomans | Liberal | ||
| Lismore | National | Bruce Duncan | 18.9 | N/A | 26.9 | Bruce Duncan | Independent Country | ||
| Manly | Labor | Alan Stewart | 1.2 | -5.7 | 4.5 | David Hay | Liberal | ||
| Miranda | Labor | Bill Robb | 4.3 | -6.1 | 1.8 | Ron Phillips | Liberal | ||
| Murrumbidgee | Labor | Lin Gordon | 13.9 | -15.4 | 1.5 | Adrian Cruickshank | National | ||
| Wakehurst | Labor | Tom Webster | 7.0 | -8.2 | 1.2 | John Booth | Liberal | ||
| Wollongong | Labor | Eric Ramsay | 0.1 | -4.3 | 4.2 | Frank Arkell | Independent | ||
- Members listed in italics did not recontest their seats.
Post-election pendulum
editSee also
editNotes
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c Green, Antony. "1984 election totals". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
- ^ Australian Government and Politics Database. "Parliament of New South Wales, Assembly election, 24 March 1984". Retrieved 18 February 2010.
- ^ Hughes (1986), p. 195.
- ^ Hughes (1986), p. 196.
Sources cited
edit- Hughes, Colin A. (1986). A handbook of Australian government and politics, 1975-1984. ANU Press. ISBN 0-08-033038-X.