1988 New South Wales state election

Elections to the 49th Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday 19 March 1988. All seats in the Legislative Assembly and a third of the seats in the Legislative Council were up for election. The Labor government of Premier Barrie Unsworth was defeated by the Liberal-National Coalition, led by Opposition Leader Nick Greiner in a landslide victory against Labor.

1988 New South Wales state election

19 March 1988 (1988-03-19)
All 109 seats in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly and 15 (of the 45) seats in the New South Wales Legislative Council 55 Assembly seats were needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader Nick Greiner Barrie Unsworth Party Liberal/National coalition Labor Leader since 15 March 1983 4 July 1986 Leader's seat Ku-ring-gai Rockdale Last election 37 seats 58 seats Seats before 38 seats 56 seats Seats won 59 43 Seat change 21 13 Popular vote 1,588,095 1,233,612 Percentage 49.54% 38.48% Swing 6.52 10.27 TPP 55.96% 44.02% TPP swing 8.40 8.40
Two-candidate-preferred margin by electorate
Premier before election Barrie Unsworth Labor Elected Premier Nick Greiner Liberal/National coalition

The election took place following a redistribution of seats, which resulted in the Assembly growing from 99 to 109 seats.

Issues

The Labor Party, under Neville Wran and, since 1986, Barrie Unsworth, had been in office for 12 years. A number of corruption scandals had tarnished Labor's image. Among these was the jailing of Labor's Minister for Corrective Services Rex Jackson in 1987 for accepting bribes for the early release of prisoners.

Even before then, two by-elections in 1986 indicated that NSW voters were about to call time on the three-term Labor government. When Unsworth, then a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council, ran for the previously safe Labor Assembly seat of Rockdale in 1986, he only won it by 54 votes after losing more than 17 percent of Labor's primary vote from 1981. Additionally, Labor suffered a 22-percent primary vote swing in Wran's old seat of Bass Hill, allowing the Liberals to take it on a 103-vote margin. However, by-elections in Heathcote and Bankstown in 1987 saw only small swings against the government.

The Liberals' campaign slogan was "A change for the better". Greiner campaigned on a promise to clean up state government, foreshadowing the establishment of the Independent Commission Against Corruption, as well as promising to freeze government expenditure, create 16,000 new employment and training positions, and pay more attention to law enforcement.

In rural electorates, Labor's positions on gun laws and conservation alienated many voters. Health care was also a campaign issue.

Future Liberal Prime Minister Tony Abbott admitted in 2005 that he voted Labor at this election saying that Unsworth "was the best deal premier that New South Wales had ever had" and knew that it would not damage Greiner's prospects at this election.

Key dates

Date	Event
22 February 1988	The Legislative Assembly was dissolved, and writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election.
26 February 1988	Nominations for candidates for the election closed at noon.
19 March 1988	Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm.
25 March 1988	The Unsworth ministry resigned and the Greiner-Murray ministry was sworn in.
22 April 1988	The writ was returned and the results formally declared.
27 April 1988	Parliament resumed for business.

Results

Legislative Assembly

See also: Results of the 1988 New South Wales state election (Legislative Assembly)

The result was a landslide for the Coalition parties. Election analyst Antony Green later noted that "the 1988 result was startling, the worst Labor performance, and best Coalition result, since the Lang era of the 1930s". Labor lost heartland seats including Balmain, Newcastle and Swansea for the first time since the turn of the century.

Seven non-aligned Independents were elected to the Legislative Assembly.

Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	Labor	1,233,612	38.48	10.27	43	15
	Liberal	1,147,613	35.80	3.62	39	17
	National	440,482	13.74	2.90	20	5
	Independents	261,719	8.16	3.08	7	3
	Democrats	58,163	1.81	1.03	0	0
	Independent EFF	39,194	1.22	New	0	New
	Call to Australia	14,205	0.44	0.37	0	0
	Illawarra Workers Party	6,755	0.21	New	0	New
	Socialist	2,717	0.08	0.05	0	0
	Nuclear Disarmament	1,064	0.03	New	0	New
Total		3,205,524	100.00	–	109	–
Valid votes		3,205,524	98.05
Invalid/blank votes		63,870	1.95	0.84
Total votes		3,269,394	100.00	–
Registered voters/turnout		3,541,447	92.32	1.07
Two-party-preferred
	Liberal/National Coalition	1,725,936	55.96	8.4
	Labor	1,358,049	44.04	8.4
Total		3,083,985	100.00	–

Popular vote Labor   38.48% Liberal   35.80% National   13.74% Independents   8.16% Democrats   1.81% Independent EFF   1.22% Others   0.77% Two-party-preferred vote Coalition   55.96% Labor   44.04% Parliamentary seats Labor   43 Liberal   39 National   20 Independents   7

Legislative Council

Main article: Results of the 1988 New South Wales state election (Legislative Council)

Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats
					Seats Won	Not Up	Total Seats	Seat Change
	Liberal National Coalition	1,403,300	46.01	3.54	7	12	19	1
	Labor	1,140,634	37.40	9.37	6	15	21	3
	Call to Australia	174,553	5.72	0.35	1	2	3	1
	Democrats	90,634	2.97	0.42	1	1	2	1
	Independent EFF	72,965	2.39	New	0	0	0	New
	Community Independents	52,992	1.74	New	0	0	0	New
	Environment Group	48,536	1.59	New	0	0	0	New
	Nuclear Disarmament	28,161	0.92	New	0	0	0	New
	Aboriginal Team	13,363	0.44	New	0	0	0	New
	Humanist Party	11,895	0.39	New	0	0	0	New
	Defence Ex-Service Team	6,970	0.23	New	0	0	0	New
	Independents	3,396	0.11	0.31	0	0	0	0
	Marijuana	2,713	0.09	0.09	0	0	0	0
Total		3,050,112	100.00	–	15	30	45	–
Valid votes		3,050,112	91.95
Invalid/blank votes		267,113	8.05	1.42
Total votes		3,317,225	100.00	–
Registered voters/turnout		3,541,447	93.67	0.60

Seats changing hands

Seat	Pre-1988				Swing	Post-1988
	Party		Member	Margin		Margin	Member	Party
Albury		Labor	Harold Mair	2.1	-13.8	11.7	Ian Glachan	Liberal
Ballina		Independent*	new seat	N/A	N/A	18.0	Don Page	National
Balmain		Labor	Peter Crawford	19.3	-21.0	1.7	Dawn Fraser	Independent
Bass Hill ¶		Liberal	Michael Owen	18.4 (ALP)	-14.1	4.3	Bill Lovelee	Labor
Bathurst		Labor	Mick Clough	7.6	-9.8	2.2	David Berry	Liberal
Bligh		Liberal	Michael Yabsley	0.2	-0.8	0.6	Clover Moore	Independent
Blue Mountains		Labor	Bob Debus	4.6	-4.9	0.3	Barry Morris	Liberal
Burrinjuck		Labor	Terry Sheahan	4.9	-8.6	3.7	Alby Schultz	Liberal
Cessnock		Labor	Stan Neilly	8.9	-9.4	0.5	Bob Roberts	Liberal
Earlwood		Labor	Ken Gabb	5.9	-7.2	1.3	Phil White	Liberal
Georges River		Labor	Frank Walker	5.9	-8.0	2.1	Terry Griffiths	Liberal
Gladesville		Labor	Rodney Cavalier	5.3	-8.3	3.0	Ivan Petch	Liberal
Gosford		Labor	Brian McGowan*	0.9	-8.7	7.8	Chris Hartcher	Liberal
Heathcote		Labor	Ian McManus*	5.1	-6.9	1.8	Allan Andrews	Liberal
Lismore		Independent	Bruce Duncan	N/A	N/A	19.9	Bill Rixon	National
Minchinbury		Labor	new seat	10.4	-12.9	2.5	Anne Cohen	Liberal
Monaro		Labor	John Akister	8.0	-11.9	3.9	Peter Cochran	National
Newcastle		Labor	Arthur Wade	14.5	-19.8	5.3	George Keegan	Independent
Parramatta		Labor	Barry Wilde	5.4	-5.9	0.5	John Books	Liberal
Penrith		Labor	Peter Anderson	8.1	-10.3	2.2	Guy Matheson	Liberal
Ryde		Labor	Garry McIlwaine	5.1	-5.3	0.2	Michael Photios	Liberal
Sutherland		Labor	Maurie Keane	5.1	-7.6	2.5	Chris Downy	Liberal
Swansea		Labor	Don Bowman	18.7	-27.1	8.4	Ivan Welsh	Independent
The Entrance		Labor	new seat	7.9	-9.9	2.0	Bob Graham	Liberal

• Members listed in italics did not recontest their seats.
• Ballina was a new seat created from much of the area of the old district of Lismore, which was held by Independent member Bruce Duncan, who retired from politics at this election.
• The sitting Labor member for Gosford, Brian McGowan instead contested the new seat of The Entrance and lost.
• The sitting Labor member for Heathcote, Ian McManus instead contested the new seat of Burragorang and won.
• In addition, the National party held the seat of Northern Tablelands, which it had won from Labor in the 1987 by-election.

¶ Bass Hill was won by the Liberal party in the 1986 by-election. It was regained by Labor in this election.

Redistribution affected seats

Seat

1984 election

1986 redistribution

Swing

1988 election

Party

Member

Margin

Party

Member

Margin

Margin

Member

Party

Camden

Liberal

John Fahey

5.2

Labor

Notional

5.8

-5.7

0.1

Peter Primrose

Labor

Wollongong

Independent

Frank Arkell

4.2

Labor

Notional

4.7

-10.2

5.5

Frank Arkell

Independent

Post-election pendulum

Labor seats (43)
Marginal
Camden	Peter Primrose	ALP	0.1%
Charlestown	Richard Face	ALP	0.1%
Port Stephens	Bob Martin	ALP	0.2%
Waverley	Ernie Page	ALP	0.5%
Keira	Col Markham	ALP	0.8%
Maitland	Allan Walsh	ALP	0.8%
Ashfield	Paul Whelan	ALP	1.2%
Coogee	Michael Cleary	ALP	1.2%
Broken Hill	Bill Beckroge	ALP	2.0%
Drummoyne	John Murray	ALP	2.1%
Kogarah	Brian Langton	ALP	2.2%
Lakemba	Wes Davoren	ALP	2.6%
Londonderry	Paul Gibson	ALP	3.0%
Canterbury	Kevin Moss	ALP	3.4% v EFF
Fairfield	Geoff Irwin	ALP	3.9%
Wentworthville	Pam Allan	ALP	3.9%
Bass Hill	Bill Lovelee	ALP	4.3%
Illawarra	Terry Rumble	ALP	4.4%
Wyong	Harry Moore	ALP	4.5%
Macquarie Fields	Stan Knowles	ALP	4.9%
Seven Hills	Bob Christie	ALP	5.0%
Mulgoa	Tony Aquilina	ALP	5.5%
Campbelltown	Michael Knight	ALP	5.7%
Fairly safe
Lake Macquarie	Merv Hunter	ALP	6.4%
Burragorang	Ian McManus	ALP	6.6%
Cabramatta	John Newman	ALP	6.6%
McKell	Sandra Nori	ALP	6.6% v IND
Rockdale	Barrie Unsworth	ALP	7.0
Riverstone	Richard Amery	ALP	7.2
East Hills	Pat Rogan	ALP	7.4
Peats	Tony Doyle	ALP	7.5
Bankstown	Doug Shedden	ALP	9.2
Blacktown	John Aquilina	ALP	9.2
Heffron	Laurie Brereton	ALP	9.2
Wallsend	Ken Booth	ALP	9.4
Safe
Maroubra	Bob Carr	ALP	10.4%
Auburn	Peter Nagle	ALP	10.7%
Smithfield	Janice Crosio	ALP	10.8%
Granville	Laurie Ferguson	ALP	10.9%
Kiama	Bob Harrison	ALP	11.4%
Waratah	John Price	ALP	11.4%
Liverpool	George Paciullo	ALP	14.1%
Marrickville	Andrew Refshauge	ALP	15.5%
Crossbench seats (7)
Bligh	Clover Moore	IND	0.6% v LIB
Balmain	Dawn Fraser	IND	1.7% v ALP
Newcastle	George Keegan	IND	5.3% v ALP
Wollongong	Frank Arkell	IND	5.5% v ALP
Swansea	Ivan Welsh	IND	8.4% v ALP
North Shore	Ted Mack	IND	9.9% v LIB
South Coast	John Hatton	IND	14.7% v LIB

See also

• Candidates of the 1988 New South Wales state election