1979 Tasmanian state election

The 1979 Tasmanian state election was held on 28 July 1979 in the Australian state of Tasmania to elect 35 members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly. The election used the Hare-Clark proportional representation system — seven members were elected from each of five electorates. The quota required for election was 12.5% in each division.

1979 Tasmanian state election

28 July 1979
All 35 seats to the House of Assembly
First party Second party   Leader Doug Lowe Max Bingham Party Labor Liberal Leader since 1 December 1977 4 May 1972 Leader's seat Franklin Denison Last election 18 seats 17 seats Seats won 20 15 Seat change 2 2 Percentage 54.32% 41.31% Swing 1.84 3.18
Results of the election
Premier before election Doug Lowe Labor Elected Premier Doug Lowe Labor

The incumbent Labor Party, led by Doug Lowe, won a third term in office against the opposition Liberal Party, led by Max Bingham.

Background

Bill Neilson, leader of the Labor Party and Premier of Tasmania, had retired on 1 December 1977 and been replaced by Doug Lowe.

The United Tasmania Group, which had contested the two previous elections, did not field any candidates for the 1979 election. Instead a new party, the Australian Democrats, founded by Don Chipp in 1977, emerged as the most significant minor party.

Results

See also: Results of the Tasmanian state election, 1979

The Labor Party won the election, increasing its majority in the House of Assembly from one seat to five.

Doug Lowe received the highest personal vote ever in the House of Assembly: 24,971 or 51.2% of the vote in the seat of Franklin.

Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	Labor	129,973	54.32	1.84	20	2
	Liberal	98,845	41.31	3.18	15	2
	Democrats	6,858	2.87	New	0	New
	Independents	3,608	1.51	0.68	0
Total		239,284	100.00	–	35	–
Valid votes		239,284	96.15
Invalid/blank votes		9,582	3.85	0.05
Total votes		248,866	100.00	–
Registered voters/turnout		265,428	93.76	0.78

Popular vote Labor   54.32% Liberal   41.31% Democrats   2.87% Independents   1.51%

Seats Labor   57.14% Liberal   42.86%

Distribution of votes

Primary vote by division

	Bass	Braddon	Denison	Franklin	Wilmot
Labor Party	50.3%	54.2%	50.7%	60.8%	55.6%
Liberal Party	44.7%	42.7%	42.0%	33.9%	43.5%
Other	5.0%	3.1%	7.4%	5.4%	0.9%

Distribution of seats

Electorate	Seats won
Bass
Braddon
Denison
Franklin
Wilmot

	Labor
	Liberal

Aftermath

Max Bingham resigned as opposition leader after losing his second election, and was replaced by Geoff Pearsall.

The election of three Labor MPs for Denison (Julian Amos, John Devine and John Green) was ruled invalid, due to the enforcement of a previously ignored rule limiting campaign expenditure to $1,500. A by-election was arranged for Denison in February 1980. The placement of the Labor candidates on the ballot paper, which placed Deputy Premier Neil Batt fourth, was believed to have led to the introduction of the Robson Rotation method of randomising ballot ordering.

See also

• Members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly, 1979–1982
• Candidates of the 1979 Tasmanian state election

External links

• "House of Assembly Election Results 18 July 1979". Tasmanian Parliamentary Library.