1971 Western Australian state election
20 February 1971 (1971-02-20)
All 51 seats in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly
and 15 (of the 30) seats to the Western Australian Legislative Council
26 Assembly seats were needed for a majority
  First party Second party
 
Leader John Tonkin David Brand
Party Labor Liberal/Country coalition
Leader since 1 January 1967 1 March 1957
Leader's seat Melville Greenough
Last election 23 seats 28 seats
Seats won 26 seats 25 seats
Seat change Increase3 Decrease3
Percentage 48.91% 35.30%
Swing Increase3.56 Decrease13.95
Premier before election

David Brand
Liberal/Country coalition

 Elected Premier

John Tonkin
Labor

Elections were held in the state of Western Australia on 20 February 1971 to elect all 51 members to the Legislative Assembly and 15 members to the 30-seat Legislative Council. The four-term Liberal-Country Party coalition government, led by Premier David Brand, was defeated by the Labor Party, led by Opposition Leader John Tonkin.

This was the first election in which no seats were uncontested since the introduction of responsible government in 1890. This was partly due to the Democratic Labor Party deciding to contest every seat up for election in both Houses.

There was a large increase in the number of electors, because this was the first election after 18 year olds had been given the vote.

Results

Legislative Assembly

Western Australian state election, 20 February 1971
Legislative Assembly
<< 1968–1974 >>

Enrolled voters 537,122
Votes cast 490,467 Turnout 91.31% +0.41%
Informal votes 18,897 Informal 3.85% +0.75%
Summary of votes by party
Party Primary votes  % Swing Seats Change
  Labor 230,653 48.91% +3.56% 26 + 3
  Liberal 139,865 29.66% –14.34% 17 – 2
  Country 26,604 5.64% +0.39% 8 – 1
  Democratic Labor 50,508 10.71% +7.45% 0 ± 0
  United Farmers 3,511 0.74% +0.74% 0 ± 0
  Communist 2,265 0.48% –0.05% 0 ± 0
  Other parties 2,687 0.57% –0.12% 0 ± 0
  Independent 15,477 3.28% +2.36% 0 ± 0
Total 471,570     51  

Legislative Council

Western Australian state election, 20 February 1971
Legislative Council

Enrolled voters 537,122
Votes cast 489,911 Turnout 91.21% –1.08%
Informal votes 25,084 Informal 5.12% +0.63%
Summary of votes by party
Party Primary votes  % Swing Seats
won		 Seats
held
  Labor 217,465 46.78% +0.12% 4 10
  Liberal 127,191 27.36% –9.64% 9 13
  Country 25,035 5.39% –6.19% 2 7
  Democratic Labor 67,891 14.61% +12.17% 0 0
  United Farmers 5,782 1.24% +1.24% 0 0
  Independent 21,463 4.62% +2.26% 0 0
Total 464,827     15 30

Post-election pendulum

Labor seats (26)
Marginal
Mirrabooka Arthur Tonkin ALP 1.7%
Karrinyup Stan Lapham ALP 2.0%
Merredin-Yilgarn Jim Brown ALP 2.7%
Toodyay James Moiler ALP 3.6%
Albany Wyndham Cook ALP 5.1%
Clontarf Donald May ALP 5.5%
Fairly safe
Mount Hawthorn Ron Bertram ALP 7.4%
Geraldton Bill Sewell ALP 8.3%
Canning Tom Bateman ALP 8.6%
Maylands John Harman ALP 9.4%
Perth Terry Burke ALP 9.9%
Safe
Northam Ken McIver ALP 11.3% v IND
Gascoyne Daniel Norton ALP 11.8%
Pilbara Arthur Bickerton ALP 13.5% v DLP
Melville John Tonkin ALP 15.6%
Belmont Colin Jamieson ALP 16.1% v IND
Balcatta Herb Graham ALP 16.6% v DLP
Fremantle Harry Fletcher ALP 17.3%
Kalgoorlie Tom Evans ALP 20.0%
Warren David Evans ALP 21.9%
Victoria Park Ron Davies ALP 25.2% v DLP
Swan John Brady ALP 25.5% v DLP
Ascot Merv Toms ALP 25.8% v DLP
Boulder-Dundas Tom Hartrey ALP 28.5% v IND
Collie Tom Jones ALP 29.8%
Cockburn Don Taylor ALP 32.0% v DLP
Liberal/Country seats (25)
Marginal
Bunbury Maurice Williams LIB 1.2%
Roe Bill Young CP 1.3% v IND
Murchison-Eyre Peter Coyne LIB 2.3%
Vasse Barry Blaikie LIB 2.4%
Darling Range Ian Thompson LIB 3.0%
Murray Ewart Runciman LIB 3.2%
Subiaco Tom Dadour LIB 4.9%
Fairly safe
Dale Cyril Rushton LIB 6.0%
Mount Lawley Ray O'Connor LIB 6.8%
Wellington Iven Manning LIB 7.0%
Narrogin William Manning CP 7.7%
Cottesloe Ross Hutchinson LIB 9.7%
Safe
Stirling Matt Stephens CP 10.2%
South Perth Bill Grayden LIB 10.5%
Blackwood David Reid CP 11.6% v LIB
Wembley Ray Young LIB 11.6%
Katanning Crawford Nalder CP 11.7%
Floreat Andrew Mensaros LIB 12.5%
Kimberley Alan Ridge LIB 12.6%
East Melville Des O'Neil LIB 16.6%
Moore Edgar Lewis CP 17.2%
Greenough David Brand LIB 18.4%
Mount Marshall Ray McPharlin CP 22.6%
Nedlands Charles Court LIB 24.9%
Avon Harry Gayfer CP 30.5% v IND

See also

References

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