1983 Western Australian state election
19 February 1983 (1983-02-19)
All 57 seats in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly
and 18 (of the 34) seats to the Western Australian Legislative Council
29 Assembly seats were needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
ALP
NAT
Leader Brian Burke Ray O'Connor Hendy Cowan
Party Labor Liberal/NCP coalition National
Leader since 18 September 1981 25 January 1982 1979
Leader's seat Balga Mount Lawley Merredin
Last election 23 seats 29 seats 3 seats
Seats won 32 23 2
Seat change Increase9 Decrease6 Decrease1
Popular vote 342,536 278,994 10,767
Percentage 53.16% 43.30% 1.67%
Swing Increase7.21 Decrease4.75 Decrease1.29
TPP 53.74% 46.26%
TPP swing Increase4.71 Decrease4.71
Premier before election

Ray O'Connor
Liberal/NCP coalition

 Elected Premier

Brian Burke
Labor

Elections were held in the state of Western Australia on 19 February 1983 to elect all 57 members to the Legislative Assembly and 18 members to the 34-seat Legislative Council.

The three-term Liberal-National Country coalition government, led by Premier Ray O'Connor since 25 January 1982 (after the retirement of Sir Charles Court) was defeated by the Labor Party, led by Opposition Leader Brian Burke since 10 September 1981.

Results

Legislative Assembly

Western Australian state election, 19 February 1983
Legislative Assembly
<< 1980–1986 >>

Enrolled voters 744,986[1]
Votes cast 663,153 Turnout 87.93% +2.66%
Informal votes 18,799 Informal 2.83% –0.69%
Summary of votes by party
Party Primary votes  % Swing Seats Change
  Labor 342,536 53.16% +7.21% 32 + 9
  Liberal 256,846 39.86% –3.89% 20 – 6
  National Country[2] 22,148 3.44% –0.86% 3 ± 0
  National[2] 10,767 1.67% –1.29% 2 – 1
  Democrats 5,178 0.80% –1.16% 0 ± 0
  Socialist 905 0.14% –0.12% 0 ± 0
  Other parties 5,974 0.93% +0.75% 0 ± 0
  Independent 3,229 0.50% –0.15% 0 ± 0
Total 644,354     57  
Two-party-preferred
  Labor 350,996 53.74% +4.71%
  Liberal/NCP 302,100 46.26% –4.71%

Notes:

1 754,226 electors were enrolled to vote at the election, but one seat, Narrogin, held by the National Country Party's Peter Jones and representing 9,239 electors, was held unopposed.
2 The National Country Party (NCP) and the National Party (NP) were two separate parties, the former in coalition with the Liberal Party, the latter an independent party which had split from the NCP on 10 August 1978.

Legislative Council

Western Australian state election, 19 February 1983[1]
Legislative Council

Enrolled voters 754,225
Votes cast 671,102 Turnout 88.98% +0.57%
Informal votes 24,962 Informal 3.72% –0.66%
Summary of votes by party
Party Primary votes  % Swing Seats
won		 Seats
held
  Labor 327,129 50.63% +5.85% 7 13
  Liberal 268,626 41.57% –5.93% 9 19
  National Country[2] 20,553 3.18% –0.64% 0 0
  National[2] 20,336 3.15% –0.28% 1 1
  Democrats 9,356 1.45% +1.45% 0 0
  Other parties 0 0.00% –0.47% 0 0
Total 646,140     17 34
Two-party-preferred
  Labor 341,236 52.81% +5.17%
  Liberal/NCP 304,904 47.19% –5.17%

Seats changing parties

Seat Pre-1983 Swing Post-1983
Party Member Margin Margin Member Party
Bunbury   Liberal John Sibson 1.3 4.0 2.7 Phil Smith Labor  
Mandurah   Liberal notional N/A N/A 0.3 John Read Labor  
Mount Marshall   National Country Ray McPharlin 10.8* 16.5 5.7** Bill McNee Liberal  
Mundaring   Liberal Tom Herzfeld 3.5 3.6 0.1 Gavan Troy Labor  
Pilbara   Liberal Brian Sodeman 1.6 19.1 17.5 Pam Buchanan Labor  
Scarborough   Liberal Ray Young 6.2 11.9 5.7 Graham Burkett Labor  
Whitford   Liberal Mick Nanovich 8.3 16.0 7.7 Pam Beggs Labor  
  • Members listed in italics did not contest their seat at this election.
  • * figure is vs. Liberal
  • ** figure is vs. National (NP)

Post-election pendulum

Labor seats (32)
Marginal
Mundaring Gavan Troy ALP 0.1%
Mandurah John Read ALP 0.3%
Bunbury Phil Smith ALP 2.7%
Scarborough Graham Burkett ALP 5.7%
Fairly safe
Joondalup Jackie Watkins ALP 6.7%
Mitchell David Smith ALP 6.9%
Whitford Pam Beggs ALP 7.7%
Esperance-Dundas Julian Grill ALP 8.3%
Avon Ken McIver ALP 8.4%
Safe
Nollamara Keith Wilson ALP 11.3%
Balcatta Ron Bertram ALP 13.0%
Gosnells Yvonne Henderson ALP 13.1%
Geraldton Jeff Carr ALP 13.1%
Warren David Evans ALP 13.4%
Armadale Bob Pearce ALP 13.6%
Helena Gordon Hill ALP 13.7%
Welshpool Colin Jamieson ALP 14.8%
Maylands John Harman ALP 14.9%
Canning Tom Bateman ALP 15.6%
Collie Tom Jones ALP 15.6%
Kimberley Ernie Bridge ALP 15.9%
Victoria Park Ron Davies ALP 17.1%
Pilbara Pam Buchanan ALP 17.5%
Perth Terry Burke ALP 17.8%
Fremantle David Parker ALP 19.1%
Rockingham Mike Barnett ALP 19.7%
Ascot Mal Bryce ALP 19.9%
Morley-Swan Arthur Tonkin ALP 20.9%
Melville Barry Hodge ALP 21.2%
Kalgoorlie Ian Taylor ALP 24.1%
Cockburn Don Taylor ALP 28.6%
Balga Brian Burke ALP 29.0%
Liberal/NCP seats (23)
Marginal
Dale Cyril Rushton LIB 0.06%
Murchison-Eyre Peter Coyne LIB 1.3%
Subiaco Tom Dadour LIB 1.6%
Albany Leon Watt LIB 2.3%
Mount Lawley Ray O'Connor LIB 3.4%
Murdoch Barry MacKinnon LIB 4.0%
Clontarf Tony Williams LIB 4.2%
South Perth Bill Grayden LIB 4.5%
Mount Marshall Bill McNee LIB 5.7% v NAT
Karrinyup Jim Clarko LIB 5.9%
Fairly safe
Cottesloe Bill Hassell LIB 6.3%
Darling Range George Spriggs LIB 6.6%
Murray-Wellington John Bradshaw LIB 8.2%
East Melville Anthony Trethowan LIB 8.9%
Floreat Andrew Mensaros LIB 9.6%
Safe
Kalamunda Ian Thompson LIB 10.1%
Gascoyne Ian Laurance LIB 11.8%
Moore Bert Crane NCP 13.3% v LIB
Nedlands Richard Court LIB 14.1%
Vasse Barry Blaikie LIB 14.2%
Greenough Reg Tubby LIB 21.2%
Katanning-Roe Dick Old NCP 32.1%
Narrogin Peter Jones NCP Unopp
National seats (2)
Stirling Matt Stephens NAT 6.1% v LIB
Merredin Hendy Cowan NAT 15.0% v NCP

Opinion polling

Morgan Gallop opinion poll results[2]
Date Primary vote Leader's approval rating
Labor Liberal-NCP Labor Liberal
February–April 1981 44 48 39 47
June–August 1981 49 42 37 51
18 September 1981 Brian Burke replaces Ron Davies as leader of the Labor Party
September–November 1981 51 39 33 47
December 1981–January 1982 46 46 39 63
21 January 1982 Ray O'Connor replaces Charles Court as leader of the Liberal Party
February–April 1982 51 42 52 50
May–June 1982 49 44 54 59
July–August 1982 51 44 56 63
September–October 1982 48 42 54 62
November–December 1982 47 48 58 61
19 February 1983 election 53.8 44.2 — —

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Results for".
  2. ↑ Hamilton, John (1988). Burkie: A biography of Brian Burke. St. George Books. p. 217. ISBN 0867780363.
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