2011 New South Wales state election
26 March 2011
All 93 seats in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
and 21 (of the 42) seats in the New South Wales Legislative Council
47 Assembly seats were needed for a majority
Opinion polls
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Barry O'Farrell Kristina Keneally No leader
Party Liberal/National coalition Labor Greens
Leader since 4 April 2007 4 December 2009
Leader's seat Ku-ring-gai Heffron
Last election 35 seats 52 seats 0 seats
Seats before 37 50 0
Seats won 69 20 1
Seat change Increase 32 Decrease 30 Increase 1
Popular vote 2,124,321 1,061,352 427,144
Percentage 51.15% 25.55% 10.29%
Swing Increase 14.16 Decrease 13.43 Increase 1.33
TPP 64.22% 35.78%
TPP swing Increase 16.48 Decrease 16.48
The top map shows the first party preference by electorate. The bottom map shows the final two-party preferred vote result by electorate.
Premier before election

Kristina Keneally
Labor

 Elected Premier

Barry O'Farrell
Liberal/National coalition

The 2011 New South Wales state election held on Saturday, 26 March 2011. The 16-year-incumbent Labor Party government led by Premier Kristina Keneally was defeated in a landslide by the Liberal–National Coalition opposition led by Barry O'Farrell.

Labor suffered a two-party swing of 16.4 points, the largest against a sitting government at any level in Australia since World War II. From 48 seats at dissolution, Labor was knocked down to 20 seats—the worst defeat of a sitting government in New South Wales history, and one of the worst of a state government in Australia since federation. The Coalition picked up a 34-seat swing to win a strong majority, with 69 seats–the largest majority government, in terms of percentage of seats controlled, in NSW history. It is only the third time since 1941 that a NSW Labor government has been defeated. It was also notable in that many of Labor's safest seats, such as the seat of Newcastle, were won by the Liberal Party for the first time in history. This election also saw the previous record for largest percentage of seats defeated by the Coalition winning 74.2 percent of seats (69 out of 93 seats) with the previous record set by Neville Wran's Labor Party back in there 1981 election landslide winning (69 out of 99 seats) for 69.7 percent of seats.

New South Wales has compulsory voting, with an optional preferential ballot in single-member seats for the lower house and single transferable vote with optional preferential above-the-line voting in the proportionally represented upper house. The election was conducted by the New South Wales Electoral Commission (NSWEC).

Background

New South Wales electorates by party before the election
New South Wales electorates by party after the election

The centre-left Labor Party, led by Premier Kristina Keneally, and the centre-right Liberal Party, led by Leader of the Opposition Barry O'Farrell, were the two main parties in New South Wales. In the 2007 state election, of 93 seats total, Labor won 52 seats, the Liberals won 22 seats and the Nationals, led by Andrew Stoner, who are in coalition with the Liberals, won 13 seats. Six seats were retained by independents. Smaller parties which hold no seats in the lower house but achieved significant votes in 2007 include The Greens and the Christian Democratic Party.

On 18 October 2008, four state electorates (Lakemba, Ryde, Cabramatta, Port Macquarie) went to by-elections as a result of the resignation of the Premier, two of his ministers, and an independent who left after winning a federal by-election. The results in Ryde, Cabramatta, and Lakemba showed the largest by-election swing against Labor in its history.[1] The results showed a significant swing towards the Liberal Party with a swing of 22.7 percentage points in former health minister Reba Meagher's seat of Cabramatta, but it was retained by ALP candidate Nick Lalich,[1] and a swing of 13 points against Labor in former premier Morris Iemma's seat of Lakemba, also retained by an ALP candidate, Robert Furolo.[1] Ryde, once a safe Labor seat, with a swing of 23.1 points delivered former deputy premier John Watkins' seat to Victor Dominello. Peter Besseling, the independent candidate, won Port Macquarie, left vacant after the resignation of Nationals-turned-independent member Rob Oakeshott, over the Nationals by a two-party margin of 54.5–45.5%, despite a swing of 23.7 points to the Nationals. On 19 June 2010 a by-election in the electoral district of Penrith[2] was triggered as a result of the resignation of Labor Party MP Karyn Paluzzano, with Liberal candidate Stuart Ayres winning the seat with a two-party-preferred swing of more than 25 points, the biggest swing against an incumbent government in New South Wales history, until the 2013 Miranda by-election which eclipsed it with a 26-point two-party swing against the Liberal/National government.[3]

Key dates

  • Expiry of 54th Parliament: 12am on Friday, 4 March 2011
  • Issue of Writs: 5 March 2011
  • Close of Nominations: 10 March 2011
  • Polling Day: Saturday 26 March 2011
  • Return of the Writs: 30 April 2011[4]
  • Meeting of 55th Parliament: By Monday, 16 May 2011

Campaign

The Labor Party launched their campaign on 5 February 2011[5] in Liverpool within the electoral district of Macquarie Fields.[6] Premier Keneally launched the Labor Party's campaign slogan "Protecting jobs – Supporting families". In attendance for the launch were former Prime Minister Bob Hawke and former Premiers Wran and Carr.

The Liberal and Nationals Coalition launched their campaign on 20 February 2011 at the Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre in Penrith within the electoral district of Penrith with the slogan: "Real Change for NSW". In attendance for the launch were both Liberal and Nationals Leaders O'Farrell and Stoner as well as federal Liberal Party leader Tony Abbott, former Liberal Premiers and Leaders Greiner, Fahey, and Chikarovski.[7]

The Coalition had been leading in opinion polling for almost three years, and were unbackable favourites throughout the campaign to win the election. The final Newspoll had support for Labor at an all-time low with 23 percent of the primary vote and 35.9 percent of the two-party vote. Bookmakers were paying $1.01 for a Coalition win with Labor getting as much as $36 and one agency even paid out the winnings and declared the winner a week earlier.[8] At one point, Labor was widely predicted to win as few as 13 seats, seven less than the actual result.[9] According to several pollsters, Labor was in danger of losing several seats where it had not been seriously threatened in decades, as well as several that it had held for a century or more. Indeed, there were concerns that Labor would not win enough seats to form a credible shadow cabinet.

Resulting parliament

The Liberal/National Coalition won the largest proportional number of seats in NSW state history with 69 of 93 seats in the lower house (74.2 percent of the chamber)—in contrast, Labor won 69 of 99 seats (69.7 percent of the chamber) at Neville Wran's second "Wranslide" in 1981 election. Labor won 20 seats, the lowest for Labor in NSW Parliament in over a century, and the worst defeat that a sitting government in NSW has ever suffered. Many prominent Labor MPs and ministers lost their seats including Verity Firth, David Borger, Matt Brown, Jodi McKay, Virginia Judge, Phil Costa and Kevin Greene.[10] In the process, the Coalition took dozens of seats in areas considered Labor heartland, such as western Sydney and the Upper Hunter—some on swings of well over 10 per cent. The Liberals actually won 51 seats, enough for a majority in their own right—the first time the main non-Labor party in the state had achieved this since adopting the Liberal banner in 1945. Although O'Farrell thus had no need for the support of the Nationals, he opted to retain the Coalition.

In the upper house however, where half of the chamber was up for election, the landslide was not enough to deliver a Coalition majority. Three additional votes outside of the Liberal/National Coalition were required to pass legislation. The balance of power shifted from the Greens to the Shooters and Fishers Party and Christian Democratic Party. With two seats each held by the latter two parties, both needed to give legislative support if Labor and the Greens opposed legislation.[11][12]

Retiring members

Where a Member of the Legislative Assembly or Legislative Council did not renominate to contest the election, their term ended at the dissolution of the parliament. Members who confirmed their retirement were:

Legislative Assembly

Labor (22)

Liberal (5)

Nationals (2)

Legislative Council

Labor (4)

Greens (1)

Opinion polling

Opinion polling was conducted by firms such as Newspoll, Galaxy and Nielsen via random telephone number selection in city and country areas Sampling sizes consist of around 1200–1300 electors. The declared margin of error is ±3 percentage points.

Newspaper endorsements

Newspaper Endorsement
The Australian Liberal[13]
The Australian Financial Review Liberal
Newcastle Herald Liberal
The Daily Telegraph Liberal[14]
The Sydney Morning Herald Liberal[15]

Results

Legislative Assembly

Legislative Assembly (IRV) – (CV)[16][17][18]
Party Votes  % Swing Seats Change
    Liberal 1,602,457 38.58 +11.64 51 Increase 29
  National 521,864 12.56 +2.51 18 Increase 5
Coalition total 2,124,321 51.15 +14.16 69 Increase 34
  Labor 1,061,352 25.55 –13.43 20 Decrease 32
  Greens 427,144 10.28 +1.33 1 Increase 1
  Christian Democrats 129,431 3.12 +0.65 0 Steady
  Hatton's Independent Team 45,969 1.10 +1.10 0 Steady
  Family First 18,576 0.45 +0.45 0 Steady
  Socialist Alliance 3,180 0.07 +0.07 0 Steady
  Social Justice Network 3,173 0.07 +0.07 0 Steady
  Independent Australia First 2,446 0.06 +0.06 0 Steady
  Socialist Equality 2,056 0.05 +0.05 0 Steady
  Democratic Labor 1,855 0.04 +0.04 0 Steady
  United We Stand 1,414 0.03 +0.03 0 Steady
  Progressive Labour 1,372 0.03 +0.03 0 Steady
  Communist League 1,226 0.03 +0.03 0 Steady
  Sex Party 676 0.02 +0.02 0 Steady
  Democrats 617 0.01 –0.39 0 Steady
  Independent Protectionist 289 0.01 +0.01 0 Steady
  Independents 314,066 7.56 –1.62 3 Decrease 3
 Formal votes 4,153,335 96.72 +0.18 – –
 Informal votes 137,260 3.20 +0.43 – –
 Total 4,290,595 – – 93 –
 Registered voters / turnout 4,635,810 92.55 –0.09 – –
Two-party-preferred vote
Coalition 2,324,226 64.22 +16.48
Labor 1,294,824 35.78 –16.48
Popular vote
Liberal
 
 38.58%
Labor
 
 25.55%
National
 
 12.56%
Greens
 
 10.28%
Independent
 
 8.85%
Christian Democrats
 
 3.12%
Family First
 
 0.45%
Others
 
 0.60%
Two-party-preferred vote
Coalition
 
 64.22%
Labor
 
 35.78%
Parliamentary seats
Liberal
 
 51
Labor
 
 20
National
 
 18
Independent
 
 3
Greens
 
 1

Legislative Council

Legislative Council election, 2011
PartyVotes%+/–Seats
2011 Seats2007 SeatsTotal Seats+/-
Liberal/National Coalition1,943,24647.68+13.5011819+4
Labor967,24223.73-15.405914-5
Greens453,12511.12+2.00325+1
Shooters and Fishers150,7413.70+0.901120
Christian Democrats127,2333.12-1.301120
Other434,43710.66+0.300000
Total4,076,024100.00–2121420

Seats changing hands

Seat Pre-2011 Swing Post-2011
Party Member Margin Margin Member Party
Balmain   Labor Verity Firth 3.7 –7.2 3.5* Jamie Parker Greens  
Bathurst   Labor Gerard Martin 13.0 –36.7 23.7 Paul Toole National  
Blue Mountains   Labor Phil Koperberg 11.1 –15.8 4.7 Roza Sage Liberal  
Camden   Labor Geoff Corrigan 3.9 –22.8 18.9 Chris Patterson Liberal  
Campbelltown   Labor Graham West 18.5 –21.9 3.4 Bryan Doyle Liberal  
Charlestown   Labor Matthew Morris 14.6 –24.5 9.9 Andrew Cornwell Liberal  
Coogee   Labor Paul Pearce 7.2 –15.4 8.2 Bruce Notley-Smith Liberal  
Dubbo   Independent Dawn Fardell 0.9 –14.6 13.7 Troy Grant National  
Drummoyne   Labor Angela D'Amore 7.6 –24.3 16.7 John Sidoti Liberal  
East Hills   Labor Alan Ashton 14.1 –14.7 0.6 Glenn Brookes Liberal  
Gosford   Labor Marie Andrews 4.9 –16.7 11.9 Chris Holstein Liberal  
Granville   Labor David Borger 11.1 –13.7 2.6 Tony Issa Liberal  
Heathcote   Labor Paul McLeay 8.8 –21.4 12.7 Lee Evans Liberal  
Kiama   Labor Matt Brown 12.0 –19.5 7.5 Gareth Ward Liberal  
Londonderry   Labor Allan Shearan 6.9 –19.2 12.3 Bart Bassett Liberal  
Maitland   Labor Frank Terenzini 9.7 –16.0 6.3 Robyn Parker Liberal  
Menai   Labor Alison Megarrity 2.7 –27.1 24.4 Melanie Gibbons Liberal  
Miranda   Labor Barry Collier 0.8 –21.8 21.0 Graham Annesley Liberal  
Monaro   Labor Steve Whan 6.3 –8.3 2.0 John Barilaro National  
Mulgoa   Labor Diane Beamer 11.1 –23.2 12.0 Tanya Davies Liberal  
Newcastle   Labor Jodi McKay 1.2 –3.6 2.4 Tim Owen Liberal  
Oatley   Labor Kevin Greene 14.4 –14.9 0.5 Mark Coure Liberal  
Parramatta   Labor Tanya Gadiel 13.7 –25.8 12.1 Geoff Lee Liberal  
Port Macquarie   Independent Peter Besseling 28.2** –35.1 6.9 Leslie Williams National  
Riverstone   Labor John Aquilina 10.1 –30.3 20.2 Kevin Conolly Liberal  
Rockdale   Labor Frank Sartor 10.3 –13.9 3.6 John Flowers Liberal  
Smithfield   Labor Ninos Khoshaba 15.5 –20.3 4.8 Andrew Rohan Liberal  
Strathfield   Labor Virginia Judge 15.1 –19.3 4.3 Charles Casuscelli Liberal  
Swansea   Labor Robert Coombs 10.8 –11.9 1.1 Garry Edwards Liberal  
Tamworth   Independent Peter Draper 4.8 –12.5 7.8 Kevin Anderson National  
The Entrance   Labor Grant McBride 4.9 –17.3 12.5 Chris Spence Liberal  
Wollondilly   Labor Phil Costa 3.3 –18.0 14.7 Jai Rowell Liberal  
Wyong   Labor David Harris 6.9 –9.4 2.5 Darren Webber Liberal  
  • *Figure is Greens v Liberal
  • **Figure is from the 2007 state election, where Rob Oakeshott was the independent candidate.
  • In addition, the Liberals retained Ryde and Penrith, which were gained from Labor at by-elections.
  • Members listed in italics did not contest their seat at this election.

Every seat in New South Wales swung to the Coalition on a two-party-preferred basis. The Coalition won the largest government in New South Wales history in a huge landslide, while Labor suffered the largest swing against a sitting government anywhere in Australia (and on any level) since World War II, as well as one of the worst defeats of a state government since Federation. This led to 12 consecutive years of Coalition government in New South Wales (the longest Coalition government and the third-longest state government overall in New South Wales history), until the Coalition was narrowly defeated in 2023.

The Liberals alone won more first preference votes than Labor (usually it takes both Coalition parties, the Liberals and the Nationals, to have a higher first preference vote than Labor).

Labor only had two safe seats after the defeat, both of which were in Western Sydney. The seats were Bankstown (on a 10.3% margin) and Liverpool (on a 14.7% margin). Labor only held five seats outside of Sydney (Cessnock, Keira, Shellharbour, Wallsend and Wollongong).

Ultimately, the Liberals won 29 seats from Labor (Blue Mountains, Camden, Campbelltown, Charlestown, Coogee, Drummoyne, East Hills, Gosford, Granville, Heathcote, Kiama, Londonderry, Maitland, Menai, Miranda, Mulgoa, Newcastle, Oatley, Parramatta, Riverstone, Rockdale, Smithdale, Strathfield, Swansea, The Entrance, Wollondilly and Wyong) while the Nationals won two seats from Labor (Bathurst and Monaro). The Nationals gained three seats from independents (Dubbo, Port Macquarie and Tamworth), which were Nationals seats held by personally popular independents. It is likely that Port Macquarie and Tamworth were regained by the Nationals easily due to a move by two independents in the federal seats of Lyne (Rob Oakeshott) and New England (Tony Windsor), which partially overlap with the respective state seats, which angered the locals, who are mostly liberal conservatives in some of the most safely-held Coalition seats in the country. The move that supposedly caused this was the decision of these two independents to support Julia Gillard, who formed a Labor minority government, over the Coalition under Tony Abbott (although Oakeshott stated that he would have supported the Coalition if Malcolm Turnbull was their leader instead of Abbott). Oakeshott and Windsor were personally popular in these seats (with Oakeshott even being an ex-National), but on traditional two-party-preferred contests, the Nationals were well ahead of Labor. The member for Port Macquarie, Peter Besseling, was friends with Oakeshott and previously worked as his advisor, thus angering Port Macquarie locals. Independents held just three seats after the election: Lake Macquarie, Northern Tablelands and Sydney.

The Greens won their first ever seat in New South Wales, the formerly-safe Labor seat of Balmain in inner-city Sydney, despite the Liberals winning the first preference vote.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "A turning point for the Libs". The Daily Telegraph. 20 October 2008. Retrieved 20 May 2009.
  2. ↑ "Liar Paluzzano resigns from parliament". The Daily Telegraph. Australian Associated Press. 7 May 2010. Retrieved 8 May 2010.
  3. ↑ "Libs claim victory in Penrith". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. AAP. 19 June 2010. Retrieved 19 June 2010.
  4. ↑ "Writs of Elections" (PDF). Government Gazette. Government of New South Wales. 5 March 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 May 2011. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
  5. ↑ Nicholls, Sean (4 February 2011). "NSW election campaign launch: Labor beats Coalition to the punch". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
  6. ↑ Salusinszky, Imre (12 February 2011). "Labor election strategy already failing the test". The Australian. News Limited. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
  7. ↑ "Coalition kicks off NSW election campaign". Telegraph — News Ltd. 20 February 2011. Retrieved 25 March 2011.
  8. ↑ "Labor steels itself for disaster with day to go". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. 20 February 2011. Retrieved 25 March 2011.
  9. ↑ "NSW Labor may only win 13 seats: ABC PM 25 March 2011". Abc.net.au. 25 March 2011. Retrieved 16 April 2011.
  10. ↑ "Avoid scandals, O'Farrell tells his MPs". News.smh.com.au. 30 March 2011. Retrieved 16 April 2011.
  11. ↑ "Legislative Council, NSW election 2011". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 27 March 2011. Retrieved 27 March 2011.
  12. ↑ "Upper House shift from left to right". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 27 March 2011. Retrieved 27 March 2011.
  13. ↑ "NSW must emerge from Labor's heart of darkness". The Australian. News Limited. 25 March 2011. Retrieved 28 March 2011.
  14. ↑ "It's time for a state cleanout". The Daily Telegraph. 25 March 2011. Retrieved 28 March 2011.
  15. ↑ "NSW is overdue for change and renewal". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. 25 March 2011. Retrieved 28 March 2011.
  16. ↑ "Summary, NSW election 2011". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 27 March 2011. Retrieved 27 March 2011.
  17. ↑ "Party totals, NSW election 2011". ABC. 29 July 2010. Retrieved 16 April 2011.
  18. ↑ "NSW State Election 2011". Electoral Commission of New South Wales. 26 March 2011. Retrieved 15 December 2012.
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