1986 Queensland state election

Elections were held in the Australian state of Queensland on 1 November 1986 to elect the 89 members of the state's Legislative Assembly. It followed a redistribution which increased the number of seats in the Assembly from 82 to 89.

1986 Queensland state election

← 1983 1 November 1986 1989 →

All 89 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland
45 Assembly seats were needed for a majority
Registered1,563,294 Increase7.2%
Turnout1,426,478 (91.25%)
(Decrease0.48 pp)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Joh Bjelke-Petersen Nev Warburton William Knox
Party National Labor Liberal
Leader since 8 August 1968 29 August 1984 3 November 1983
Leader's seat Barambah Sandgate Nundah
Last election 41 seats, 38.93% 32 seats, 43.98% 8 seats, 14.88%
Seats before 42 seats 31 seats[a] 7 seats[b]
Seats won 49 30 10
Seat change Increase 7 Decrease 1 Increase 3
Popular vote 553,197 577,062 230,310
Percentage 39.64% 41.35% 16.50%
Swing Increase 1.82 pp Decrease 5.98 pp Increase 10.88 pp
TPP 54.0% 46.0%
TPP swing Increase 0.60pp Decrease 0.60pp

Winning margin by electorate.

Legislative Assembly following election.

Premier before election

Joh Bjelke-Petersen
National

Elected Premier

Joh Bjelke-Petersen
National

The election resulted in a seventh consecutive term for the National Party under Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen. It was the 11th consecutive term for the National Party in Queensland since it first came to office in 1957. The Nationals secured a majority in their own right, with 49 seats. It is the only time that the Nationals have ever won enough seats to govern alone in an election at any level. They had come up one seat short of an outright majority in 1983, but picked up a majority after persuading two Liberals to cross the floor.

This was the last time that a non-Labor Government was elected at a Queensland state election until 2012, although the Coalition briefly held government from 1996 to 1998 following the Mundingburra by-election.

Background

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All three parties had high hopes for the election. The Nationals knew that they needed to increase their number of seats to hang onto Government (they had held a majority of one in the last Parliament, which had been increased from 82 seats to 89 for the 1986 election). The Liberals desperately needed to win back some of their losses from their disastrous performance in 1983, and Labor hoped to exploit disunity between the conservative parties to make gains.

The already malapportioned boundaries (the "Bjelkemander") had been redrawn earlier in the year in a manner which further advantaged the National Party.[1]

Clive Palmer served as the media spokesman of National Party during its 1986 election campaign.[2] Former Brisbane town clerk Tony Philbrick was the Nationals candidate for Sherwood, but failed to lodge his nomination by the midday deadline on 9 October 1986 and was unable to contest.[3]

The Bjelke-Petersen Government won a commanding victory, winning an extra eight seats and thus increasing its majority. The Liberals gained two seats, but were still nowhere near making up for their 1983 losses. Labor lost two seats.

The 1986 election is significant for a number of reasons. It saw the National Party retain a majority of seats in the Parliament, and it was only the second election in Australian history (the other being the 1983 Queensland election) in which the National Party won enough seats to form Government in its own right.

More importantly, Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen's victory gave him the confidence to launch the 'Joh for Canberra' campaign, which would play a major part in the 1987 federal election, and would later be a major factor in his undoing.

Key dates

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Date Event
30 September 1986 Writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election.[4]
9 October 1986 Close of nominations.
1 November 1986 Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm.
1 December 1986 The Bjelke-Petersen Ministry was reconstituted.
8 January 1987 The writ was returned and the results formally declared.

Electoral redistribution

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A redistribution of electoral boundaries occurred in 1985.

The electorates of Ithaca, Kurilpa, Townsville North, Townsville South, Wavell, and Wynnum were abolished

The electorates of Bowen, Broadsound, Currumbin, Glass House, Logan, Manly, Moggill, Nerang, Nicklin, Springwood, Tablelands, Thuringowa, and Townsville East were created.

The redistribution increased the Legislative Assembly from 82 to 89 seats, adding 4 more in the South-East zone, 2 more in the Country zone, and 1 more in the Western and Far-Northern zone.

Zone Electorates
Country Auburn, Barambah, Bowen, Broadsound, Burdekin, Burnett, Callide, Carnarvon, Condamine, Cunningham, Gympie, Hinchinbrook, Mirani, Mourilyan, Mulgrave, Tablelands, Warwick
Provincial Cities Barron River, Bundaberg, Cairns, Isis, Mackay, Maryborough, Port Curtis, Rockhampton, Rockhampton North, Thuringowa, Townsville, Townsville East, Whitsunday
South-East Albert, Archerfield, Ashgrove, Aspley, Brisbane Central, Bulimba, Caboolture, Chatsworth, Cooroora, Currumbin, Everton, Fassifern, Glass House, Greenslopes, Ipswich, Ipswich West, Landsborough, Lockyer, Logan, Lytton, Manly, Mansfield, Merthyr, Moggill, Mount Coot-tha, Mount Gravatt, Murrumba, Nerang, Nicklin, Nudgee, Nundah, Pine Rivers, Redcliffe, Redlands, Salisbury, Sandgate, Sherwood, Somerset, South Brisbane, South Coast, Southport, Springwood, Stafford, Surfers Paradise, Toowong, Toowoomba North, Toowoomba South, Windsor, Wolston, Woodridge, Yeronga
Western and Far-Northern Balonne, Cook, Flinders, Gregory, Mount Isa, Peak Downs, Roma, Warrego

Caboolture notionally became Labor-held, while Townsville notionally became National-held.

The changes resulted in 33 notionally Labor seats, 7 notionally Liberal seats, 48 notionally National seats, and 1 notionally Independent seat.

Result

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Queensland state election, 1 November 1986[5][6]
Legislative Assembly
<< 19831989 >>

Enrolled voters 1,563,294
Votes cast 1,426,478 Turnout 91.25% –0.44%
Informal votes 30,903 Informal 2.17% +0.70%
Summary of votes by party
Party Primary votes % Swing Seats Change
  Labor 577,062 41.35% –2.63% 30 – 2
  Nationals 553,197 39.64% +0.71% 49 + 8
  Liberals 230,310 16.50% +1.62% 10 + 2
  Democrats 8,747 0.63% –0.20% 0 ± 0
  Independent 26,259 1.88% +0.59% 0 – 1
Total 1,395,575     89  
Two-party-preferred
  National/Liberal 54.0% +0.6%
  Labor 46.0% -0.6%
Popular vote
Labor
41.35%
Nationals
39.64%
Liberal
16.50%
Democrats
0.63%
Independents
1.88%
Seats
Nationals
55.06%
Labor
33.71%
Liberal
11.24%

Seats changing hands

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Seat 1985 Redistribution Swing 1986 Election
Party Member Margin Margin Member Party
Ashgrove   Labor Tom Veivers 2.60 -4.64 2.04 Alan Sherlock Liberal  
Callide   Independent Lindsay Hartwig 9.30 -2.50 13.20 Di McCauley National  
Merthyr   Liberal Don Lane¹ 9.80 -15.84 6.04 Don Lane National  
Mount Isa   Labor Bill Price 1.70 -4.44 2.74 Peter Beard Liberal  
Stafford   Labor notional² 3.20 -7.66 4.46 Terry Gygar Liberal  
Toowong   National Earle Bailey 2.80 -21.17 18.37 Denver Beanland Liberal  
  • Members listed in italics did not recontest their seats.
  • ¹ Don Lane was elected for the Liberal Party in 1983, but immediately resigned and joined the National Party to enter the ministry.
  • ² Terry Gygar gained Stafford for the Liberal Party at the 1984 by-election. The Labor Party won the seat at the 1983 election.

Post-election pendulum

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National seats (49)
Marginal
Maryborough Gilbert Alison NAT 0.74%
Broadsound Denis Hinton NAT 1.96%
Pine Rivers Yvonne Chapman NAT 3.55%
Mulgrave Max Menzel NAT 3.71%
Warrego Howard Hobbs NAT 3.74%
Redlands Paul Clauson NAT 3.83%
Barron River Martin Tenni NAT 4.04%
Aspley Beryce Nelson NAT 4.11%
Greenslopes Leisha Harvey NAT 4.23%
Townsville Tony Burreket NAT 4.43%
Mansfield Craig Sherrin NAT 5.49%
Fairly Safe
Merthyr Don Lane NAT 6.04%
Springwood Huan Fraser NAT 6.18%
Mount Gravatt Ian Henderson NAT 6.69%
Glass House Bill Newton NAT 6.93%
Hinchinbrook Ted Row NAT 6.95%
Isis Lin Powell NAT 7.40%
Toowoomba North Sandy McPhie NAT 7.62%
Mirani Jim Randell NAT 8.29%
Tablelands Tom Gilmore NAT 8.70%
Currumbin Leo Gately NAT 8.88%
Whitsunday Geoff Muntz NAT 9.00%
Nerang Tom Hynd NAT 9.98%
Safe
Cooroora Gordon Simpson NAT 10.64%
Flinders Bob Katter NAT 10.85%
Nicklin Brian Austin NAT 10.93%
Landsborough Mike Ahern NAT 11.56%
Burdekin Mark Stoneman NAT 11.96%
Albert Ivan Gibbs NAT 13.13%
Fassifern Kev Lingard NAT 13.14%
Callide Di McCauley NAT 13.20%
Gregory Bill Glasson NAT 13.48%
Southport Doug Jennings NAT 13.70%
South Coast Russ Hinze NAT 13.73%
Somerset Bill Gunn NAT 13.99%
Auburn Neville Harper NAT 14.04%
Gympie Len Stephan NAT 14.80%
Burnett Doug Slack NAT 15.10%
Toowoomba South Clive Berghofer NAT 15.80%
Peak Downs Vince Lester NAT 17.00%
Carnarvon Peter McKechnie NAT 17.41%
Roma Russell Cooper NAT 19.55%
Very Safe
Surfers Paradise Rob Borbidge NAT 21.30%
Warwick Des Booth NAT 22.14%
Balonne Don Neal NAT 24.08%
Lockyer Tony Fitzgerald NAT 25.10%
Barambah Joh Bjelke-Petersen NAT 27.47%
Condamine Brian Littleproud NAT 28.49%
Cunningham Tony Elliott NAT 29.95%
Labor seats (30)
Marginal
Thuringowa Ken McElligott ALP 0.74%
Salisbury Len Ardill ALP 1.36%
Everton Glen Milliner ALP 1.46% v LIB
Mackay Ed Casey ALP 3.60%
Caboolture Ken Hayward ALP 3.73%
Mourilyan Bill Eaton ALP 4.10%
South Brisbane Anne Warner ALP 4.22%
Murrumba Dean Wells ALP 5.46%
Port Curtis Bill Prest ALP 5.90%
Fairly Safe
Cairns Keith De Lacy ALP 6.23%
Bundaberg Clem Campbell ALP 6.60%
Manly Eric Shaw ALP 6.70%
Logan Wayne Goss ALP 6.80%
Chatsworth Terry Mackenroth ALP 7.27%
Townsville East Geoff Smith ALP 7.50%
Wolston Bob Gibbs ALP 7.70%
Windsor Pat Comben ALP 7.70%
Rockhampton Paul Braddy ALP 8.20%
Brisbane Central Brian Davis ALP 9.10%
Safe
Rockhampton North Les Yewdale ALP 10.23%
Woodridge Bill D'Arcy ALP 11.00%
Ipswich West David Underwood ALP 11.20%
Bowen Ken Smyth ALP 12.47%
Bulimba Ron McLean ALP 13.00%
Nudgee Ken Vaughan ALP 13.10%
Ipswich David Hamill ALP 13.70%
Sandgate Nev Warburton ALP 13.70%
Lytton Tom Burns ALP 16.30%
Cook Bob Scott ALP 16.65%
Archerfield Henry Palaszczuk ALP 16.90%
Liberal seats (10)
Marginal
Ashgrove Alan Sherlock LIB 2.04%
Mount Isa Peter Beard LIB 2.74%
Stafford Terry Gygar LIB 4.46%
Nundah William Knox LIB 5.39%
Yeronga Norm Lee LIB 5.70%
Fairly Safe
Mount Coot-tha Lyle Schuntner LIB 6.20%
Redcliffe Terry White LIB 7.71%
Safe
Sherwood Angus Innes LIB 17.74%
Moggill Bill Lickiss LIB 18.08% v NAT
Toowong Denver Beanland LIB 18.37%

Subsequent changes

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See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Includes IndependentLabor MP for Murrumba Joe Kruger, whom was elected as a Labor candidate in the previous election, however ran as an Independent candidate.
  2. ^ Includes IndependentLiberal MP Colin Miller for Ithaca. The seat was abolished at the election.

References

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  1. ^ "Australian Political Chronicle: January–June 1986". Australian Journal of Politics and History. 32 (3): 468–469. December 1986. ISSN 0004-9522.
  2. ^ Syvret, Paul (3 March 2012). "Calamity Clive: Has Queensland's richest man Clive Palmer lost the plot?". The Courier-Mail. Archived from the original on 4 April 2012. Retrieved 26 April 2013.
  3. ^ Coaldrake, Peter. "WORKING THE SYSTEM" (PDF). Queensland University of Technology. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 May 2022. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
  4. ^ Queensland Legislative Assembly (17 March 1987). Details of polling at general election held on 1 November 1986. p. 8.
  5. ^ Australian Government and Politics Database. "Parliament of Queensland, Assembly election, 1 November 1986". Retrieved 22 February 2009.
  6. ^ Hughes, Colin A. (2002). A handbook of Australian government and politics, 1985-1999. Federation Press. p. 324. ISBN 978-1-86287-434-3.