Elections were held in the Australian state of Queensland on 12 November 1977 to elect the 82 members of the state's Legislative Assembly.
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All 82 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland 42 Assembly seats were needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The election resulted in a fourth consecutive victory for the National-Liberal Coalition under Joh Bjelke-Petersen. It was the eighth victory of the National Party in Queensland since it first came to office in 1957.
Issues
The major issue in the election was law and order. In 1977, the Government had passed a law making it illegal to march in the street without a permit, which were rarely given. The Coalition argued that this prevented traffic disruption and other inconveniences to the people of Brisbane, while the ALP claimed that it was a curtailment of civil liberties. Joh Bjelke-Petersen also no longer had the Whitlam Labor Government (which was unpopular in Queensland) to use as a campaigning tool.
Key dates
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 10 October 1977 | The Legislative Assembly was dissolved.[1] |
| 10 October 1977 | Writs were issued by the Governor, James Ramsay, to proceed with an election.[2] |
| 17 October 1977 | Close of nominations. |
| 12 November 1977 | Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm. |
| 16 December 1977 | The Bjelke-Petersen Ministry was reconstituted.[3] |
| 20 December 1977 | The writ was returned and the results formally declared.[4] |
| 14 January 1978 | Deadline for return of the writs. |
| 28 March 1978 | Parliament resumed for business.[5] |
Result
The Labor Party gained twelve seats from the Coalition and Independents, making something of a recovery from its disastrous 1974 performance. Even so, the Coalition retained a commanding majority in the Legislative Assembly.
For the first time, the National Party won more votes than the Liberal party (an electoral malapportionment had allowed the Nationals to win more seats than the Liberals previously). The Liberal Party had begun to decline.
The Democratic Labor Party had ceased to exist. The Australian Democrats contested their first election in Queensland.
Results
Queensland state election, 12 November 1977[6][7] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Enrolled voters | 1,209,494 | |||||
| Votes cast | 1,104,898 | Turnout | 91.35% | +1.93% | ||
| Informal votes | 16,887 | Informal | 1.53% | –0.05% | ||
| Summary of votes by party | ||||||
| Party | Primary votes | % | Swing | Seats | Change | |
| Labor | 466,021 | 42.83% | +6.80% | 23 | +12 | |
| Nationals | 295,355 | 27.15% | –0.73% | 35 | – 4 | |
| Liberal | 274,398 | 25.22% | –5.87% | 24 | – 6 | |
| Democrats | 17,571 | 1.61% | +1.61% | 0 | ± 0 | |
| Progress | 16,327 | 1.50% | +1.50% | 0 | ± 0 | |
| Independent | 18,339 | 1.69% | –1.22% | 0 | – 2 | |
| Total | 1,088,011 | 82 | ||||
New parties in this election were the Australian Democrats, who stood 12 candidates, and the Progress Party, who stood 27 candidates.[8]
Seats changing hands
| Seat | Pre-1977 | Swing | Post-1977 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Member | Margin | Margin | Member | Party | ||||
| Brisbane Central | Liberal | notional - new seat | 2.8 | -8.2 | 5.4 | Brian Davis | Labor | ||
| Chatsworth | Liberal | Bill Hewitt | 5.7 | -6.8 | 1.1 | Terry Mackenroth | Labor | ||
| Cook | National | Eric Deeral | 2.6 | -6.5 | 3.9 | Bob Scott | Labor | ||
| Everton | Liberal | Brian Lindsay | 9.2 | -10.2 | 1.0 | Glen Milliner | Labor | ||
| Ipswich West | National | Albert Hales | 1.1 | -5.4 | 4.3 | David Underwood | Labor | ||
| Maryborough | Liberal | Gilbert Alison | 5.0 | -5.2 | 0.2 | Brendan Hansen | Labor | ||
| Murrumba | National | Des Frawley | 9.7 | -11.1 | 1.4 | Joe Kruger | Labor | ||
| South Brisbane | Liberal | Colin Lamont | 4.1 | -7.3 | 3.2 | Jim Fouras | Labor | ||
| Southport | National | notional - new seat | 19.4 | -29.2 | 9.8 | Peter White | Liberal | ||
| Surfers Paradise | National | Bruce Small | 23.0 | -28.7 | 5.7 | Bruce Bishop | Liberal | ||
| Townsville South | Independent | Tom Aikens | 0.6 | -1.6 | 1.0 | Alex Wilson | Labor | ||
| Woodridge | Liberal | notional - new seat | 7.8 | -11.9 | 4.1 | Bill D'Arcy | Labor | ||
| Wynnum | National | Bill Lamond | 0.1 | -4.2 | 4.1 | Eric Shaw | Labor | ||
- Members listed in italics did not recontest their seats.
- In addition, the Independent member for Mackay, Ed Casey re-joined the Labor party before the election and retained the seat.
Post-election pendulum
| Labor seats (23) | |||
| Marginal | |||
| Maryborough | Brendan Hansen | ALP | 0.2% v LIB |
| Everton | Glen Milliner | ALP | 1.0% v LIB |
| Townsville South | Alex Wilson | ALP | 1.0% v IND |
| Chatsworth | Terry Mackenroth | ALP | 1.1% v LIB |
| Murrumba | Joe Kruger | ALP | 1.4% |
| South Brisbane | Jim Fouras | ALP | 3.2% v LIB |
| Cook | Bob Scott | ALP | 3.9% |
| Woodridge | Bill D'Arcy | ALP | 4.1% v LIB |
| Wynnum | Eric Shaw | ALP | 4.1% |
| Ipswich West | David Underwood | ALP | 4.3% |
| Bundaberg | Jim Blake | ALP | 4.4% |
| Brisbane Central | Brian Davis | ALP | 5.4% v LIB |
| Fairly safe | |||
| Sandgate | Nev Warburton | ALP | 8.0% |
| Nudgee | Ken Vaughan | ALP | 8.7% v LIB |
| Bulimba | Jack Houston | ALP | 9.8% v LIB |
| Safe | |||
| Wolston | Bob Gibbs | ALP | 10.6% v LIB |
| Cairns | Ray Jones | ALP | 11.4% |
| Port Curtis | Bill Prest | ALP | 11.8% |
| Mackay | Ed Casey | ALP | 11.9% |
| Rockhampton North | Les Yewdale | ALP | 16.2% v LIB |
| Lytton | Tom Burns | ALP | 17.0% |
| Rockhampton | Keith Wright | ALP | 17.3% v LIB |
| Archerfield | Kevin Hooper | ALP | 18.4% v LIB |