Queensland state election, 1986

Queensland state election, 1986

1 November 1986 (1986-11-01)

All 89 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland   First party Second party Third party   Leader Joh Bjelke-Petersen Nev Warburton William Knox Party Nationals Labor Liberal Leader since 8 August 1968 29 August 1984 (1984-08-29) 1983 Leader's seat Barambah Sandgate Nundah Last election 41 seats 32 seats 8 seats Seats won 49 seats 30 seats 10 seats Seat change 8 2 2 Percentage 39.64% 41.35% 16.50% Swing 0.71 2.63 1.62

Premier before election Joh Bjelke-Petersen Nationals Elected Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen Nationals

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 by seven the number of seats in the Assembly.

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 just short of a majority in 1983, and had won 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.

Key dates

Overview

All three parties had high hopes for the election. The Nationals knew that they needed to increase their number of seats in order 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 election was held under malapportionment boundaries, which had been redrawn earlier in the year in a manner which further advantaged the National Party.^[2]

Result

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.

Seats changing hands

• Members in italics did not recontest their seats.
• In addition, the Liberal party gained Stafford in the 1984 by-election, and retained it this election.
• Caboolture was a notionally Labor-held seat and Townsville was a notionally National-held seat in the redistribution before the election.

Post-election pendulum

Significance

The 1986 election is significant for a number of reasons. Firstly, it saw the National Party retain a majority of seats in the Parliament. This 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 PM’ campaign, which would play a major part in the 1987 federal election, and would later be a major factor in his undoing.

See also

• Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 1983–1986
• Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 1986–1989
• Candidates of the Queensland state election, 1986

References

Elections and referendums in Queensland General elections 1860 1863 1867 1868 1870 1871 1873 1878 1883 1888 1893 1896 1899 1902 1904 1907 1908 1909 1912 1915 1918 1920 1923 1926 1929 1932 1935 1938 1941 1944 1947 1950 1953 1956 1957 1960 1963 1966 1969 1972 1974 1977 1980 1983 1986 1989 1992 1995 1998 2001 2004 2006 2009 2012 2015 next by-elections Referendums 1899 1910 1917 1920 1923 1991 1992