Queensland state election, 1989

Queensland state election, 1989

2 December 1989 (1989-12-02)

All 89 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland   First party Second party Third party   Leader Wayne Goss Russell Cooper Angus Innes Party Labor Nationals Liberal Leader since 2 March 1988 (1988-03-02) 25 September 1989 January 1988 Leader's seat Logan Roma Sherwood Last election 30 seats 49 seats 10 seats Seats won 54 seats 27 seats 8 seats Seat change 24 22 2 Percentage 50.32% 24.09% 21.05% Swing 8.97 15.55 4.55

Premier before election Russell Cooper Nationals Elected Premier Wayne Goss Labor

Elections were held in the Australian state of Queensland on 2 December 1989 to elect the 89 members of the state's Legislative Assembly. This was the first election following the downfall of seven-term premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen at the end of 1987.

The government was led by Premier and leader of the National Party, Russell Cooper; the opposition was led by Opposition Leader and leader of the Labor Party, Wayne Goss, whilst the Liberal Party was led by Angus Innes.

The National government, which had been in power since the 1957 election and had governed in its own right since the dissolution of the state coalition at the 1983 election, was defeated; the election was a landslide win for the Labor Party, which gained 24 seats. Labor also won more than 50% of the primary vote. At the time, it was the worst defeat of a sitting government in Queensland history.

Campaign

The shadow campaign began in late 1988 with television advertisements depicting Labor and its leader, Wayne Goss, as "The Only Change for the Better". A string of policy papers were released on a range of themes emphasising responsible economic management and efficient, honest administration. While they maintained a positive and professional public opinion and consistently led opinion polls, neither the media nor the electorate appeared to believe they could win.^[1]

The Liberals, who had been on the crossbenches since the failure of the Coalition in 1983, launched a series of newspaper advertisements in March 1988 under the banner "Let's Put It Right". They were in a curious position, however, as a collapse in National support in urban South East Queensland would more than likely deliver winnable seats for the party to Labor.^[1]

On 1 April 1989, a non-partisan group called "Citizens for Democracy" gained some publicity by cutting a birthday cake to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Electoral Districts Act 1949, which had established electoral malapportionment in Queensland, which was seen as unfairly benefitting the Nationals. Both the Labor and Liberal parties favoured "one vote one value" electoral reform.

On 3 July 1989, the Commission of Inquiry into Possible Illegal Activities and Associated Police Misconduct (more commonly known as the Fitzgerald Inquiry after its chair, Tony Fitzgerald QC) handed down its report. It found links between criminal and political networks, and that corruption in Queensland's public life was widespread, commonplace and organised. It made numerous recommendations aimed at reforming the police and criminal justice system and at establishing independent institutions to monitor, report and act on reforms in the short term, and their operation on an ongoing basis. Premier Mike Ahern committed to implement the Report in its entirety.

By September, opinion polls were suggesting the Nationals had about half the support they had achieved at the 1986 election. A Newspoll taken after the inquiry's release showed that the Nationals had tumbled to only 22 percent support--the lowest ever recorded for a sitting government in Australia.^[2] Additionally, the Nationals suffered large swings at three by-elections, most recently in Merthyr where the Liberals had won the seat from the Nationals despite the latter putting forward a high-profile candidate and an expensive campaign. On 22 September, after a failed attempt in late August, Ahern was deposed in a party-room ballot which elected Russell Cooper, and on 25 September, Cooper was sworn in as Premier.

Cooper led the National Party into the 1989 election with traditional National focuses: law and order, social conservatism, and attacks on the federal Labor government, in particular related to interest rates. The Nationals produced a number of controversial advertisements, one of which alleged that the Labor Opposition's plan to decriminalise homosexuality would lead to a flood of gays from southern states moving to Queensland. These advertisements were satirised by Labor ads depicting Cooper as a wild-eyed reactionary and a clone of Bjelke-Petersen and/or a puppet of Nationals party president Sir Robert Sparkes.^[3]

Key dates

Results

The result was a landslide win for the Australian Labor Party. Brisbane swung over dramatically to support Labor, which took all but five seats in the capital.

Initially, it appeared that the Liberal Party had won the traditionally National hinterland seat of Nicklin, however, the Court of Disputed Returns overturned that result and awarded the seat to the National Party.

Seats changing hands

• Members in italics did not contest their seat at this election.
• Members for Isis and Whitsunday were elected as National Party members, but resigned from the party and ran as Independents.

Post-election pendulum

Aftermath

In early 1990, the former Premier and leader of the National Party, Mike Ahern, resigned his seat of Landsborough, and the Liberal Party candidate, Joan Sheldon, won the subsequent by-election. Angus Innes, the former leader of the Liberal Party, also resigned his seat of Sherwood, and the Liberal Party won the subsequent by-election which was held on the same day as the Landsborough by-election. Joan Sheldon led the Liberal Party to the 1992 election.

A major change to electoral legislation saw the zonal system of electoral distribution abolished in favour of a system largely resembling one vote one value in time for the 1992 state election.

See also

• Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 1986–1989
• Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 1989–1992
• Candidates of the Queensland state election, 1989
• Cooper Ministry
• Goss Ministry

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