1977 Western Australian state election

1977 Western Australian state election
← 1974 19 February 1977 (1977-02-19) 1980 →
All 55 seats in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly
and 17 (of the 32) seats to the Western Australian Legislative Council
28 Assembly seats were needed for a majority
  First party Second party
 
Leader Charles Court Colin Jamieson
Party Liberal/NCP coalition Labor
Leader since 5 June 1972 16 April 1976
Leader's seat Nedlands Welshpool
Last election 29 seats 22 seats
Seats won 33 22
Seat change Increase4 Steady
Popular vote 318,435 257,730
Percentage 54.70% 45.30%
Swing Increase3.50 Decrease3.88
TPP 54.70% 45.30%
TPP swing Increase4.53 Decrease4.53
Premier before election

Charles Court
Liberal/NCP coalition

Elected Premier

Charles Court
Liberal/NCP coalition

Elections were held in the state of Western Australia on 19 February 1977 to elect all 55 members to the Legislative Assembly and 17 members to the 32-seat Legislative Council. The Liberal-National Country coalition government, led by Premier Sir Charles Court, won a second term in office against the Labor Party, led by Opposition Leader Colin Jamieson.

The election produced a decisive victory for the Coalition, attributed by some observers to its strong and organised campaign, the Premier's ability in dealing with the media and good economic times built on resource exports, as contrasted against the Labor Opposition's often unfocussed campaign dwelling on the government's perceived autocratic methods and those sections of the general population which were not benefitting from the good times.[1]

Results

Legislative Assembly

See also: Results of the Western Australian state election, 1977 (Legislative Assembly)

Western Australian state election, 19 February 1977
Legislative Assembly
<< 1974–1980 >>

Enrolled voters 663,113
Votes cast 601,975 Turnout 90.78% +0.65%
Informal votes 19,148 Informal 3.18% –0.90%
Summary of votes by party
Party Primary votes % Swing Seats Change
  Liberal 287,651 49.35% +9.02% 27 + 4
  Labor 257,730 44.22% –3.88% 22 ± 0
  National Country[1] 30,784 5.28% –5.52% 6 ± 0
  Progress 2,640 0.45% +0.45% 0 ± 0
  Australia Party 549 0.09% –0.31% 0 ± 0
  Independent 3,473 0.60% +0.23% 0 ± 0
Total 582,827     55  
Two-party-preferred
  Liberal/NCP 318,796 54.70% +4.53%
  Labor 264,031 45.30% –4.53%

Notes:

1 The National Country Party contested seven seats in the election. The previous high vote stemmed from its attempted merger with the Democratic Labor Party prior to the 1974 election, known as the "National Alliance", which contested 44 seats including many in the metropolitan area. The Alliance ceased to exist shortly after the 1974 election, and adopted a more traditional strategy in 1977.

Legislative Council

See also: Results of the Western Australian state election, 1977 (Legislative Council)

Western Australian state election, 19 February 1977
Legislative Council

Enrolled voters 663,113
Votes cast 601,442 Turnout 90.70% +0.76%
Informal votes 26,160 Informal 4.35% –0.44%
Summary of votes by party
Party Primary votes % Swing Seats
won 		Seats
held
  Liberal 289,416 50.31% +4.88% 9 18
  Labor 241,359 41.95% –5.28% 4 10
  National Country 31,974 5.56% –1.78% 3 4
  Independent 12,533 2.18% +2.18% 0 0
Total 575,282     16 32
Two-party-preferred
  Liberal/NCP 319,952 55.62% +3.72%
  Labor 255,330 44.38% –3.72%

Seats changing hands

Seat Pre-1977 Swing Post-1977
Party Member Margin Margin Member Party
Clontarf   Labor Don May 2.2 -9.8 7.6 Tony Williams Liberal  
Mundaring   Labor James Moiler 1.6 -3.8 2.2 Tom Herzfeld Liberal  
Murdoch   Labor Notional - new seat 8.6 -11.0 2.4 Barry MacKinnon Liberal  
  • Members listed in italics did not recontest their seats.

Redistribution affected seats

Seat 1974 election 1976 redistribution Swing 1977 election
Party Member Margin Party Member Margin Margin Member Party
Murray   Liberal Richard Shalders 1.8   Labor Notional 1.0 +11.3 10.3 Richard Shalders Liberal  
Scarborough   Liberal Ray Young 0.5   Labor Notional 0.8 +7.4 6.6 Ray Young Liberal  

Post-election pendulum

Liberal/NCP seats (33)
Marginal
Kimberley Alan Ridge LIB 1.3%
Mundaring Tom Herzfeld LIB 2.2%
Murdoch Barry MacKinnon LIB 2.4%
Pilbara Brian Sodeman LIB 2.8%
Bunbury John Sibson LIB 4.5%
Fairly safe
Scarborough Ray Young LIB 6.6%
Dale Cyril Rushton LIB 7.2%
Clontarf Tony Williams LIB 7.6%
Mount Lawley Ray O'Connor LIB 9.5%
Cottesloe Bill Hassell LIB 9.7%
Safe
Murray Richard Shalders LIB 10.3%
Karrinyup Jim Clarko LIB 11.0%
Wellington June Craig LIB 11.3%
Whitford Mick Nanovich LIB 12.4%
South Perth Bill Grayden LIB 12.8%
Albany Leon Watt LIB 12.9%
Moore Bert Crane NCP 13.3% v LIB
Murchison-Eyre Peter Coyne LIB 13.8%
Darling Range George Spriggs LIB 14.0%
Subiaco Tom Dadour LIB 14.1%
East Melville Des O'Neil LIB 15.5%
Kalamunda Ian Thompson LIB 18.6%
Mount Marshall Ray McPharlin NCP 19.8% v LIB
Stirling Matt Stephens NCP 21.3% v LIB
Gascoyne Ian Laurance LIB 21.6%
Vasse Barry Blaikie LIB 21.6%
Floreat Andrew Mensaros LIB 23.6%
Nedlands Charles Court LIB 24.0%
Stirling Hendy Cowan NCP 24.5%
Greenough Reg Tubby LIB 27.2%
Narrogin Peter Jones NCP 28.8% v LIB
Roe Geoff Grewar LIB 30.8%
Katanning Dick Old NCP 34.8%
Labor seats (22)
Marginal
Gosnells Bob Pearce ALP 0.9%
Canning Tom Bateman ALP 3.1%
Avon Ken McIver ALP 3.8%
Rockingham Mike Barnett ALP 4.0%
Dianella Keith Wilson ALP 4.3%
Maylands John Harman ALP 4.6%
Geraldton Jeff Carr ALP 5.6%
Warren Hywel Evans ALP 5.8%
Swan Jack Skidmore ALP 6.0%
Fairly safe
Welshpool Colin Jamieson ALP 6.2%
Mount Hawthorn Ronald Bertram ALP 7.5%
Morley Arthur Tonkin ALP 8.3%
Ascot Mal Bryce ALP 9.0%
Victoria Park Ron Davies ALP 9.6%
Perth Terry Burke ALP 9.7%
Melville Barry Hodge ALP 9.8%
Safe
Collie Tom Jones ALP 11.1%
Balcatta Brian Burke ALP 11.3%
Yilgarn-Dundas Julian Grill ALP 12.7%
Kalgoorlie Tom Evans ALP 13.6%
Fremantle John Troy ALP 14.3%
Cockburn Don Taylor ALP 17.5%

See also

References

  1. ^ Wood, Michael (December 1977). "Australian Political Chronicle: January–June 1977 (Western Australia)". Australian Journal of Politics and History. 23 (3): 448–453. ISSN 0004-9522.