1989 Western Australian state election

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1989 Western Australian state election
← 1986 4 February 1989 (1989-02-04) 1993 →
All 57 seats in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly
and all 34 seats to the Western Australian Legislative Council
29 Assembly seats were needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
  Peter Dowding.jpg No image.png No image.png
Leader Peter Dowding Barry MacKinnon Hendy Cowan
Party Labor Liberal National
Leader since 25 February 1988 25 November 1986 1979
Leader's seat Maylands Jandakot Merredin
Last election 32 seats 19 seats 6 seats
Seats won 31 seats 20 seats 6 seats
Seat change Decrease1 Increase1 Steady0
Percentage 42.46% 42.79% 4.60%
Swing Decrease10.54 Increase1.47 Increase0.89
Premier before election

Peter Dowding
Labor

Elected Premier

Peter Dowding
Labor

Elections were held in the state of Western Australia on 4 February 1989 to elect all 57 members to the Legislative Assembly and all 34 members to the Legislative Council. The Labor government, led by Premier Peter Dowding, won a third term in office against the Liberal Party, led by Opposition Leader Barry MacKinnon.

The result was a major swing against the Labor Party, coming in the wake of revelations of dealings between Government and business that came to be known as WA Inc. The redistribution that took place in 1988, based upon the Acts Amendment (Electoral Reform) Act 1987 which abolished several country and outer metropolitan electorates while creating new metropolitan ones, makes it difficult to assess how Labor would have performed on the old boundaries—while it lost four seats, it gained one Liberal-held seat and won several of the new seats, so in net terms, it only lost one seat despite the massive swing and the low two-party-preferred result.

This was the first election in WA contested by the Australian Greens Party.

Results[]

Legislative Assembly[]

See also: Results of the Western Australian state election, 1989 (Legislative Assembly)

Western Australian state election, 4 February 1989
Legislative Assembly
<< 1986–1993 >>

Enrolled voters 957,939
Votes cast 869,100 Turnout 90.73% –0.71%
Informal votes 63,870 Informal 7.35% +4.72%
Summary of votes by party
Party Primary votes % Swing Seats Change
  Labor 341,931 42.46% –10.54% 31 – 1
  Liberal 344,524 42.79% +1.47% 20 + 1
  National 37,075 4.60% +0.89% 6 ± 0
  Grey Power 41,525 5.16% +5.16% 0 ± 0
  Democrats 11,509 1.43% +0.77% 0 ± 0
  Greens 4,246 0.53% +0.53% 0 ± 0
  Other parties 1,042 0.13% –0.20% 0 ± 0
  Independent 23,378 2.90% +1.92% 0 ± 0
Total 805,230     57  
Two-party-preferred
  Labor 383,422 47.62% –6.50%
  Liberal 421,808 52.38% +6.50%

Legislative Council[]

See also: Results of the Western Australian state election, 1989 (Legislative Council)

Western Australian state election, 4 February 1989
Legislative Council

Enrolled voters 957,939
Votes cast 870,996 Turnout 90.92% –0.50%
Informal votes 24,061 Informal 2.76% –0.53%
Summary of votes by party
Party Primary votes % Swing Seats Change
  Labor 347,675 41.05% –4.08% 16 + 1
  Liberal 350,053 41.33% –0.64% 15 ± 0
  National 42,328 5.00% +0.24% 3 – 1
  Grey Power 34,055 4.02% +4.02% 0 ± 0
  Democrats 28,113 3.32% –4.81% 0 ± 0
  Greens 27,013 3.19% +3.19% 0 ± 0
  One Australia 7,391 0.87% +0.87% 0 ± 0
  Independent 10,307 1.22% +1.21% 0 ± 0
Total 846,935     34  

Seats changing parties[]

Seat Pre-1989 Swing Post-1989
Party Member Margin Margin Member Party
Collie   Labor Tom Jones 4.2* 7.1 2.9** Hilda Turnbull National  
Kingsley   Labor notional N/A N/A 7.6 Cheryl Edwardes Liberal  
Mandurah   Labor John Read 9.4 10.5 1.1 Roger Nicholls Liberal  
Melville   Labor Barry Hodge 19.5 19.6 0.1 Doug Shave Liberal  
Murray   Liberal notional N/A N/A 0.9 Keith Read Labor  
Riverton   Labor notional N/A N/A 4.5 Graham Kierath Liberal  
Roe   Liberal notional N/A N/A 1.0*** Ross Ainsworth National  
Roleystone   Labor notional N/A N/A 1.7 Fred Tubby Liberal  
Scarborough   Labor Graham Burkett 10.3 11.9 1.6 George Strickland Liberal  
Warren   Labor David Evans –1.0 9.8 10.8 Paul Omodei Liberal  
  • A redistribution prior to the election had made the Labor-held seat of Warren notionally Liberal
  • Members listed in italics did not contest their seat at this election.
  • * figure is vs. National
  • ** figure is vs. Labor
  • *** figure is vs. Liberal

Post-election pendulum[]

Labor seats (31)
Marginal
Geraldton Jeff Carr ALP 0.2%
Northern Rivers Kevin Leahy ALP 0.6%
Murray Keith Read ALP 0.9%
Dianella Keith Wilson ALP 1.1%
Perth Ian Alexander ALP 1.2%
Bunbury Phil Smith ALP 1.5%
Swan Hills Gavan Troy ALP 1.5%
Wanneroo Jackie Watkins ALP 1.6%
Whitford Pam Beggs ALP 1.7%
Helena Gordon Hill ALP 2.6%
Armadale Bob Pearce ALP 3.1%
Nollamara John Kobelke ALP 3.7%
Balcatta Nick Catania ALP 4.0%
Rockingham Mike Barnett ALP 4.1%
Glendalough Carmen Lawrence ALP 4.8%
Fairly safe
Kenwick Judyth Watson ALP 6.9%
Mitchell David Smith ALP 7.4%
Thornlie Yvonne Henderson ALP 7.4%
Victoria Park Geoff Gallop ALP 7.4%
Ashburton Pam Buchanan ALP 7.9%
Peel Norm Marlborough ALP 9.4%
Safe
Maylands Peter Dowding ALP 10.1%
Belmont Eric Ripper ALP 10.5%
Eyre Julian Grill ALP 11.2%
Kalgoorlie Ian Taylor ALP 11.4%
Pilbara Larry Graham ALP 11.5%
Fremantle David Parker ALP 12.4%
Marangaroo Ted Cunningham ALP 12.4%
Morley Frank Donovan ALP 12.4%
Cockburn Bill Thomas ALP 14.6%
Kimberley Ernie Bridge ALP 19.6%
Liberal/National seats (26)
Marginal
Melville Doug Shave LIB 0.1%
Roe Ross Ainsworth NAT 1.0% v LIB
Mandurah Roger Nicholls LIB 1.1%
Scarborough George Strickland LIB 1.6%
Roleystone Fred Tubby LIB 1.7%
Moore Bill McNee LIB 2.5% v NAT
Collie Hilda Turnbull NAT 2.9%
Riverton Graham Kierath LIB 4.5%
Fairly safe
Kingsley Cheryl Edwardes LIB 7.6%
Safe
Albany Leon Watt LIB 10.1%
Warren Paul Omodei LIB 10.8%
South Perth Bill Grayden LIB 11.3%
Marmion Jim Clarko LIB 14.3%
Jandakot Barry MacKinnon LIB 14.6%
Stirling Monty House NAT 15.1% v LIB
Avon Max Trenorden NAT 16.0%
Cottesloe Bill Hassell LIB 16.8%
Nedlands Richard Court LIB 17.3%
Wellington John Bradshaw LIB 17.5%
Darling Range Ian Thompson LIB 17.7%
Wagin Bob Wiese NAT 18.1% v LIB
Vasse Barry Blaikie LIB 18.7%
Applecross Richard Lewis LIB 19.1%
Floreat Andrew Mensaros LIB 20.3%
Greenough Kevin Minson LIB 21.3%
Merredin Hendy Cowan NAT 31.2%

See also[]

References[]

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