1986 Queensland state election

Background

All three parties had high hopes for the election. The Nationals knew that they needed to increase their number of seats 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 already malapportioned boundaries (the "Bjelkemander") had been redrawn earlier in the year in a manner which further advantaged the National Party.

Clive Palmer served as the media spokesman of National Party during its 1986 election campaign. Former Brisbane town clerk Tony Philbrick was the Nationals candidate for Sherwood, but failed to lodge his nomination by the midday deadline on 9 October 1986 and was unable to contest.

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.

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

Key dates

Electoral redistribution

A redistribution of electoral boundaries occurred in 1985.

The electorates of Ithaca, Kurilpa, Townsville North, Townsville South, Wavell, and Wynnum were abolished

The electorates of Bowen, Broadsound, Currumbin, Glass House, Logan, Manly, Moggill, Nerang, Nicklin, Springwood, Tablelands, Thuringowa, and Townsville East were created.

The redistribution increased the Legislative Assembly from 82 to 89 seats, adding 4 more in the South-East zone, 2 more in the Country zone, and 1 more in the Western and Far-Northern zone.

Caboolture notionally became Labor-held, while Townsville notionally became National-held.

The changes resulted in 33 notionally Labor seats, 7 notionally Liberal seats, 48 notionally National seats, and 1 notionally Independent seat.

Retiring members

Labor

• Jim Fouras (South Brisbane) – Lost preselection

National

• Brian Cahill (Aspley) – Lost preselection
• Bill Kaus (Mansfield)
• Neil Turner (Warrego)
• John Warner (Toowoomba South)
• Claude Wharton (Burnett)

Independent

• Lindsay Hartwig (Callide)
• Col Miller (Ithaca) – Elected for the Liberal Party

Result

| turnout % = 91.25% | informal % = 2.17% |votes % = 41.35% |votes % = 39.64% |votes % = 16.50% |votes % = 0.63% |votes % = 1.88% |2pp % 2 = 46.0% |2pp % 1 = 54.0% |}

Seats changing hands

• Members listed in italics did not recontest their seats.
• ¹ Don Lane was elected for the Liberal Party in 1983, but immediately resigned and joined the National Party to enter the ministry.
• ² Terry Gygar gained Stafford for the Liberal Party at the 1984 by-election. The Labor Party won the seat at the 1983 election.

Post-election pendulum

Subsequent changes

• On 9 April 1987, National Party member Doug Jennings (Southport) died. At the by-election on 20 Jun 1987, Mick Veivers retained the seat for the National Party.
• On 1 December 1987, former National Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen (Barambah) resigned after losing the leadership. At the by-election on 16 April 1988, Trevor Perrett gained the seat for the Citizens Electoral Council. Then on 16 December 1988, Trevor Perrett resigned and joined the National Party.
• On 24 May 1988, National Party member Russ Hinze (South Coast) resigned. At the by-election on 28 August 1988, Judy Gamin retained the seat for the National Party.
• On 27 September 1988, Eric Shaw (Manly) resigned from the Labor Party and sat as an Independent.
• On 25 November 1988, Don Lane (Merthyr) resigned from the National Party and sat as an Independent. On 20 January 1989, he resigned. At the by-election on 13 May 1989, Santo Santoro gained the seat for the Liberal Party.
• On 3 May 1989, Lin Powell (Isis) resigned from the National Party and sat as an Independent. On 31 July 1989, he resigned. No by-election took place due to the proximity of the 1989 election.
• On 9 November 1989, Geoff Muntz (Whitsunday) resigned from the National Party and sat as an Independent.

Notes

References

References

1. Rallings, Colin. (1987-08-01). "The Queensland state election 1986". Electoral Studies.
2. (December 1986). "Australian Political Chronicle: January–June 1986". Australian Journal of Politics and History.
3. Syvret, Paul. (3 March 2012). "Calamity Clive: Has Queensland's richest man Clive Palmer lost the plot?". [[The Courier-Mail]].
4. "WORKING THE SYSTEM". Queensland University of Technology.
5. Queensland Legislative Assembly. (17 March 1987). "Details of polling at general election held on 1 November 1986".
6. Australian Government and Politics Database. "Parliament of Queensland, Assembly election, 1 November 1986".
7. Hughes, Colin A.. (2002). "A handbook of Australian government and politics, 1985-1999". Federation Press.