1980 Denison state by-election

A by-election for the Tasmanian House of Assembly was held in the Division of Denison in the Australian state of Tasmania on Saturday 16 February 1980.

1980 Denison state by-election
16 February 1980
All 7 seats for the Division of Denison in the House of Assembly
4 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Doug Lowe Geoff Pearsall Norm Sanders
Party Labor Liberal Democrats
Seats before 4 3 0
Seats won 3 3 1
Seat change Decrease1 Steady Increase1
First preference vote 21,615 20,309 4,292
Percentage 46.4% 43.6% 9.2%
Swing Decrease4.3pp Increase1.6pp Increase1.8pp

Background

The election was the first to use the Robson Rotation, a method of rotating names on ballot papers.[1] In previous elections, candidates were listed in alphabetical order by surname.

By-elections are not usually held in the Tasmanian House of Assembly because casual vacancies are filled by a recount of votes, a system that has been in place since 1917.[2]

On 18 December 1979 the Supreme Court of Tasmania ordered that the election of three candidates in the 1979 election be declared void.[3] The court found that Julian Amos, John Devine and John Green had exceeded their spending limits.[3][4] As a result, all elected members for the electorate of Denison were required to face another election.

Elected Members

The election resulted in two previously elected members losing their seats: John Green from the Labor Party and Bob Baker from the Liberal Party. Elected in their place were Norm Sanders from the Democrats and Liberal Gabriel Haros.

The following candidates were elected, listed in order of election:

Order Name Party
1 Neil Batt Labor
2 Max Bingham Liberal
3 Gabriel Haros Liberal
4 Julian Amos Labor
5 John Devine Labor
6 Robert Mather Liberal
7 Norm Sanders Democrats

Result
1980 Denison state by-election[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Quota 5,819
Labor Neil Batt (elected 1) 8,272 17.8 +5.2
Labor John Devine (elected 5) 4,346 9.3 -2.4
Labor Julian Amos (elected 4) 3,928 8.4 -3.6
Labor John Green 2,325 5.0 -2.8
Labor Bob Graham 2,108 4.5 -0.6
Labor Stan Joiner 332 0.7 +0.7
Labor Norm Hanscombe 304 0.7 +0.3
Liberal Max Bingham (elected 2) 5,960 12.8 -12.9
Liberal Gabriel Haros (elected 3) 5,658 12.2 +7.4
Liberal Robert Mather (elected 6) 2,160 4.6 +0.8
Liberal Geoff Davis 1,616 3.5 +0.5
Liberal Bob Baker 1,540 3.3 +1.6
Liberal Max Robinson 1,364 2.9 +1.5
Liberal Doug Clark 1,194 2.6 +2.6
Liberal Terry Bower 462 1.0 +0.5
Liberal Alan Hughes 355 0.8 +0.8
Democrats Norm Sanders (elected 7) 2,798 6.0 +1.8
Democrats Peter Brown 466 1.0 +1.0
Democrats Rod Broadby 422 0.9 -1.9
Democrats Elizabeth Holloway 206 0.4 +0.4
Democrats Andrew Langlinger 149 0.3 +0.3
Democrats John Harrison 130 0.3 +0.3
Democrats Bruce Kent 121 0.3 +0.3
Christian Democrats Hellen Kelly 168 0.4 +0.4
Christian Democrats Stephen Shelley 167 0.4 +0.4
Total formal votes 46,551 94.8 -1.5
Informal votes 2,538 5.2 +1.5
Turnout 49,089 90.0 -2.4
Party total votes
Labor 21,615 46.4 -4.3
Liberal 20,309 43.6 +1.6
Democrats 4,292 9.2 +1.8
Christian Democrats 335 0.7 +0.7

References
  1. Newsletter of the Proportional Representation Society of Australia Archived 2011-07-06 at the Wayback Machine, Number 69, March 1993
  2. House of Assembly Elections, Tasmanian Parliamentary Library
  3. Report on Parliamentary Elections 1978 to 1980 Archived 2007-08-30 at the Wayback Machine, Parliament of Tasmania, 1980.
  4. A Tasmanian Political Almanac, Parliament of Tasmania
  5. "1980 Results in Denison for the By-Election held on 16 February 1980". Tasmanian Parliamentary Library.

Further reading
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