1986 Western Australian state election

Elections were held in the state of Western Australia on 8 February 1986 to elect all 57 members to the Legislative Assembly and 17 members to the 34-seat Legislative Council. The Labor government, led by Premier Brian Burke, won a second term in office against the Liberal Party, led by Opposition Leader Bill Hassell since 16 February 1984.

1986 Western Australian state election
8 February 1986 (1986-02-08)
All 57 seats in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly
and 17 (of the 34) seats to the Western Australian Legislative Council
29 Assembly seats were needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
ALP
LIB
NAT
Leader Brian Burke Bill Hassell Hendy Cowan
Party Labor Liberal National
Leader since 18 September 1981 15 February 1984 August 1978
Leader's seat Balga Cottesloe Merredin
Last election 32 seats 20 seats 5 seats
Seats won 32 19 6
Seat change Steady Decrease1 Increase1
Popular vote 416,805 324,961 29,156
Percentage 53.00% 41.32% 3.71%
Swing Decrease0.16 Increase1.46 Decrease1.40
TPP 54.12% 45.88%
TPP swing Increase0.37 Decrease0.37
Premier before election

Brian Burke
Labor

 Elected Premier

Brian Burke
Labor

The election resulted in one of Labor's best state election results after World War II, and featured a united National Party for the first time since the 1977 election.

Results

Legislative Assembly
See also: Results of the Western Australian state election, 1986 (Legislative Assembly)

Western Australian state election, 8 February 1986
Legislative Assembly
<< 1983–1989 >>

Enrolled voters 883,239
Votes cast 807,634 Turnout 91.44% +3.51%
Informal votes 21,240 Informal 2.63% –0.20%
Summary of votes by party
Party Primary votes  % Swing Seats Change
  Labor 416,805 53.00% –0.16% 32 ± 0
  Liberal 324,961 41.32% +1.46% 19 – 1
  National[1] 29,156 3.71% –1.40% 6 + 1
  Democrats 5,192 0.66% –0.14% 0 ± 0
  Other parties 2,630 0.33% –0.73% 0 ± 0
  Independent 7,650 0.98% +0.48% 0 ± 0
Total 786,394     57  
Two-party-preferred
  Labor 427,704 54.12% +0.37%
  Liberal 362,642 45.88% –0.37%

Notes:

1 The National Country Party (NCP) and the National Party (NP), which had been two separate parties from 1978 onwards, united in 1985 to form the National Party. Three sitting members who had previously identified as National Country Party stood for the Liberal Party in 1986, with two losing their seats to the Nationals, and the other (Bert Crane in Moore) retaining his seat. The Nationals also gained Avon from the Labor Party, and Mount Marshall from the Liberals, who had held it for a single term.

Legislative Council
Main article: Results of the Western Australian state election, 1986 (Legislative Council)

Western Australian state election, 8 February 1986
Legislative Council

Enrolled voters 883,239
Votes cast 807,496 Turnout 91.42% +2.44%
Informal votes 26,530 Informal 3.29% –0.43%
Summary of votes by party
Party Primary votes  % Swing Seats
won		 Seats
held
  Labor 352,437 45.13% –5.50% 9 15
  Liberal 327,786 41.97% +0.40% 6 15
  National 37,194 4.76% –1.59% 2 4
  Democrats 63,483 8.13% +6.68% 0 0
  Independent 66 0.01% +0.01% 0 0
Total 780,966     17 34
Two-party-preferred
  Labor 418,124 53.54% +0.57%
  Liberal 361,160 46.25% –0.57%

Seats changing parties
Seat Pre-1986 Swing Post-1986
Party Member Margin Margin Member Party
Avon   Labor Ken McIver 8.4* N/A 1.8** Max Trenorden National  
Mount Marshall   Liberal Bill McNee 5.7*** N/A 3.3 Mort Schell National  
Subiaco   Independent Tom Dadour 1.6** 3.3 1.7* Carmen Lawrence Labor  
  • Members listed in italics did not contest their seat at this election.
  • * figure is vs. Liberal
  • ** figure is vs. Labor
  • *** figure is vs. National (pre-merger)

Post-election pendulum
Labor seats (32)
Marginal
Geraldton Jeff Carr ALP 0.4%
Subiaco Carmen Lawrence ALP 1.7%
Warren David Evans ALP 2.9%
Collie Tom Jones ALP 4.2%
Mundaring Gavan Troy ALP 5.3%
Bunbury Phil Smith ALP 5.4%
Fairly safe
Esperance-Dundas Judyth Watson ALP 7.1%
Mandurah John Read ALP 9.4%
Joondalup Jackie Watkins ALP 9.5%
Whitford Pam Beggs ALP 9.8%
Nollamara Keith Wilson ALP 9.9%
Safe
Mitchell David Smith ALP 10.0%
Scarborough Graham Burkett ALP 10.3%
Welshpool Bill Thomas ALP 13.2%
Balcatta Ron Bertram ALP 13.4%
Helena Gordon Hill ALP 14.5%
Rockingham Mike Barnett ALP 14.6%
Pilbara Pam Buchanan ALP 14.7%
Gosnells Yvonne Henderson ALP 14.8%
Perth Terry Burke ALP 14.9%
Victoria Park Ron Davies ALP 14.9%
Armadale Bob Pearce ALP 15.7%
Canning Tom Bateman ALP 15.8%
Kimberley Ernie Bridge ALP 16.5%
Morley-Swan Arthur Tonkin ALP 16.9%
Maylands Peter Dowding ALP 17.1%
Ascot Mal Bryce ALP 18.2%
Melville Barry Hodge ALP 19.5%
Fremantle David Parker ALP 21.8%
Cockburn Clive Hughes ALP 24.7%
Balga Brian Burke ALP 29.6%
Kalgoorlie Ian Taylor ALP 30.1% v IND
Liberal/National seats (25)
Marginal
Dale Cyril Rushton LIB 1.6%
Murchison-Eyre Ross Lightfoot LIB 1.6%
Avon Max Trenorden NAT 1.8%
Mount Lawley George Cash LIB 2.1%
Murdoch Barry MacKinnon LIB 2.3%
Albany Leon Watt LIB 3.3%
Mount Marshall Mort Schell NAT 3.3% v LIB
Fairly safe
Darling Range George Spriggs LIB 6.2%
Karrinyup Jim Clarko LIB 6.3%
South Perth Bill Grayden LIB 6.5%
Clontarf Tony Williams LIB 8.1%
Cottesloe Bill Hassell LIB 8.2%
Kalamunda Ian Thompson LIB 8.9%
Narrogin Cambell Nalder NAT 9.1% v LIB
Murray-Wellington John Bradshaw LIB 9.8%
Safe
East Melville Richard Lewis LIB 10.0%
Gascoyne Ian Laurance LIB 10.5%
Katanning-Roe Monty House NAT 11.2% v LIB
Stirling Matt Stephens NAT 12.2% v LIB
Vasse Barry Blaikie LIB 13.5%
Floreat Andrew Mensaros LIB 14.6%
Nedlands Richard Court LIB 14.9%
Greenough Reg Tubby LIB 23.6%
Moore Bert Crane LIB 24.5%
Merredin Hendy Cowan NAT 29.0%

Opinion polling
Morgan Gallop opinion poll results[1]
Date Primary vote Leader's approval rating
Labor Liberal-National Labor Liberal
19 February 1983 election 53.8 44.2 — —
March–April 1983 58 37 70 44
May–June 1983 55 41 72 48
July–August 1983 51 43 68 47
September–October 1983 48 47 63 43
November–December 1983 56 40 63 45
January–February 1984 53 42 71 37
15 February 1984 Bill Hassell replaces Ray O'Connor as leader of the Liberal Party
March–April 1984 49 46 68 38
May–June 1984 54 41 66 38
July–August 1984 50 46 65 40
September–October 1984 57 38 69 39
November–December 1984 53 42 63 41
January–February 1985 45 49 58 39
March–April 1985 45 47 53 36
May–June 1985 45 48 61 37
July–August 1985 48 47 64 34
September–October 1985 49 45 61 32
November–December 1985 53 40 65 32
8 February 1986 election 53.2 44.9 — —

See also

References
  1. Hamilton, John (1988). Burkie: A biography of Brian Burke. St. George Books. pp. 217–218. ISBN 0867780363.
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