1969 Queensland state election

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1969 Queensland state election
Flag of Queensland.svg
  1966 17 May 1969 (1969-05-17) 1972  

All 78 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland
40 Assembly seats were needed for a majority
Turnout91.77 (Decrease2.svg 1.50 pp)
 First partySecond partyThird party
  Joh Bjelke-Petersen 1968 (cropped).jpg Jack Houston 1973 (1) (cropped).jpg
QLP
Leader Joh Bjelke-Petersen Jack Houston No leader
Party Country–Liberal Coalition Labor Queensland Labor
Leader since8 August 196812 October 1966 (1966-10-12)
Leader's seat Barambah Bulimba
Last election47 seats, 44.77%26 seats, 43.84%1 seat, 6.25%
Seats won45311
Seat changeDecrease2.svg 2Increase2.svg 5Steady2.svg
Popular vote380,890383,38861,661
Percentage44.70%44.99%7.24%
SwingDecrease2.svg 0.08Increase2.svg 1.15Increase2.svg 0.99

1969 Queensland state election.svg
Winning margin by electorate.

Premier before election

Joh Bjelke-Petersen
Country–Liberal Coalition

Elected Premier

Joh Bjelke-Petersen
Country–Liberal Coalition

Elections were held in the Australian state of Queensland on 17 May 1969 to elect the 78 members of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland. [1]

Contents

The Country-Liberal Coalition won its fifth consecutive victory since it won government in 1957. It was also the Coalition's first victory under new leader Joh Bjelke-Petersen after the brief premierships of Gordon Chalk and Jack Pizzey, who in turn had succeeded Frank Nicklin when he had retired the previous year.

The election campaign was characterised by tension between the governing coalition partners.

Key dates

DateEvent
8 April 1969The Legislative Assembly was dissolved and writs were issued. [2]
17 April 1969Close of nominations. [3]
17 May 1969Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm.
29 May 1969The Bjelke-Petersen Ministry was reconstituted. [4]
21 June 1969The writ was returned and the results formally declared. [5]
30 June 1969Deadline for return of the writs.
5 August 1969Parliament resumed for business. [6]

Candidates

By the close of nominations on 17 April, 247 candidates had nominated—two more than at the 1966 election. The Courier-Mail reported the following split of candidates by party: [7]

PartyCandidates
Labor 77
DLP 61
Liberal 44
Country 39
Social Credit 3
Communist 2
NQP (Aikens)1
Independent20

Six of the 78 seats—Albert, Bundaberg, Cairns, South Coast, Toowoomba West and Townsville North—had three-cornered contests between the Labor, Liberal and Country parties. [7]

Results

The election resulted in another win for the Coalition, but a strengthening of the Country Party's position vis-a-vis the Liberal Party. Labor gained back two seats held by ex-Labor ministers who had defected in the 1957 split when both retired, and gained one seat off each of the coalition partners; however, the Country party gained the seat of Burdekin following the conservative independent incumbent's retirement. Labor retained Isis, which it had gained unexpectedly at a November 1968 by-election from the Country Party following Premier Jack Pizzey's death.

Queensland state election, 17 May 1969
Legislative Assembly
<< 19661972 >>

Enrolled voters945,583
Votes cast867,743 Turnout 91.77%-1.50%
Informal votes15,566Informal1.79%+0.16%
Summary of votes by party
PartyPrimary votes %SwingSeatsChange
  Labor 383,38844.99%+1.15%31+ 4
  Liberal 201,76523.68%-1.81%19– 1
  Country 179,12521.02%+1.73%26± 0
  Queensland Labor 61,6617.24%+0.99%1± 0
  Social Credit 1,2950.15%+0.15%0± 0
  Communist 4760.06%+0.06%0± 0
  Independent 22,4972.64%-2.12%1– 3
Total852,177  78 
Popular vote
Labor
44.99%
Liberal
23.68%
Country
21.02%
Democratic Labor
7.24%
Independents
2.85%
Seats
Labor
39.74%
Country
33.33%
Liberal
24.36%
Democratic Labor
1.28%
Independents
1.28%

Seats changing hands

SeatPre-1969SwingPost-1969
PartyMemberMarginMarginMemberParty
Bundaberg  Independent Ted Walsh 3.5 v ALPN/A8.1 v CP Lou Jensen Labor 
Burdekin  Independent Arthur Coburn 8.5 v LIBN/A4.2 v ALP Val Bird Country 
Cook  Independent Bunny Adair 5.2 v ALPN/A6.1 v CP Bill Wood Labor 
Logan  Country Dick Wood 3.2-4.81.6 Ted Baldwin Labor 
Rockhampton South  Liberal Rex Pilbeam 6.7-8.92.2 Keith Wright Labor 

Post-election pendulum

Country/Liberal seats (45)
Marginal
Hawthorne Bill Kaus LIB0.02%
Bowen Peter Delamothe LIB1.4%
Windsor Bob Moore LIB1.5%
Ashgrove Douglas Tooth LIB2.8%
Burdekin Val Bird CP4.2%
Murrumba David Nicholson CP4.2%
Mirani Tom Newbery CP4.5%
Wavell Arthur Crawford LIB4.8%
Kurilpa Clive Hughes LIB4.9%
Flinders Bill Longeran CP5.1%
Aspley Fred Campbell LIB5.5%
Fairly safe
Callide Vincent Jones CP6.8%
Ithaca Col Miller LIB6.8%
Nundah William Knox LIB6.8%
Merthyr Ray Ramsden LIB7.3%
Mount Gravatt Geoff Chinchen LIB7.8%
Yeronga Norm Lee LIB8.6%
Chatsworth Bill Hewitt LIB8.7%
Whitsunday Ron Camm CP8.7%
Balonne Harold Hungerford CP8.9%
Redcliffe Jim Houghton CP9.3%
Mulgrave Roy Armstrong CP9.8%
Somerset Harold Richter CP9.9%
Safe
Clayfield John Murray LIB10.3%
Warwick David Cory CP10.5%
Mackenzie Neville Hewitt CP11.3%
South Coast Russ Hinze CP12.4% v LIB
Greenslopes Keith Hooper LIB12.6%
Gregory Wally Rae CP12.7%
Fassifern Selwyn Muller CP13.4%
Sherwood John Herbert LIB13.6%
Roma Ken Tomkins CP14.1%
Carnarvon Henry McKechnie CP14.4%
Hinchinbrook John Row CP14.9%
Gympie Max Hodges CP15.3%
Burnett Claude Wharton CP15.9%
Toowong Charles Porter LIB17.3%
Cooroora David Low CP17.6%
Mount Coot-tha Bill Lickiss LIB18.5%
Landsborough Mike Ahern CP18.7%
Cunningham Alan Fletcher CP19.2%
Very safe
Lockyer Gordon Chalk LIB20.7% v IND
Albert Cec Carey CP25.2%
Condamine Vic Sullivan CP25.2%
Barambah Joh Bjelke-Petersen CP28.2%
Labor seats (31)
Marginal
Toowoomba West Ray Bousen ALP0.6%
Townsville North Perc Tucker ALP0.7%
Logan Ted Baldwin ALP1.6%
Rockhampton South Keith Wright ALP2.2%
Tablelands Edwin Wallis-Smith ALP2.4%
Isis Jim Blake ALP4.4%
Warrego Jack Aiken ALP4.5%
Norman Fred Bromley ALP4.6%
Toowoomba East Peter Wood ALP4.6%
Fairly safe
Cook Bill Wood ALP6.1%
Ipswich West Vi Jordan ALP6.3%
Mourilyan Peter Moore ALP6.9%
Maryborough Horace Davies ALP7.5%
Bundaberg Lou Jensen ALP8.1%
Barcoo Eugene O'Donnell ALP8.4%
Belmont Fred Newton ALP8.8%
Brisbane Brian Davis ALP8.8%
Ipswich East Evan Marginson ALP9.5%
Safe
Mackay Ed Casey ALP10.5%
Kedron Eric Lloyd ALP11.6%
South Brisbane Col Bennett ALP12.3%
Burke Alex Inch ALP13.0%
Wynnum Edward Harris ALP13.2%
Nudgee Jack Melloy ALP13.9%
Sandgate Harold Dean ALP14.7%
Cairns Ray Jones ALP15.5%
Baroona Pat Hanlon ALP15.7%
Rockhampton North Merv Thackeray ALP17.4%
Bulimba Jack Houston ALP17.8%
Very safe
Salisbury Doug Sherrington ALP20.5%
Port Curtis Martin Hanson ALP31.3% v DLP
Crossbench seats (2)
Townsville South Tom Aikens IND9.2% v ALP
Aubigny Les Diplock DLP13.2% v CP

See also

References

  1. "Parliament of Queensland, Legislative Assembly election results for 17 May 1969". Australian Politics and Elections Archive 1856-2018. University of Western Australia. Archived from the original on 31 March 2017. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  2. "A Proclamation". Queensland Government Gazette . 8 April 1969. p. 230:1173.
  3. "Extraordinary". Queensland Government Gazette . 8 April 1969. p. 230:1175.
  4. "Extraordinary". Queensland Government Gazette . 29 May 1969. p. 231:563–567.
  5. "Notices of Results of General Election". Queensland Government Gazette . 21 June 1969. p. 231:915–928.
  6. "A Proclamation". Queensland Government Gazette . 26 June 1969. p. 231:1097.
  7. 1 2 "Six three-cornered contests for State election". The Courier-Mail. 18 April 1969. p. 7.