1973 New South Wales state election

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1973 New South Wales state election
Flag of New South Wales.svg
←  1971 17 November 1973 (1973-11-17) 1976  →
All 99 seats in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
50 Assembly seats were needed for a majority
 First partySecond party
  Robert Askin 1973.jpg Pat Hills.jpg
Leader Robert Askin Pat Hills
Party Liberal–Country Coalition Labor
Leader since17 July 19592 December 1968
Leader's seat Pittwater Phillip
Last election49 seats45 seats
Seats won5244 seats
Seat changeIncrease2.svg3Decrease2.svg1
Percentage44.33%42.93%
SwingDecrease2.svg0.06Decrease2.svg2.09
1973 New South Wales state election.svg
Two-candidate-preferred margin by electorate
Premier before election

Robert Askin
Liberal–Country Coalition

Elected Premier

Robert Askin
Liberal–Country Coalition

Elections for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly were held in the state of New South Wales, Australia, on Saturday 17 November 1973. The result was a win for the Liberal-Country Party coalition under Sir Robert Askin, which had been in office since 1965. As of 2023, this was the first and only time the Coalition won a fourth-term in New South Wales.

Contents

Issues

The Legislative Assembly had been enlarged by three members to 99 adding the seats of Woronora, Penrith and Ku-ring-gai.

The election was held just eleven months after the Liberal–Country coalition lost the federal election after 23 years in power. Askin called an early election to take advantage of the increasing economic issues which had been attributed to the Whitlam Labor government.

Leader of the Legislative Council Neville Wran, who would become Premier at the next election moved from the unelected Legislative Council to the Legislative Assembly after the late retirement of Clarrie Earl in the seat of Bass Hill.

Key dates

DateEvent
19 October 1973The Legislative Assembly was dissolved, and writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election. [1]
25 October 1973Nominations for candidates for the election closed at noon.
17 November 1973Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm.
3 December 1973The sixth Askin-Cutler ministry was constituted.
4 December 1973Parliament resumed for business.
7 December 1973The writ was returned and the results formally declared.

Results

The Democratic Labor Party won its only lower house seat at the 1973 election following the Liberal Party's incumbent for the northern Sydney seat of Gordon — Harry Jago failed to nominate in time. Conservative voters were urged to vote for the DLP candidate, Kevin Harrold.

New South Wales state election, 17 November 1973  [1] [2]
Legislative Assembly
<< 1971–1976 >>

Enrolled voters2,767,876 [a]
Votes cast2,560,653 Turnout 92.51-0.75
Informal votes69,225Informal2.70+0.36
Summary of votes by party
PartyPrimary votes %SwingSeatsChange
  Labor 1,069,61442.93–2.0944– 1
  Liberal 843,32533.85–1.8934+ 2
  Country 261,50410.48+1.8318+ 1
  Democratic Labor 148,3785.96+2.791+ 1
  Australia 104,8214.21+3.150± 0
  Communist 8380.03–0.060± 0
  Independent 63,3582.54–3.242± 0
Total2,491,428  99 

Popular vote
Labor
 
42.93%
Liberal
 
33.85%
Country
 
10.48%
Democratic Labor
 
5.96%
Australia
 
4.21%
Independents
 
2.54%
Communist
 
0.03%
Parliamentary seats
Labor
 
44
Liberal
 
34
Country
 
18
Independents
 
2
Democratic Labor
 
1

Seats changing hands

SeatPre-1973SwingPost-1973
PartyMemberMarginMarginMemberParty
Burrendong  Labor Leo Nott 1.8-5.63.8 Roger Wotton Country 
Gordon  Liberal Harry Jago *N/AN/A29.4 Kevin Harrold Democratic Labor 
South Coast  Liberal Jack Beale 0.9-2.31.7 John Hatton Independent 

Redistribution affected seats

Seat1971 election1973 redistributionSwing1973 election
PartyMemberMarginPartyMemberMarginMarginMemberParty
Gosford  Labor Keith O'Connell 2.6 LiberalNotional1.1+4.65.7 Malcolm Brooks Liberal 
Nepean  Labor Ron Mulock 1.6 LiberalNotional1.9+1.43.3 Ron Rofe Liberal 

Post-election pendulum

Liberal/Country seats (51)
Marginal
Murray Mary Meillon LIB2.7% v IND
Hurstville Tom Mead LIB3.1%
Nepean Ron Rofe LIB3.3%
Ashfield David Hunter LIB3.6%
Burrendong Roger Wotton CP3.8%
Cronulla Ian Griffith LIB4.7%
Fuller Peter Coleman LIB5.3%
Gosford Malcolm Brooks LIB5.7%
Fairly safe
Miranda Tim Walker LIB6.4%
Earlwood Eric Willis LIB6.7%
Monaro Steve Mauger LIB7.3%
Yaralla Lerryn Mutton LIB9.8%
Safe
Young George Freudenstein CP10.4%
Wakehurst Allan Viney LIB11.4%
Wollondilly Tom Lewis LIB12.0%
Burwood John Jackett LIB12.4%
Bathurst Clive Osborne CP12.8%
Armidale David Leitch CP13.0%
Manly Douglas Darby LIB13.0%
Albury Gordon Mackie LIB13.4%
Tamworth Noel Park CP13.6%
Upper Hunter Col Fisher CP13.8%
Byron Jack Boyd CP14.3%
Kirribilli John Waddy LIB14.3%
Dubbo John Mason LIB15.0%
Hornsby Neil Pickard LIB15.4%
Hawkesbury Kevin Rozzoli LIB16.5%
Eastwood Jim Clough LIB17.4% v AP
Goulburn Ron Brewer CP17.9%
Clarence Matt Singleton CP18.1%
Raleigh Jim Brown CP18.4%
Tenterfield Tim Bruxner CP18.6%
Vaucluse Keith Doyle LIB18.8% v AP
Davidson Dick Healey LIB19.0%
Pittwater Robert Askin LIB19.2%
Lane Cove Ken McCaw LIB19.3%
Willoughby Laurie McGinty LIB19.3%
Maitland Milton Morris LIB19.6%
Wagga Wagga Wal Fife LIB19.7%
Orange Charles Cutler CP20.1%
The Hills Max Ruddock LIB20.2%
Northcott Jim Cameron LIB20.4% v AP
Temora Jim Taylor CP20.5%
Sturt Tim Fischer CP21.7%
Oxley Bruce Cowan CP22.6%
Lismore Bruce Duncan CP24.8%
Gloucester Leon Punch CP25.2%
Barwon Geoff Crawford CP25.5% v AP
Bligh John Barraclough LIB30.0% v AP
Mosman David Arblaster LIB30.0% v AP
Ku-ring-gai John Maddison LIB31.2%
Labor seats (45)
Marginal
Coogee Michael Cleary ALP0.1%*
Drummoyne Michael Maher ALP0.7%
Georges River Frank Walker ALP0.7%
Casino Don Day ALP1.0%
Castlereagh Jack Renshaw ALP1.3%
Murrumbidgee Lin Gordon ALP1.7%
Burrinjuck Terry Sheahan ALP2.0%
Woronora Maurie Keane ALP2.2%
Kogarah Bill Crabtree ALP5.1%
Campbelltown Cliff Mallam ALP5.6%
Fairly safe
Waverley Syd Einfeld ALP6.4%
Parramatta Dan Mahoney ALP6.6%
Peats Keith O'Connell ALP7.3%
Charlestown Richard Face ALP8.4%
Lakemba Vince Durick ALP9.7%
Canterbury Kevin Stewart ALP9.9%
Maroubra Bill Haigh ALP9.9%
Penrith Ron Mulock ALP9.9%
Safe
Wentworthville Ernie Quinn ALP10.1%
Bass Hill Neville Wran ALP10.7%
East Hills Pat Rogan ALP11.1%
Merrylands Jack Ferguson ALP11.9%
Wollongong Eric Ramsay ALP12.4%
Blacktown Gordon Barnier ALP12.7%
Bankstown Nick Kearns ALP12.8%
Newcastle Arthur Wade ALP12.9%
Mount Druitt Tony Johnson ALP13.3%
Rockdale Brian Bannon ALP13.4%
Auburn Peter Cox ALP14.1%
Munmorah Harry Jensen ALP14.6%
Corrimal Laurie Kelly ALP14.8%
Heathcote Rex Jackson ALP15.5%
Granville Pat Flaherty ALP17.5%
Marrickville Tom Cahill ALP17.7%
Fairfield Eric Bedford ALP17.8%
Liverpool George Paciullo ALP18.0%
Illawarra George Petersen ALP22.7% v DLP
Lake Macquarie Merv Hunter ALP23.2% v IND
Heffron Laurie Brereton ALP23.8% v DLP
Phillip Pat Hills ALP24.9%
Balmain Roger Degen ALP26.5% v DLP
Wallsend Ken Booth ALP26.5% v DLP
Waratah Sam Jones ALP26.6% v DLP
Cessnock George Neilly ALP28.1% v DLP
Broken Hill Lew Johnstone ALPunopp.
Crossbench seats (3)
South Coast John Hatton IND1.7% v LIB
Blue Mountains Harold Coates IND6.5% v ALP
Gordon Kevin Harrold DLP29.4% v ALP

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ There were 2,788,733 enrolled voters but 20,857 were enrolled in Broken Hill (Labor) which was uncontested at the election. [1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Green, Antony. "1973 election totals". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales . Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  2. ↑ Hughes, Colin A. (1977). A handbook of Australian government and politics, 1965-1974. ANU Press. p.  108. ISBN   978-0-7081-1340-0.
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