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Elections were held in the Australian state of Queensland on 12 November 1977 to elect the 82 members of the state's Legislative Assembly.
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the largest country in Oceania and the world's sixth-largest country by total area. The neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north; the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east; and New Zealand to the south-east. The population of 25 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard. Australia's capital is Canberra, and its largest city is Sydney. The country's other major metropolitan areas are Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.
The states and territories are the first-level administrative divisions of the Commonwealth of Australia. They are the second level of government in Australia, located between the federal and local government tiers.
Queensland is the second-largest and third-most populous state in the Commonwealth of Australia. Situated in the north-east of the country, it is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean. To its north is the Torres Strait, with Papua New Guinea located less than 200 km across it from the mainland. The state is the world's sixth-largest sub-national entity, with an area of 1,852,642 square kilometres (715,309 sq mi).
The election resulted in a fourth consecutive victory for the National-Liberal Coalition under Joh Bjelke-Petersen. It was the eighth victory of the National Party in Queensland since it first came to office in 1957.
The National Party, known as the Country Party until 1974, was a political party in Queensland, Australia, for much of the period from 1915 until 2008. Formed by the Queensland Farmers' Union and serving as the state branch of the National Party of Australia, it initially sought to represent the interests of the farmers but over time became a more general conservative political party in the state, leading to much debate about relations with other conservative parties and a string of mergers that were soon undone. From 1957 it held power as part of a coalition with the state Liberal Party until 1983 when the Liberals broke away and the Nationals continued to govern in their own right until defeat in 1989. The party formed another coalition with the Liberals that took power in 1996 but was defeated in 1998. After a further decade in opposition the two parties merged to form the Liberal National Party of Queensland.
The Liberal Party, originally the Queensland People's Party, was a political party in Queensland, Australia, from the Second World War until 2008. Initially formed as independent body in 1943, it became the Queensland division of the Liberal Party of Australia in 1949. Based predominantly in Brisbane and other cities in Queensland, from 1957 it held power as the junior party in a coalition with the state Country Party, later the National Party, until 1983 when the Liberals broke away and went into opposition. The party formed another coalition with the Nationals that took power in 1996 but was defeated in 1998. After a further decade in opposition the two parties merged to form the Liberal National Party of Queensland.
Sir Johannes Bjelke-Petersen, was an Australian politician. He was the longest-serving and longest-lived Premier of Queensland, holding office from 1968 to 1987, during which time the state underwent considerable economic development. His uncompromising conservatism, his political longevity, and his leadership of a government that, in its later years, was revealed to be institutionally corrupt, made him one of the best-known and most controversial political figures of 20th century Australia.
The major issue in the election was law and order. In 1977, the Government had passed a law making it illegal to march in the street without a permit, which were rarely given. The Coalition argued that this prevented traffic disruption and other inconveniences to the people of Brisbane, while the ALP claimed that it was a curtailment of civil liberties. Joh Bjelke-Petersen also no longer had the Whitlam Labor Government (which was unpopular in Queensland) to use as a campaigning tool.
Brisbane is the capital of and the most populated city in the Australian state of Queensland, and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of approximately 2.5 million, and the South East Queensland metropolitan region, centred on Brisbane, encompasses a population of more than 3.6 million. The Brisbane central business district stands on the historic European settlement and is situated inside a peninsula of the Brisbane River, about 15 kilometres from its mouth at Moreton Bay. The metropolitan area extends in all directions along the floodplain of the Brisbane River Valley between Moreton Bay and the Great Dividing Range, sprawling across several of Australia's most populous local government areas (LGAs)—most centrally the City of Brisbane, which is by far the most populous LGA in the nation. The demonym of Brisbane is "Brisbanite" or "Brisbanian".
Civil liberties or personal freedoms are personal guarantees and freedoms that the government cannot abridge, either by law or by judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties may include the freedom of conscience, freedom of press, freedom of religion, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, the right to security and liberty, freedom of speech, the right to privacy, the right to equal treatment under the law and due process, the right to a fair trial, and the right to life. Other civil liberties include the right to own property, the right to defend oneself, and the right to bodily integrity. Within the distinctions between civil liberties and other types of liberty, distinctions exist between positive liberty/positive rights and negative liberty/negative rights.
Edward Gough Whitlam was the 21st Prime Minister of Australia, serving from 1972 to 1975. The Leader of the Labor Party from 1967 to 1977, Whitlam led his party to power for the first time in 23 years at the 1972 election. He won the 1974 election before being controversially dismissed by the Governor-General of Australia, Sir John Kerr, at the climax of the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis. Whitlam remains the only Australian prime minister to have his commission terminated in that manner.
The Labor Party gained twelve seats from the Coalition and Independents, making something of a recovery from its disastrous 1974 performance. Even so, the Coalition retained a commanding majority in the Legislative Assembly.
The Australian Labor Party , commonly known as Queensland Labor is the Queensland branch of the Australian Labor Party.
For the first time, the National Party won more votes than the Liberal party (an electoral malaportionment had allowed the Nationals to win more seats than the Liberals previously). The Liberal Party had begun to decline.
The Bjelkemander was the term given to a system of malapportionment in the Australian state of Queensland in the 1970s and 1980s. Under the system, electorates were allocated to zones such as rural or metropolitan and electoral boundaries drawn so that rural electorates had about half as many voters as metropolitan ones. The Country Party, a rural-based party led by Joh Bjelke-Petersen, was able to govern uninhibited during this period due to the 'Bjelkemander' and the absence of an upper house of Parliament.
The Democratic Labor Party had ceased to exist. The Australian Democrats contested their first election in Queensland.
The Democratic Labour Party (DLP) is a political party in Australia that espouses social conservatism and favours distributism. The first DLP Senator in decades, John Madigan was elected for a six-year term to the Australian Senate with 2.3 per cent of the primary vote in Victoria at the 2010 federal election, serving from July 2011 until the July 2016 double dissolution election. In September 2014, Madigan resigned from the party and served the rest of his term as an independent, citing long-term internal party tensions.
The Australian Democrats is a centrist political party in Australia. Founded in 1977 from a merger of the Australia Party and the New Liberal Movement, both of which were descended from Liberal Party splinter group, it was Australia's largest minor party from its formation in 1977 through to 2004 and frequently held the balance of power in the Senate during that time.
Queensland state election, 12 November 1977 [1] [2] | ||||||
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Enrolled voters | 1,209,494 | |||||
Votes cast | 1,104,898 | Turnout | 91.35% | +1.93% | ||
Informal votes | 16,887 | Informal | 1.53% | –0.05% | ||
Summary of votes by party | ||||||
Party | Primary votes | % | Swing | Seats | Change | |
Labor | 466,021 | 42.83% | +6.80% | 23 | +12 | |
Nationals | 295,355 | 27.15% | –0.73% | 35 | – 4 | |
Liberal | 274,398 | 25.22% | –5.87% | 24 | – 6 | |
Democrats | 17,571 | 1.61% | +1.61% | 0 | ± 0 | |
Progress | 16,327 | 1.50% | +1.50% | 0 | ± 0 | |
Independent | 18,339 | 1.69% | –1.22% | 0 | – 2 | |
Total | 1,088,011 | 82 | ||||
New parties in this election were the Australian Democrats, who stood 12 candidates, and the Progress Party, who stood 27 candidates. [3]
Seat | Pre-1977 | Swing | Post-1977 | ||||||
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Party | Member | Margin | Margin | Member | Party | ||||
Brisbane Central | Liberal | notional - new seat | 2.8 | -8.2 | 5.4 | Brian Davis | Labor | ||
Chatsworth | Liberal | Bill Hewitt | 5.7 | -6.8 | 1.1 | Terry Mackenroth | Labor | ||
Cook | National | Eric Deeral | 2.6 | -6.5 | 3.9 | Bob Scott | Labor | ||
Everton | Liberal | Brian Lindsay | 9.2 | -10.2 | 1.0 | Glen Milliner | Labor | ||
Ipswich West | National | Albert Hales | 1.1 | -5.4 | 4.3 | David Underwood | Labor | ||
Maryborough | Liberal | Gilbert Alison | 5.0 | -5.2 | 0.2 | Brendan Hansen | Labor | ||
Murrumba | National | Des Frawley | 9.7 | -11.1 | 1.4 | Joe Kruger | Labor | ||
South Brisbane | Liberal | Colin Lamont | 4.1 | -7.3 | 3.2 | Jim Fouras | Labor | ||
Southport | National | notional - new seat | 19.4 | -29.2 | 9.8 | Peter White | Liberal | ||
Surfers Paradise | National | Bruce Small | 23.0 | -28.7 | 5.7 | Bruce Bishop | Liberal | ||
Townsville South | Independent | Tom Aikens | 0.6 | -1.6 | 1.0 | Alex Wilson | Labor | ||
Woodridge | Liberal | notional - new seat | 7.8 | -11.9 | 4.1 | Bill D'Arcy | Labor | ||
Wynnum | National | Bill Lamond | 0.1 | -4.2 | 4.1 | Eric Shaw | Labor | ||
LABOR SEATS (23) | |||
Marginal | |||
Maryborough | Brendan Hansen | ALP | 0.2% v LIB |
Everton | Glen Milliner | ALP | 1.0% v LIB |
Townsville South | Alex Wilson | ALP | 1.0% v IND |
Chatsworth | Terry Mackenroth | ALP | 1.1% v LIB |
Murrumba | Joe Kruger | ALP | 1.4% |
South Brisbane | Jim Fouras | ALP | 3.2% v LIB |
Cook | Bob Scott | ALP | 3.9% |
Woodridge | Bill D'Arcy | ALP | 4.1% v LIB |
Wynnum | Eric Shaw | ALP | 4.1% |
Ipswich West | David Underwood | ALP | 4.3% |
Bundaberg | Jim Blake | ALP | 4.4% |
Brisbane Central | Brian Davis | ALP | 5.4% v LIB |
Fairly safe | |||
Sandgate | Nev Warburton | ALP | 8.0% |
Nudgee | Ken Vaughan | ALP | 8.7% v LIB |
Bulimba | Jack Houston | ALP | 9.8% v LIB |
Safe | |||
Wolston | Bob Gibbs | ALP | 10.6% v LIB |
Cairns | Ray Jones | ALP | 11.4% |
Port Curtis | Bill Prest | ALP | 11.8% |
Mackay | Ed Casey | ALP | 11.9% |
Rockhampton North | Les Yewdale | ALP | 16.2% v LIB |
Lytton | Tom Burns | ALP | 17.0% |
Rockhampton | Keith Wright | ALP | 17.3% v LIB |
Archerfield | Kevin Hooper | ALP | 18.4% v LIB |
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