1982 Tasmanian state election

1982 Tasmanian state election

15 May 1982
All 35 seats to the House of Assembly
First party Second party Third party   Leader Robin Gray Harry Holgate Norm Sanders Party Liberal Labor Democrats Leader since 11 November 1981 11 November 1981 Leader's seat Wilmot Bass Denison Last election 15 seats 20 seats 0 seats Seats won 19 14 1 Seat change 4 6 1 Percentage 48.52% 36.86% 5.39% Swing 7.21 17.46 2.52
Results of the election
Premier before election Harry Holgate Labor Elected Premier Robin Gray Liberal

The 1982 Tasmanian state election was held on 15 May 1982 in the Australian state of Tasmania to elect 35 members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly. The election used the Hare-Clark proportional representation system — seven members were elected from each of five electorates. The quota required for election was 12.5% in each division.

The incumbent Labor Party, in power since 1972 and led by Premier Harry Holgate, was defeated in a landslide by the opposition Liberal Party, led by Robin Gray.

The proposed Franklin Dam was a major issue around the time of the election.

The Australian Democrats contested all electorates. Independent Green candidates contested the electorate of Denison only.

Results

See also: Results of the Tasmanian state election, 1982

The Liberal Party won a comfortable majority. Not only was this only the second time in 48 years that Labor had been out of office in Tasmania, but it was the first time in 51 years that the main non-Labor party in Tasmania had won an outright majority at an election. The Democrats' Norm Sanders retained his seat, which had originally been won at the Denison state by-election in 1980. Former Labor premier Doug Lowe also retained his seat as an independent.

Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	Liberal	121,346	48.52	7.21	19	4
	Labor	92,184	36.86	17.46	14	6
	Democrats	13,476	5.39	2.52	1	1
	Ind. Labor	12,432	4.97	4.97	1	1
	Independents	6,385	2.55	1.05	0
	Ind. Green[a]	4,273	1.71	1.71	0
Total		250,096	100.00	–	35	–
Valid votes		250,096	94.32
Invalid/blank votes		15,055	5.68	1.81
Total votes		265,151	100.00	–
Registered voters/turnout		283,549	93.51	0.27

Popular vote Liberal   48.52% Labor   36.86% Democrats   5.39% Independents   9.23%

Seats Liberal   54.29% Labor   40.00% Democrats   2.86% Independents   2.86%

^a The Independent Labor label refers to the separate campaigns by former Premier Doug Lowe and Labor MHA Mary Willey.

^b The Green vote referred to here is Bob Brown's campaign in the seat of Denison, where he attained 8.6% of the vote.

Distribution of votes

Primary vote by division

	Bass	Braddon	Denison	Franklin	Wilmot
Labor Party	36.6%	41.3%	28.6%	36.1%	41.8%
Liberal Party	50.3%	49.8%	48.8%	43.1%	50.8%
Democrats	3.9%	4.0%	10.3%	5.2%	3.6%
Other	9.2%	4.9%	12.3%	15.7%	3.8%

Distribution of seats

Electorate Seats won Bass               Braddon               Denison               Franklin               Wilmot

Labor   Liberal   Democrats   Independent

Aftermath

Democrat Norm Sanders resigned in late 1982 and independent Green Bob Brown was elected as his replacement after a recount of votes.

See also

• Members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly, 1982–1986
• Candidates of the 1982 Tasmanian state election

References

• "House of Assembly Election Results 15 May 1982". Tasmanian Parliamentary Library.