1989 Queensland state election

1989 Queensland state election

2 December 1989
All 89 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland 45 Assembly seats were needed for a majority
Registered	1,780,785 13.9%
Turnout	1,623,637 (91.18%) (0.07 pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Wayne Goss Russell Cooper Angus Innes Party Labor National Liberal Leader since 2 March 1988 25 September 1989 31 January 1988 Leader's seat Logan Roma Sherwood Last election 30 seats, 41.35% 49 seats, 39.64% 10 seats, 16.50% Seats before 29 seats 46 seats 11 seats Seats won 54 seats 27 seats 8 seats Seat change 25 19 3 Popular vote 792,466 379,364 331,562 Percentage 50.32% 24.09% 21.05% Swing 8.97 pp 15.55 pp 4.55 pp TPP 53.8% 46.2% TPP swing 7.80 pp 7.80 pp
Winning margin by electorate.
Premier before election Russell Cooper National Elected Premier Wayne Goss Labor

The 1989 Queensland state election was held in the Australian state of Queensland on 2 December 1989 to elect the 89 members of the state's Legislative Assembly. This was the first election following the downfall of eight-term premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen at the end of 1987.

The government was led by Premier and leader of the National Party, Russell Cooper; the opposition was led by Opposition Leader and leader of the Labor Party, Wayne Goss, while the Liberal Party was led by Angus Innes.

The National government, which had been in power since the 1957 election and had governed in its own right since the dissolution of the state coalition at the 1983 election, was defeated; the election was a landslide win for the Labor Party, which gained 24 seats. Labor also won more than 50% of the primary vote. Until 2012, it was the worst defeat of a sitting government in Queensland history.

Since this election, Queensland Labor has won 11 of 12 state elections which have been held since, most recently in 2020.

Background

The Nationals' fortunes had dwindled significantly since the 1986 election. Soon after the floundering of his attempt to become Prime Minister in the "Joh for Canberra" campaign, Bjelke-Petersen was deposed in a party room coup led by Health Minister Mike Ahern. After trying to hold onto power for four days, Bjelke-Petersen resigned and Ahern was sworn in as his successor.

The shadow campaign began in late 1988 with television advertisements depicting Labor and its leader, Wayne Goss, as "The Only Change for the Better". A string of policy papers were released on a range of themes emphasising responsible economic management and efficient, honest administration. While they maintained a positive and professional public opinion and consistently led opinion polls, neither the media nor the electorate appeared to believe they could win.

The Liberals, who had been on the crossbenches since the collapse of the Coalition in 1983, launched a series of newspaper advertisements in March 1988 under the banner "Let's Put It Right". They were in a curious position, however, because a collapse in National support in urban South East Queensland would mean that seats the Liberal Party might hope to win would be more likely to go to Labor.

Enrolment by electorate in 1989. The state was divided into four zones with different quotas, which overrepresented rural areas compared to the more populous southeast.

On 1 April 1989, a non-partisan group called "Citizens for Democracy" gained some publicity by cutting a birthday cake to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Electoral Districts Act 1949, which had established electoral malapportionment in Queensland, which was seen as unfairly benefiting the Nationals. Both the Labor and Liberal parties favoured "one vote one value" electoral reform.

On 3 July 1989, the Commission of Inquiry into Possible Illegal Activities and Associated Police Misconduct (more commonly known as the Fitzgerald Inquiry after its chair, Tony Fitzgerald QC) handed down its report. It found links between criminal and political networks, and that corruption in Queensland's public life was widespread, commonplace and organised. It made numerous recommendations aimed at reforming the police and criminal justice system and at establishing independent institutions to monitor, report and act on reforms in the short term, and their operation on an ongoing basis. Ahern committed to implement the Report in its entirety.

Ahern sought to govern in a more consultative manner than Bjelke-Petersen, and worked to blunt the edges of what had long been one of the most unyieldingly conservative state governments in Australia. It was to no avail; by September, opinion polls were suggesting the Nationals had about half the support they had achieved at the 1986 election.

A Newspoll taken after the inquiry's release showed that the Nationals had tumbled to only 22% support, the lowest ever recorded for a sitting government in Australian history. Additionally, the Nationals suffered large swings at three by-elections, most recently in Merthyr, where the Liberals had won the seat from the Nationals despite the latter putting forward a high-profile candidate and an expensive campaign. On 22 September, Police Minister Russell Cooper toppled Ahern in a party room coup, and was sworn in as premier three days later. Cooper billed himself as a traditionalist in Bjelke-Petersen's mould, and his supporters believed he could shore up National support in its rural heartland.

Accordingly, Cooper campaigned on traditional National focuses (law and order, social conservatism, and attacks on the federal Labor government, in particular related to interest rates) and produced a number of controversial advertisements, one of which alleged that the Labor Opposition's plan to decriminalise homosexuality would lead to a flood of gays from southern states moving to Queensland. Labor responded by satirising these ads, depicting Cooper as a wild-eyed reactionary and a clone of Bjelke-Petersen and/or a puppet of party president Sir Robert Sparkes.

Logos Foundation, a fundamentalist Christian group in Toowoomba, led by Howard Carter, controversially involved itself in the election, running a campaign of surveys and full-page newspaper advertisements promoting the view that candidates' adherence to Christian principles and biblical ethics was more important than the widespread corruption in the Queensland government that had been revealed by the Fitzgerald Inquiry. Advertisements published in the Brisbane Courier-Mail promoted strongly-conservative positions in opposition to pornography, homosexuality and Abortion, and a return to the Death penalty. Some supporters controversially advocated Old Testament laws and penalties. That action backfired sensationally, with many mainstream Churches, community leaders and religious organisations distancing themselves from the Logos Foundation after making public statements denouncing them. At times, the death penalty for homosexuals was advocated, in accordance with Old Testament Law. A Sydney Morning Herald article summarised the campaign's thrust as follows: "Homosexuality and censorship should determine your vote, the electorate was told; corruption was not the major concern." The same article quoted from a letter Carter he had written to supporters at the time: "The greenies, the gays and the greedy are marching. Now the Christians, the conservatives and the concerned must march also". Those views were not new. In reference to the call for the Death penalty for homosexuals to rid Queensland of such people, an earlier article published in the Herald quoted a Logos spokesman as saying: "the fact a law is on the statutes is the best safeguard for society".

Key dates

Date	Event
2 November 1989	The Parliament was dissolved.
2 November 1989	Writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election.
9 November 1989	Close of nominations.
2 December 1989	Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm.
7 December 1989	The Cooper Ministry resigned and the Goss Ministry was sworn in.
13 February 1990	The writ was returned and the results formally declared.

Results

See also: Results of the Queensland state election, 1989

The result was a landslide win for the Labor Party. Brisbane swung over dramatically to support Labor, which took all but five seats in the capital.

Initially, it appeared that the Liberal Party had won the traditionally National hinterland seat of Nicklin, however, the Court of Disputed Returns overturned that result and awarded the seat to the National Party.

Queensland state election, 2 December 1989 Legislative Assembly << 1986–1992 >>
Enrolled voters		1,780,785
Votes cast		1,623,637		Turnout	91.18%	–0.07%
Informal votes		48,764		Informal	3.00%	+0.83%
Summary of votes by party
Party		Primary votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Labor	792,466	50.32%	+8.97%	54	+24
	Nationals	379,364	24.09%	–15.55%	27	–22
	Liberal	331,562	21.05%	+4.55%	8	– 2
	Democrats	6,669	0.42%	–0.21%	0	± 0
	Citizens Electoral Council	6,610	0.42%	+0.42%	0	± 0
	Greens	5,206	0.33%	+0.33%	0	± 0
	Call to Australia	2,007	0.13%	+0.13%	0	± 0
	Grey Power	300	0.02%	+0.02%	0	± 0
	Independent	50,689	3.22%	+1.34%	0	± 0
Total		1,574,873			89
Two-party-preferred
	Labor		53.8%	+7.8%
	National/Liberal		46.2%	-7.8%

Popular vote Labor   50.32% Nationals   24.09% Liberal   21.05% Democrats   0.42% CEC   0.42% Greens   0.33% Call to Australia   0.13% Grey Power   0.02% Independents   3.22%

Seats Labor   60.67% Nationals   30.34% Liberal   8.99%

Seats changing hands

Seat	1986 Election				Swing	1989 Election
	Party		Member	Margin		Margin	Member	Party
Albert		National	Ivan Gibbs	13.13	-22.82	9.69	John Szczerbanik		Labor
Ashgrove		Liberal	Alan Sherlock	0.98	-7.58	6.60	Jim Fouras		Labor
Aspley		National	Beryce Nelson	4.11	-5.29	1.18	John Goss		Liberal
Barron River		National	Martin Tenni	4.04	-11.54	7.50	Dr Lesley Clark		Labor
Broadsound		National	Denis Hinton	1.96	-4.71	2.74	Jim Pearce		Labor
Cooroora		National	Gordon Simpson	10.64	-11.67	1.03	Ray Barber		Labor
Currumbin		National	Leo Gately	8.88	-9.79	0.91	Trevor Coomber		Liberal
Glass House		National	Bill Newton	6.93	-8.55	1.63	Jon Sullivan		Labor
Greenslopes		National	Leisha Harvey	4.23	-9.83	5.60	Gary Fenlon		Labor
Isis		National	Lin Powell¹	7.40	-7.47	0.08	Bill Nunn		Labor
Mansfield		National	Craig Sherrin	5.49	-7.85	2.35	Laurel Power		Labor
Maryborough		National	Gilbert Alison	0.74	-2.14	1.40	Bob Dollin		Labor
Mount Coot-tha		Liberal	Lyle Schuntner	6.20	-13.21	7.00	Wendy Edmond		Labor
Mount Gravatt		National	Ian Henderson	6.69	-8.40	1.70	Judy Spence		Labor
Mount Isa		Liberal	Peter Beard	2.74	-12.84	10.10	Tony McGrady		Labor
Mulgrave		National	Max Menzel	3.71	-5.38	1.67	Warren Pitt		Labor
Nerang		National	Tom Hynd	9.88	-11.30	1.42	Ray Connor		Liberal
Nicklin		National	Brian Austin	10.93	-19.22	8.29	Bob King		Liberal
Nundah		Liberal	Sir William Knox	5.39	-13.38	8.00	Phil Heath		Labor
Pine Rivers		National	Yvonne Chapman	3.55	-9.15	5.60	Margaret Woodgate		Labor
Redcliffe		Liberal	Terry White	7.71	-9.70	2.00	Ray Hollis		Labor
Redlands		National	Paul Clauson	3.83	-10.03	6.20	Darryl Briskey		Labor
South Coast		National	Judy Gamin	0.38	-8.13	7.75	Bob Quinn		Liberal
Springwood		National	Huan Fraser	6.18	-9.28	3.10	Molly Robson		Labor
Stafford		Liberal	Terry Gygar	4.46	-12.06	7.60	Rod Welford		Labor
Toowoomba North		National	Sandy McPhie	7.62	-8.54	0.92	Dr John Flynn		Labor
Townsville		National	Tony Burreket	4.43	-9.53	5.10	Ken Davies		Labor
Whitsunday		National	Geoff Muntz¹	9.00	-9.03	0.03	Lorraine Bird		Labor
Yeronga		Liberal	Norm Lee	5.70	-14.80	9.10	Matt Foley		Labor

• Members listed in italics did not contest their seat at this election.

• ¹ Lin Powell and Geoff Muntz were elected as members of the National Party, but resigned from the party, and contested the election as Independents.
• The Labor Party also retained the electorate of Manly, where the sitting Labor member had resigned and contested the election as an Independent.

Post-election pendulum

Labor seats (54)
Marginal
Whitsunday	Lorraine Bird	ALP	0.03%
Isis	Bill Nunn	ALP	0.08%
Toowoomba North	John Flynn	ALP	0.92%
Cooroora	Ray Barber	ALP	1.03%
Maryborough	Bob Dollin	ALP	1.40%
Glass House	Jon Sullivan	ALP	1.63%
Mulgrave	Warren Pitt	ALP	1.67%
Mount Gravatt	Judy Spence	ALP	1.70%
Redcliffe	Ray Hollis	ALP	2.00%
Mansfield	Laurel Power	ALP	2.35%
Broadsound	Jim Pearce	ALP	2.74%
Springwood	Molly Robson	ALP	3.10%
Townsville	Ken Davies	ALP	5.10%
Greenslopes	Gary Fenlon	ALP	5.60%
Pine Rivers	Margaret Woodgate	ALP	5.60%
Fairly Safe
Redlands	Darryl Briskey	ALP	6.20%
Ashgrove	Jim Fouras	ALP	6.60%
Mount Coot-tha	Wendy Edmond	ALP	7.00%
Barron River	Lesley Clark	ALP	7.50%
Stafford	Rod Welford	ALP	7.60%
Nundah	Phil Heath	ALP	8.00%
Mourilyan	Bill Eaton	ALP	8.20%
Salisbury	Len Ardill	ALP	8.50%
Rockhampton North	Robert Schwarten	ALP	8.60%
Cook	Steve Bredhauer	ALP	8.90%
Yeronga	Matt Foley	ALP	9.10%
Albert	John Szczerbanik	ALP	9.69%
Safe
Thuringowa	Ken McElligott	ALP	10.00%
Mount Isa	Tony McGrady	ALP	10.10%
Bundaberg	Clem Campbell	ALP	10.40%
Mackay	Ed Casey	ALP	10.90%
Caboolture	Ken Hayward	ALP	11.20%
Chatsworth	Terry Mackenroth	ALP	12.00%
Ipswich West	Don Livingstone	ALP	12.06%
Murrumba	Dean Wells	ALP	12.70%
Cairns	Keith De Lacy	ALP	12.92%
South Brisbane	Anne Warner	ALP	13.15%
Everton	Glen Milliner	ALP	13.20%
Windsor	Pat Comben	ALP	13.20%
Rockhampton	Paul Braddy	ALP	13.77%
Manly	Jim Elder	ALP	14.00%
Townsville East	Geoff Smith	ALP	14.30%
Port Curtis	Bill Prest	ALP	16.70%
Wolston	Bob Gibbs	ALP	16.87%
Sandgate	Nev Warburton	ALP	17.30%
Ipswich	David Hamill	ALP	17.80%
Brisbane Central	Peter Beattie	ALP	18.20%
Logan	Wayne Goss	ALP	18.20%
Nudgee	Ken Vaughan	ALP	18.60%
Bulimba	Ron McLean	ALP	19.00%
Woodridge	Bill D'Arcy	ALP	19.50%
Very Safe
Bowen	Ken Smyth	ALP	20.60%
Lytton	Tom Burns	ALP	22.50%
Archerfield	Henry Palaszczuk	ALP	24.30%

National seats (26)
Marginal
Cunningham	Tony Elliott	NAT	1.13% v LIB
Hinchinbrook	Marc Rowell	NAT	1.42%
Flinders	Bob Katter	NAT	2.11%
Tablelands	Tom Gilmore	NAT	2.42%
Fassifern	Kev Lingard	NAT	2.60%
Warrego	Howard Hobbs	NAT	3.27%
Mirani	Jim Randell	NAT	3.51%
Somerset	Bill Gunn	NAT	3.96%
Callide	Di McCauley	NAT	4.29%
Landsborough	Mike Ahern	NAT	5.92%
Fairly Safe
Gregory	Vaughan Johnson	NAT	6.80%
Burdekin	Mark Stoneman	NAT	6.91%
Gympie	Len Stephan	NAT	6.99%
Carnarvon	Lawrence Springborg	NAT	8.88%
Toowoomba South	Clive Berghofer	NAT	9.08%
Peak Downs	Vince Lester	NAT	9.50%
Auburn	Neville Harper	NAT	9.63%
Safe
Southport	Mick Veivers	NAT	11.06%
Burnett	Doug Slack	NAT	11.10%
Surfers Paradise	Rob Borbidge	NAT	12.15%
Warwick	Des Booth	NAT	14.05%
Lockyer	Tony Fitzgerald	NAT	18.30%
Very Safe
Barambah	Trevor Perrett	NAT	21.40%
Roma	Russell Cooper	NAT	23.19%
Balonne	Don Neal	NAT	23.90%
Condamine	Brian Littleproud	NAT	25.42%
Liberal seats (9)
Marginal
Merthyr	Santo Santoro	LIB	0.46%
Currumbin	Trevor Coomber	LIB	0.91%
Aspley	John Goss	LIB	1.18%
Toowong	Denver Beanland	LIB	1.31%
Nerang	Ray Connor	LIB	1.42%
Sherwood	Angus Innes	LIB	3.86%
Fairly Safe
Moggill	David Watson	LIB	5.99%
South Coast	Bob Quinn	LIB	7.75%
Nicklin	Bob King	LIB	8.29%

Subsequent changes

• On 6 May 1990, former National Premier Mike Ahern (Landsborough) resigned. At the by-election on 28 July 1990, Joan Sheldon gained the seat for the Liberal Party.
• On 13 May 1990, former Liberal Party leader Angus Innes (Sherwood) resigned. At the by-election on 28 July 1990, David Dunworth retained the seat for the Liberal Party.
• On 22 Nov 1990, the Court of Disputed Returns declared the election in Nicklin void, and a recount was undertaken, which declared Neil Turner for the National Party elected.
• On 18 May 1991, National Party member Clive Berghofer (Toowoomba South) resigned. At the by-election on 18 May 1991, Mike Horan retained the seat for the National Party.
• On 5 April 1991, Labor Party member Phil Heath (Nundah) resigned. At the by-election on 18 May 1991, Terry Sullivan retained the seat for the Labor Party.

A major change to electoral legislation saw the zonal system of electoral distribution abolished in favour of a system largely resembling one vote one value in time for the 1992 state election.

See also

• Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 1986–1989
• Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 1989–1992
• Candidates of the Queensland state election, 1989
• Cooper Ministry
• Goss Ministry