1972 Queensland state election

* * *

| <- 1969 | 27 May 1972 (1972-05-27) | 1974 ->

|
|

* * *

All 82 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland
42 Assembly seats were needed for a majority
Turnout| 92.41 ( 0.64 pp)
|  | First party  | Second party  | Third party

|
|
|

|  |  |

QLP

Leader  | Joh Bjelke-Petersen | Jack Houston | No leader
Party  | Country–Liberal Coalition | Labor | Queensland Labor
Leader since  | 8 August 1968  | 12 October 1966 (1966-10-12) |
Leader's seat  | Barambah | Bulimba |
Last election  | 45 seats, 44.70%  | 31 seats, 44.99%  | 1 seat, 7.24%
Seats won  | 47 | 33  | 0
Seat change  |  2  |  2  |  1
Popular vote  | 383,000  | 424,002 | 69,757
Percentage  | 42.23%  | 46.75% | 7.69%
Swing  |  2.47  |  1.76  |  0.46

* * *

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 27 May 1972 to elect the 82 members of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland.[1]

The Country-Liberal Coalition won its sixth consecutive victory since it won government in 1957 and also its second victory under Joh Bjelke-Petersen.

## Key dates

[edit]

Date  | Event

|

18 April 1972  | The Legislative Assembly was dissolved.[2]
18 April 1972  | Writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election.[3]
27 April 1972  | Close of nominations.
27 May 1972  | Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm.[4]
20 June 1972  | The Bjelke-Petersen Ministry was reconstituted.[5]
24 June 1972  | The writ was returned and the results formally declared.[6]
10 July 1972  | Deadline for return of the writs.
1 August 1972  | Parliament resumed for business.[7]

## Results

[edit]

See also: Results of the Queensland state election, 1972

Queensland state election, 27 May 1972
Legislative Assembly
<< 1969–1974 >>

Enrolled voters  | 997,489  |  |
Votes cast  | 921,763  |  | Turnout | 92.41%  | +0.64%
Informal votes  | 15,566  |  | Informal  | 1.61%  | –0.18%
Summary of votes by party
Party  | Primary votes  | %  | Swing  | Seats  | Change
| Labor | 424,002  | 46.75%  | +1.76%  | 33  | +2
| Liberal | 201,596  | 22.23%  | –1.45%  | 21 | +2
| Country | 181,404  | 20.00%  | –1.02%  | 26 | ±0
| Queensland Labor | 69,757  | 7.69%  | +0.46%  | 0  | –1
| Independent | 30,187  | 3.33%  | +0.48%  | 2  | +1
Total  | 906,946  |  |  | 82  |

| Popular vote

|  |
Labor |

| 46.75%
Liberal |

| 22.23%
Country |

| 20.00%
Democratic Labor |

| 7.69%
Independents |

| 3.33%

| Seats

|  |
Labor |

| 40.24%
Country |

| 31.71%
Liberal |

| 25.61%
Independents |

| 2.44%

## Seats changing hands

[edit]

Seat | Pre-1972 | Swing | Post-1972

|
|
|

Party | Member | Margin | Margin | Member | Party
Albert ¶  |  | Liberal  | Bill Heatley*  | 0.5  | –4.6 | 4.1  | Bill D'Arcy | Labor  |
Ipswich |  | Labor  | notional – new seat | 4.5  | –5.7 | 1.2  | Llew Edwards | Liberal  |
Mackay |  | Labor  | Ed Casey | 6.7  | –20.1 | 13.4  | Ed Casey | Independent  |

* ¶ Results for Albert based on 1970 by-election
* Bill Heatley died in October 1971, but no by-election was called due to the proximity of the 1972 election.
* In addition, the Liberal Party retained Maryborough, which was won from Labor at the 1971 by-election.
* Aubigny, which was the last seat held by the Democratic Labor Party, was abolished at this election and its outgoing member, Les Diplock, retired.

## Post-election pendulum

[edit]

Country/Liberal seats (47)

Marginal
Murrumba | Des Frawley | CP  | 1.0%
Ipswich | Llew Edwards | LIB  | 1.2%
Kurilpa | Clive Hughes | LIB  | 1.5%
Condamine | Vic Sullivan | CP  | 1.8% v IND
Mansfield | Bill Kaus | LIB  | 2.0%
Wavell | Arthur Crawford | LIB  | 2.0%
Hinchinbrook | Ted Row | CP  | 2.5%
Mount Gravatt | Geoff Chinchen | CP  | 2.5%
Gregory | Wally Rae | CP  | 2.6%
Maryborough | Gilbert Alison | LIB  | 3.8%
Nundah | William Knox | LIB  | 3.9%
Yeronga | Norm Lee | LIB  | 4.3%
Ashgrove | Douglas Tooth | LIB  | 4.8%
Greenslopes | Keith Hooper | LIB  | 5.0%
Chatsworth | Bill Hewitt | LIB  | 5.1%
Windsor | Bob Moore | LIB  | 5.1%
Redcliffe | Jim Houghton | CP  | 5.4%
Ithaca | Col Miller | LIB  | 5.6%
Carnarvon | Henry McKechnie | CP  | 5.9%
Fairly safe
Whitsunday | Ron Camm | CP  | 6.9%
Clayfield | John Murray | LIB  | 8.2%
Aspley | Fred Campbell | LIB  | 8.3%
Mulgrave | Roy Armstrong | CP  | 8.4%
Merthyr | Don Lane | LIB  | 9.1%
Burdekin | Val Bird | CP  | 9.2%
Surfers Paradise | Bruce Small | CP  | 9.6%
Flinders | Bill Longeran | CP  | 9.7%
Gympie | Max Hodges | CP  | 9.7%
Sherwood | John Herbert | LIB  | 9.8%
Safe
Callide | Lindsay Hartwig | CP  | 10.3%
Townsville | Norman Scott-Young | LIB  | 11.5%
Warwick | David Cory | CP  | 11.5%
South Coast | Russ Hinze | CP  | 11.7%
Mirani | Tom Newbery | CP  | 12.1%
Lockyer | Gordon Chalk | LIB  | 12.2%
Toowong | Charles Porter | LIB  | 13.0%
Auburn | Neville Hewitt | CP  | 13.4%
Roma | Ken Tomkins | CP  | 14.0%
Balonne | Don Neal | CP  | 15.6%
Fassifern | Selwyn Muller | CP  | 15.7%
Landsborough | Michael Ahern | CP  | 15.7%
Cooroora | David Low | CP  | 15.8%
Mount Coot-tha | Bill Lickiss | LIB  | 16.0%
Somerset | Bill Gunn | CP  | 16.3%
Very safe
Burnett | Claude Wharton | CP  | 20.5%
Barambah | Joh Bjelke-Petersen | CP  | 23.7%
Cunningham | Alan Fletcher | CP  | 26.4%
Labor seats (33)

Marginal
Rockhampton North | Les Yewdale | ALP  | 1.1%
Belyando | Eugene O'Donnell | ALP  | 1.3%
Stafford | Roy Harvey | ALP  | 1.6%
Townsville West | Perc Tucker | ALP  | 2.2%
Barron River | Bill Wood | ALP  | 3.4%
Albert | Bill D'Arcy | ALP  | 4.1%
Cook | Edwin Wallis-Smith | ALP  | 4.2%
Redlands | Ted Baldwin | ALP  | 5.1%
Rockhampton | Keith Wright | ALP  | 5.9%
Fairly safe
Pine Rivers | Kenneth Leese | ALP  | 6.8%
Toowoomba South | Peter Wood | ALP  | 6.9%
Mourilyan | Peter Moore | ALP  | 7.2%
Everton | Gerry Jones | ALP  | 8.3%
Isis | Jim Blake | ALP  | 8.3%
Brisbane | Brian Davis | ALP  | 9.7%
Safe
South Brisbane | Fred Bromley | ALP  | 11.0%
Ipswich West | Vi Jordan | ALP  | 11.5%
Warrego | Jack Aiken | ALP  | 13.4%
Sandgate | Harold Dean | ALP  | 13.6%
Baroona | Pat Hanlon | ALP  | 14.1%
Wynnum | Edward Harris | ALP  | 14.5%
Belmont | Fred Newton | ALP  | 14.5%
Toowoomba North | Ray Bousen | ALP  | 14.9%
Nudgee | Jack Melloy | ALP  | 15.4%
Bulimba | Jack Houston | ALP  | 15.6%
Mount Isa | Alex Inch | ALP  | 16.4%
Salisbury | Doug Sherrington | ALP  | 16.7%
Cairns | Ray Jones | ALP  | 18.8%
Bundaberg | Lou Jensen | ALP  | 18.9% v DLP
Lytton | Tom Burns | ALP  | 19.3%
Very safe
Wolston | Evan Marginson | ALP  | 20.3%
Archerfield | Kevin Hooper | ALP  | 23.3%
Port Curtis | Martin Hanson | ALP  | 32.2% v DLP
Crossbench seats (2)
Townsville South | Tom Aikens | IND  | 7.6% v ALP
Mackay | Ed Casey | IND  | 13.4% v ALP

## See also

[edit]

* Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 1969–1972
* Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 1972–1974
* Candidates of the Queensland state election, 1972
* Bjelke-Petersen Ministry

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Parliament of Queensland, Legislative Assembly election results for 27 May 1972". Australian Politics and Elections Archive 1856-2018. University of Western Australia. Archived from the original on 10 April 2020. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
2. ^ "A Proclamation". Queensland Government Gazette. 18 April 1972. p. 239:1719.
3. ^ "Extraordinary". Queensland Government Gazette. 18 April 1972. p. 239:1721.
4. ^ Partridge, Des (27 May 1972). "State election will be tonight's scene-stealer". The Courier-Mail. p. 10.
5. ^ "Extraordinary". Queensland Government Gazette. 20 June 1972. p. 240:971–974.
6. ^ "Notices of Results of General Election". Queensland Government Gazette. 24 June 1972. p. 240:1067–1081.
7. ^ "A Proclamation". Queensland Government Gazette. 22 June 1972. p. 240:979.

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