1989 Western Australian state election

Elections were held in the state of Western Australia on 4 February 1989 to elect all 57 members to the Legislative Assembly and all 34 members to the Legislative Council. The Labor government, led by Premier Peter Dowding, won a third term in office against the Liberal Party, led by Opposition Leader Barry MacKinnon.

The result was a major swing against the Labor Party, coming in the wake of revelations of dealings between Government and business that came to be known as WA Inc. The redistribution that took place in 1988, based upon the Acts Amendment (Electoral Reform) Act 1987 which abolished several country and outer metropolitan electorates while creating new metropolitan ones, makes it difficult to assess how Labor would have performed on the old boundaries—while it lost four seats, it gained one Liberal-held seat and won several of the new seats, so in net terms, it only lost one seat despite the massive swing and the low two-party-preferred result.

This was the first election in WA contested by the Australian Greens Party.

Results

Legislative Assembly

Western Australian state election, 4 February 1989 Legislative Assembly << 1986–1993 >>
Enrolled voters		957,939
Votes cast		869,100		Turnout	90.73%	–0.71%
Informal votes		63,870		Informal	7.35%	+4.72%
Summary of votes by party
Party		Primary votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
Template:Australian party style |	Template:Australian politics/name	341,931	42.46%	–10.54%	31	– 1
Template:Australian party style |	Template:Australian politics/name	344,524	42.79%	+1.47%	20	+ 1
Template:Australian party style |	Template:Australian politics/name	37,075	4.60%	+0.89%	6	± 0
Template:Australian party style |	Template:Australian politics/name	41,525	5.16%	+5.16%	0	± 0
Template:Australian party style |	Template:Australian politics/name	11,509	1.43%	+0.77%	0	± 0
Template:Australian party style |	Template:Australian politics/name	4,246	0.53%	+0.53%	0	± 0
Template:Australian party style |	Other parties	1,042	0.13%	–0.20%	0	± 0
Template:Australian party style |	Template:Australian politics/name	23,378	2.90%	+1.92%	0	± 0
Total		805,230			57
Two-party-preferred
Template:Australian party style |	Template:Australian politics/name	383,422	47.62%	–6.50%
Template:Australian party style |	Template:Australian politics/name	421,808	52.38%	+6.50%

Legislative Council

Western Australian state election, 4 February 1989 Legislative Council
Enrolled voters		957,939
Votes cast		870,996		Turnout	90.92%	–0.50%
Informal votes		24,061		Informal	2.76%	–0.53%
Summary of votes by party
Party		Primary votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
Template:Australian party style |	Template:Australian politics/name	347,675	41.05%	–4.08%	16	+ 1
Template:Australian party style |	Template:Australian politics/name	350,053	41.33%	–0.64%	15	± 0
Template:Australian party style |	Template:Australian politics/name	42,328	5.00%	+0.24%	3	– 1
Template:Australian party style |	Template:Australian politics/name	34,055	4.02%	+4.02%	0	± 0
Template:Australian party style |	Template:Australian politics/name	28,113	3.32%	–4.81%	0	± 0
Template:Australian party style |	Template:Australian politics/name	27,013	3.19%	+3.19%	0	± 0
Template:Australian party style |	One Australia	7,391	0.87%	+0.87%	0	± 0
Template:Australian party style |	Template:Australian politics/name	10,307	1.22%	+1.21%	0	± 0
Total		846,935			34

Seats changing parties

Seat	Pre-1989				Swing	Post-1989
	Party		Member	Margin		Margin	Member	Party
Collie	Template:Australian party style|	Labor	Tom Jones	4.2*	7.1	2.9**	Hilda Turnbull	National	Template:Australian party style|
Kingsley	Template:Australian party style|	Labor	notional	N/A	N/A	7.6	Cheryl Edwardes	Liberal	Template:Australian party style|
Mandurah	Template:Australian party style|	Labor	John Read	9.4	10.5	1.1	Roger Nicholls	Liberal	Template:Australian party style|
Melville	Template:Australian party style|	Labor	Barry Hodge	19.5	19.6	0.1	Doug Shave	Liberal	Template:Australian party style|
Murray	Template:Australian party style|	Liberal	notional	N/A	N/A	0.9	Keith Read	Labor	Template:Australian party style|
Riverton	Template:Australian party style|	Labor	notional	N/A	N/A	4.5	Graham Kierath	Liberal	Template:Australian party style|
Roe	Template:Australian party style|	Liberal	notional	N/A	N/A	1.0***	Ross Ainsworth	National	Template:Australian party style|
Roleystone	Template:Australian party style|	Labor	notional	N/A	N/A	1.7	Fred Tubby	Liberal	Template:Australian party style|
Scarborough	Template:Australian party style|	Labor	Graham Burkett	10.3	11.9	1.6	George Strickland	Liberal	Template:Australian party style|
Warren	Template:Australian party style|	Labor	David Evans	–1.0	9.8	10.8	Paul Omodei	Liberal	Template:Australian party style|

• A redistribution prior to the election had made the Labor-held seat of Warren notionally Liberal
• Members listed in italics did not contest their seat at this election.
• * figure is vs. National
• ** figure is vs. Labor
• *** figure is vs. Liberal

Post-election pendulum

Liberal/National seats (26)
Marginal
Melville	Doug Shave	LIB	0.1%
Roe	Ross Ainsworth	NAT	1.0% v LIB
Mandurah	Roger Nicholls	LIB	1.1%
Scarborough	George Strickland	LIB	1.6%
Roleystone	Fred Tubby	LIB	1.7%
Moore	Bill McNee	LIB	2.5% v NAT
Collie	Hilda Turnbull	NAT	2.9%
Riverton	Graham Kierath	LIB	4.5%
Fairly safe
Kingsley	Cheryl Edwardes	LIB	7.6%
Safe
Albany	Leon Watt	LIB	10.1%
Warren	Paul Omodei	LIB	10.8%
South Perth	Bill Grayden	LIB	11.3%
Marmion	Jim Clarko	LIB	14.3%
Jandakot	Barry MacKinnon	LIB	14.6%
Stirling	Monty House	NAT	15.1% v LIB
Avon	Max Trenorden	NAT	16.0%
Cottesloe	Bill Hassell	LIB	16.8%
Nedlands	Richard Court	LIB	17.3%
Wellington	John Bradshaw	LIB	17.5%
Darling Range	Ian Thompson	LIB	17.7%
Wagin	Bob Wiese	NAT	18.1% v LIB
Vasse	Barry Blaikie	LIB	18.7%
Applecross	Richard Lewis	LIB	19.1%
Floreat	Andrew Mensaros	LIB	20.3%
Greenough	Kevin Minson	LIB	21.3%
Merredin	Hendy Cowan	NAT	31.2%

See also

• Candidates of the 1989 Western Australian state election
• Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, 1986–1989
• Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, 1989–1993