1974 Queensland state election
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Elections were held in the Australian state of Queensland on 7 December 1974 to elect the 82 members of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland.
The National–Liberal Coalition won a third consecutive victory under Joh Bjelke-Petersen, and the seventh consecutive victory for the National Party in Queensland, which had renamed itself from the Country Party since the previous election. The Labor Party lost two-thirds of its seats, including that of leader Perc Tucker, its worst showing in an election until 2012 and thus a landslide victory for the Coalition.
Labor was reduced to only 11 seats, leading observers to call Labor's caucus a "cricket team." William Bowe of Crikey wrote that for years, the election stood as "the gold standard for Australian election massacres".
Key dates
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 23 October 1974 | Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen announced the early election date at a news conference. |
| 2 November 1974 | The Legislative Assembly was dissolved. |
| 2 November 1974 | Writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election. |
| 8 November 1974 | Close of nominations. |
| 7 December 1974 | Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm. |
| 23 December 1974 | The Bjelke-Petersen Ministry was reconstituted. |
| 11 January 1975 | The writ was returned and the results formally declared. |
| 3 February 1975 | Deadline for return of the writs. |
| 25 February 1975 | Parliament resumed for business. |
Results
| Queensland state election, 7 December 1974 Legislative Assembly << 1972–1977 >> | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Enrolled voters | 1,186,378 | |||||
| Votes cast | 1,060,910 | Turnout | 89.42% | -2.99% | ||
| Informal votes | 16,742 | Informal | 1.58% | +0.05% | ||
| Summary of votes by party | ||||||
| Party | Primary votes | % | Swing | Seats | Change | |
| Labor | 376,187 | 36.03% | -10.72% | 11 | –22 | |
| Liberal | 324,682 | 31.09% | +8.87% | 30 | +9 | |
| Nationals | 291,088 | 27.88% | +7.88% | 39 | +13 | |
| Independent | 29,582 | 2.83% | -0.49% | 2 | ±0 | |
| Queensland Labor | 19,952 | 1.91% | -5.78% | 0 | ±0 | |
| Australia | 1,929 | 0.18% | +0.18% | 0 | ±0 | |
| Australian Advancement | 416 | 0.04% | +0.04% | 0 | ±0 | |
| Socialist | 332 | 0.03% | +0.03% | 0 | ±0 | |
| Total | 1,044,168 | 82 |
| Labor | 36.03% | |
| Liberal | 31.09% | |
| Nationals | 27.88% | |
| Democratic Labor | 1.91% | |
| Australia | 0.18% | |
| Independents | 2.83% | |
| Others | 0.07% |
| Nationals | 47.56% | |
| Liberal | 36.59% | |
| Labor | 13.41% | |
| Independents | 2.44% |
Seats changing hands
- Members listed in italics did not recontest their seats.
Post-election pendulum
| Labor seats (11) | |||
| Marginal | |||
| Bulimba | Jack Houston | ALP | 1.7% |
| Wolston | Evan Marginson | ALP | 2.3% |
| Bundaberg | Lou Jensen | ALP | 2.5% |
| Sandgate | Harold Dean | ALP | 3.5% |
| Rockhampton | Keith Wright | ALP | 3.6% |
| Nudgee | Jack Melloy | ALP | 4.1% |
| Archerfield | Kevin Hooper | ALP | 5.0% |
| Fairly safe | |||
| Rockhampton North | Les Yewdale | ALP | 6.1% |
| Lytton | Tom Burns | ALP | 6.7% |
| Cairns | Ray Jones | ALP | 7.3% |
| Safe | |||
| Port Curtis | Martin Hanson | ALP | 15.7% |
| Crossbench seats (2) | |||
| Townsville South | Tom Aikens | IND | 5.8 v ALP |
| Mackay | Ed Casey | IND | 20.5 v NAT |