1969 Queensland state election

1969 Queensland state election

17 May 1969 (1969-05-17)
All 78 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland 40 Assembly seats were needed for a majority
Turnout	91.77 ( 1.50 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 47 seats, 44.77% 26 seats, 43.84% 1 seat, 6.25% Seats won 45 31 1 Seat change 2 5 Popular vote 380,890 383,388 61,661 Percentage 44.70% 44.99% 7.24% Swing 0.08 1.15 0.99
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 17 May 1969 to elect the 78 members of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland.

The Country-Liberal Coalition won its fifth consecutive victory since it won government in 1957. It was also the Coalition's first victory under new leader Joh Bjelke-Petersen after the brief premierships of Gordon Chalk and Jack Pizzey, who in turn had succeeded Frank Nicklin when he had retired the previous year.

The election campaign was characterised by tension between the governing coalition partners.

Key dates

Date	Event
8 April 1969	The Legislative Assembly was dissolved and writs were issued.
17 April 1969	Close of nominations.
17 May 1969	Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm.
29 May 1969	The Bjelke-Petersen Ministry was reconstituted.
21 June 1969	The writ was returned and the results formally declared.
30 June 1969	Deadline for return of the writs.
5 August 1969	Parliament resumed for business.

Candidates

Main article: Candidates of the Queensland state election, 1969

By the close of nominations on 17 April, 247 candidates had nominated—two more than at the 1966 election. The Courier-Mail reported the following split of candidates by party:

Party	Candidates
Labor	77
DLP	61
Liberal	44
Country	39
Social Credit	3
Communist	2
NQP (Aikens)	1
Independent	20

Six of the 78 seats—Albert, Bundaberg, Cairns, South Coast, Toowoomba West and Townsville North—had three-cornered contests between the Labor, Liberal and Country parties.

Results

See also: Results of the Queensland state election, 1969

The election resulted in another win for the Coalition, but a strengthening of the Country Party's position vis-a-vis the Liberal Party. Labor gained back two seats held by ex-Labor ministers who had defected in the 1957 split when both retired, and gained one seat off each of the coalition partners; however, the Country party gained the seat of Burdekin following the conservative independent incumbent's retirement. Labor retained Isis, which it had gained unexpectedly at a November 1968 by-election from the Country Party following Premier Jack Pizzey's death.

Queensland state election, 17 May 1969 Legislative Assembly << 1966–1972 >>
Enrolled voters		945,583
Votes cast		867,743		Turnout	91.77%	-1.50%
Informal votes		15,566		Informal	1.79%	+0.16%
Summary of votes by party
Party		Primary votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Labor	383,388	44.99%	+1.15%	31	+ 4
	Liberal	201,765	23.68%	-1.81%	19	– 1
	Country	179,125	21.02%	+1.73%	26	± 0
	Queensland Labor	61,661	7.24%	+0.99%	1	± 0
	Social Credit	1,295	0.15%	+0.15%	0	± 0
	Communist	476	0.06%	+0.06%	0	± 0
	Independent	22,497	2.64%	-2.12%	1	– 3
Total		852,177			78

Popular vote Labor   44.99% Liberal   23.68% Country   21.02% Democratic Labor   7.24% Independents   2.85%

Seats Labor   39.74% Country   33.33% Liberal   24.36% Democratic Labor   1.28% Independents   1.28%

Seats changing hands

Seat	Pre-1969				Swing	Post-1969
	Party		Member	Margin		Margin	Member	Party
Bundaberg		Independent	Ted Walsh	3.5 v ALP	N/A	8.1 v CP	Lou Jensen	Labor
Burdekin		Independent	Arthur Coburn	8.5 v LIB	N/A	4.2 v ALP	Val Bird	Country
Cook		Independent	Bunny Adair	5.2 v ALP	N/A	6.1 v CP	Bill Wood	Labor
Logan		Country	Dick Wood	3.2	-4.8	1.6	Ted Baldwin	Labor
Rockhampton South		Liberal	Rex Pilbeam	6.7	-8.9	2.2	Keith Wright	Labor

• Members listed in italics did not recontest their seats.
• In addition, Labor retained the seat of Isis, which it had won from the Country party at the 1968 by-election.

Post-election pendulum

Labor seats (31)
Marginal
Toowoomba West	Ray Bousen	ALP	0.6%
Townsville North	Perc Tucker	ALP	0.7%
Logan	Ted Baldwin	ALP	1.6%
Rockhampton South	Keith Wright	ALP	2.2%
Tablelands	Edwin Wallis-Smith	ALP	2.4%
Isis	Jim Blake	ALP	4.4%
Warrego	Jack Aiken	ALP	4.5%
Norman	Fred Bromley	ALP	4.6%
Toowoomba East	Peter Wood	ALP	4.6%
Fairly safe
Cook	Bill Wood	ALP	6.1%
Ipswich West	Vi Jordan	ALP	6.3%
Mourilyan	Peter Moore	ALP	6.9%
Maryborough	Horace Davies	ALP	7.5%
Bundaberg	Lou Jensen	ALP	8.1%
Barcoo	Eugene O'Donnell	ALP	8.4%
Belmont	Fred Newton	ALP	8.8%
Brisbane	Brian Davis	ALP	8.8%
Ipswich East	Evan Marginson	ALP	9.5%
Safe
Mackay	Ed Casey	ALP	10.5%
Kedron	Eric Lloyd	ALP	11.6%
South Brisbane	Col Bennett	ALP	12.3%
Burke	Alex Inch	ALP	13.0%
Wynnum	Edward Harris	ALP	13.2%
Nudgee	Jack Melloy	ALP	13.9%
Sandgate	Harold Dean	ALP	14.7%
Cairns	Ray Jones	ALP	15.5%
Baroona	Pat Hanlon	ALP	15.7%
Rockhampton North	Merv Thackeray	ALP	17.4%
Bulimba	Jack Houston	ALP	17.8%
Very safe
Salisbury	Doug Sherrington	ALP	20.5%
Port Curtis	Martin Hanson	ALP	31.3% v DLP
Crossbench seats (2)
Townsville South	Tom Aikens	IND	9.2% v ALP
Aubigny	Les Diplock	DLP	13.2% v CP

See also

• Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 1966–1969
• Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 1969–1972
• Bjelke-Petersen Ministry