Tasmanian legislative election, 1992

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Legislative elections for the Tasmanian House of Assembly were held on the 1 February 1992. The incumbent Australian Labor Party minority government, headed by Michael Field hoped to secure a majority and second term.

Prior to the election the Labor Party was in minority government, supported by five Green independents in a loose alliance referred to as the Labor-Green Accord. The Labor Party held 13 seats and the Greens 5 out of 35 a combined majority of 18. The Liberal Party held 17 of the 35 seats.

The Labor minority government had spent much of their term focusing on economic reform. The priority of the Field government was reducing state debt, which had the support of the Greens. Government cuts in spending, were able to help Tasmania reach its debt servicing commitments, but were a source of discontent in the community. The minority government succeeded until late 1991 when lobbying from the forestry industry caused Field to introduce legislation to protect the industry from conservation. The legislation had the support of the Liberal Party and passed both houses easily. However the Greens then refused to support Field, the alliance broke down and Labor called an election for February, 1992.

The Liberal Party needed to win only one seat at this election to be returned into majority, the Labor Party needed 5, the Liberals needed a primary vote swing of about 4.5% to gain this extra seat.

The Australian Labor Party was headed by Michael Field. The Green independents were led by Bob Brown. The Liberal Party of Australia was led by Ray Groom.

Minor parties contesting this election included Advance Tasmania; which ran candidates in each electorate. A political party called More Jobs fielded candidates in Denison.

1 Result
- 1.1 Voting by division
- 1.2 Distribution of Seats
2 Aftermath
3 See also
4 References

[edit] Result

Party	Number of votes	Percentage	Seats won	Percent Swing
Liberal Party of Australia	154,337	54.1%	19	+7.2%
Australian Labor Party	82,296	28.9%	11	-5.8%
Green Independents	37,742	13.2%	5	-3.9%
Other	10,847	3.7%	0	+2.5%

		Percentage	Change
Turn out ^[1]	298,779	94.9%	+1.8%
Informal	13,557	4.5%	-0.8%

[edit] Voting by division

	Bass	Braddon	Denison	Franklin	Lyons
Liberal Party of Australia	56.5%	65.7%	43.9%	46.3%	57.9%
Australian Labor Party	29.6%	20.8%	33.3%	33.8%	26.9%
Green Independents	11.4%	8.8%	17.9%	15.8%	12.3%
Other	2.5%	4.7%	4.9%	4.2%	2.8%

[edit] Distribution of Seats

Electorate	Seats won
Bass
Braddon
Denison
Franklin
Lyons

	Australian Labor Party
	Liberal Party of Australia
	Green Independents

[edit] Aftermath

The result saw a swing against the Labor Party and the Greens in the direction of the Liberal Party. The 7% swing in favour of the Liberals; assured that Ray Groom would have a secure majority in the next state parliament.

Although the Greens suffered a 3.9% swing against them, their primary vote of 13.2% statewide was above the required quota for election, and it was only in Bass and Braddon that they depended on a large flow of preferences to hold their seats.

The Labor Party polled poorly with a net loss of two members. The party lost four members; Michael Weldon in Braddon, former Premier Harry Holgate and Jim Cox in Bass, David Crean in Denison. The party gained two members; James Gill in Bass and Julian Amos in Denison. The fall in the Labor vote could be attributed to the instability of the Labor-Green accord, but also because of government spending cuts.

Minor parties and Independents collectively had an increase in votes, but were far from reaching the required quota for election.

[edit] See also

Members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly, 1989-1992

Elections of the Tasmanian House of Assembly
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