15 May 1982 1986 → 15 seats 20 seats 19 seats 14 seats Start date May 15, 1982 | 11 November 1981 11 November 1981 20 seats 0 seats 14 seats 1 seat | |
Winner Robin Gray | ||
Elections for the Tasmanian House of Assembly were held on the 15 May 1982. The incumbent Labor Party, in power since 1972 and led by Premier Harry Holgate, was defeated by the opposition Liberal Party, led by Robin Gray.
Contents
The proposed Franklin Dam was a major issue around the time of the election.
The Australian Democrats contested all electorates. Independent Green candidates contested the electorate of Denison only.
Results
The Liberal Party won a comfortable majority. Not only was this only the second time in 48 years that Labor had been out of office in Tasmania, but it was the first time in 51 years that the main non-Labor party in Tasmania had won an outright majority at an election. The Democrats' Norm Sanders retained his seat, which had originally been won at the Denison state by-election in 1980. Former Labor premier Doug Lowe also retained his seat as an independent.
1 The Independent Labor label refers to the separate campaigns by former Premier Doug Lowe and Labor MHA Mary Willey. 2 The Green vote referred to here is Bob Brown's campaign in the seat of Denison, where he attained 8.6% of the vote.Aftermath
Democrat Norm Sanders resigned in late 1982 and independent Green Bob Brown was elected as his replacement after a recount of votes.