Elections for the 54th
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
of
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
were held on Saturday, 24 March 2007. The entire
Legislative Assembly and half of the
Legislative Council was up for election. The
Labor Party led by
Morris Iemma
Morris Iemma (; born 21 July 1961) is a former Australian politician who was the 40th Premier of New South Wales. He served from 3 August 2005 to 5 September 2008. From Sydney, Iemma attended the University of Sydney and the University of Techno ...
won a fourth four-year term against the
Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
-
National coalition led by
Peter Debnam.
Labor's substantial majority survived the election almost intact. The Liberals succeeded in taking two independent-held seats and one Labor-held seat, whilst the Nationals and an independent each took one Labor-held seat.
Campaign
Labor, running on the slogan "More to do, but we're heading in the right direction," heavily outspent the Liberals, whose slogan was "Let's fix NSW." Though water and infrastructure emerged as key issues in the campaign, much of the parties' advertising focussed on the negatives: Debnam's business record and Labor's record in office.
The media concluded that the choice facing voters was in finding the lesser of two evils: the three major newspapers sold in New South Wales endorsed Debnam, though not without criticising his ineptitude on the campaign trail.
The result was widely perceived as a foregone conclusion, with opposition leader Peter Debnam conceding as much the week before the poll. Opinion polls consistently put Labor ahead in terms of voting intention and preferred premier.
The ALP would eventually lose government at the next election in a landslide defeat in 2011. There has been a view that the party would have suffered a less worse defeat if it had lost government at the 2007 election.
Electoral system
The
New South Wales Legislative Assembly
The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...
has 93 members elected for four-year terms using
instant-runoff voting, a form of
preferential voting {{short description, Election systems
Preferential voting or preference voting (PV) may refer to different election systems or groups of election systems:
* Ranked voting methods, all election methods that involve ranking candidates in order of pr ...
. The voting system is the same as for the
Australian House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia.
The term of members o ...
except that New South Wales has ''optional preferential voting''. This means that while voters may number every candidate if they wish, their vote is still formal if they choose not to. They may vote for one candidate only, or for as many candidates as they choose, provided that they number them in correct sequence.
The
New South Wales Legislative Council has 42 members who serve eight year terms, one-half of the body being elected every four years. The Council uses the
Single Transferable Vote
Single transferable vote (STV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which voters cast a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternate ...
method, a form of preferential voting for use with
proportional representation
Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...
. As for the Assembly, the numbering of preferences is optional.
After each election, the
Governor of New South Wales, appoints a member of the Legislative Assembly to the position of
Premier of New South Wales
The premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster Parliamentary System, with a Parliament of New South Wales acting as the legislatu ...
. By convention, the party leader with the largest bloc of votes in the Assembly, is chosen.
Legislative Assembly
Government is formed in the
Legislative Assembly, the lower house of Parliament. The seats for this election resulted from the boundary redistribution conducted in 2004, which did not change the number of seats notionally held by each party.
Results
The two-party preferred vote, excluding votes which were exhausted in the distribution of preferences, was 52.26% for Labor, and 47.74% for the Coalition, a swing of 3.92% from the ALP.
Pendulum
A majority being 47 seats, the Labor Party had to lose nine seats (a uniform swing of 8.7%) to lose its majority, and the Liberal-National coalition had to gain 16 seats to gain a majority. Had the Liberal-National coalition gained at least one seat from an Independent, a uniform swing of 11.6% would have been sufficient. Otherwise, the necessary uniform swing required would have been 12.3%. Swings of this size are rare in New South Wales politics.
The swings required for the opposing party to take each of the Assembly's 93 seats are often illustrated by means of a
Mackerras pendulum
The Mackerras pendulum was devised by the Australian psephologist Malcolm Mackerras as a way of predicting the outcome of an election contested between two major parties in a Westminster style lower house legislature such as the Australian House ...
.
Marginal seats (pre-election)
The following seats were described as marginal (i.e. those with a two-candidate preferred margin of 6% or less) by
psephologists
Psephology (; from Greek el, ψῆφος, psephos, pebble, label=none) or political analysis is a branch of political science, the "quantitative analysis of elections and balloting". As such, psephology attempts to explain elections using the ...
Malcolm Mackerras
Malcolm Hugh Mackerras AO (born 26 August 1939) is an Australian psephologist and commentator and lecturer on Australian and American politics.
Education and works
Malcolm Mackerras was born at Turramurra in Sydney in August 1939. He is a brot ...
and
Antony Green
Antony John Green (born 2 March 1960) is an Australian psephologist and commentator. He is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's chief election analyst.
Early years and background
Born in Warrington, Lancashire, in northern England, Gre ...
after the 2005 redistribution.
Seats changing hands
High-profile seats
Sydney
Balmain, in Sydney's inner-western suburbs, was with Marrickville one of two seats considered potentially winnable for the Greens. Labor incumbent
Verity Firth suffered a 2.9% primary and 3.2% two-candidate preferred swing against the Greens, to finish on 39.2% and 53.8% respectively.
The Liberals held on to
Hawkesbury Hawkesbury or Hawksbury may refer to:
People
*Baron Hawkesbury, or Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool (1727-1808), English statesman
Places
;Geography
*Hawkesbury Island, an island in British Columbia, Canada
* Hawkesbury Island, Queensland ...
despite an independent challenge from
Steven Pringle
Steven Bruce Scott Pringle is a naval officer in the Royal Australian Naval Reserves. He was the member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from March 2003 to March 2007, representing the Electorate of Hawkesbury.
He is a past mayor of ...
, the disendorsed Liberal incumbent. Pringle won 28.0% of the primary vote, at the expense of Labor and other independent candidates. Liberal candidate
Ray Williams saw his primary vote dip by just 1.0%.
In
Macquarie Fields, high-profile Liberal candidate
Nola Fraser achieved a 12% swing in two-party-preferred terms compared to the 2003 poll. The incumbent, Labor's
Steven Chaytor, had bowed out of the contest after being convicted for assaulting his girlfriend. Local issues such as hospital scandals and the
2005 Macquarie Fields riots
The 2005 Macquarie Fields riots were a series of disturbances in south-west Sydney in February 2005 which were referred to as a riot by both the Parliament of New South Wales and the media.
Trigger event
The riots were sparked by a high-spee ...
may have also contributed to the high Liberal vote. Labor candidate
Andrew McDonald won Macquarie Fields comfortably.
The Liberals won
Manly from the independents for the first time since the 1980s. Sitting MP
David Barr lost to future Premier
Mike Baird
Michael Bruce Baird (born 1 April 1968) is an Australian investment banker and former politician who was the 44th Premier of New South Wales, the Minister for Infrastructure, the Minister for Western Sydney, and the Leader of the New South W ...
, who increased the Liberals' primary vote by 4.4%.
In the very safe Labor seat of
Blacktown
Blacktown is a suburb in the City of Blacktown, in Greater Western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Blacktown is located west of the Sydney central business district. It is one of the most multicultural places within Great ...
Liberal candidate Mark Spencer managed to gain a higher than average swing against incumbent
Paul Gibson who then retired at the next election.
Marrickville
Marrickville is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Marrickville is located south-west of the Sydney central business district and is the largest suburb in the Inner West Council local gove ...
, in Sydney's inner west, was with Balmain the other seat considered potentially winnable for the Greens. Labor's
Carmel Tebbutt suffered a 1.1% primary and 2.6% two-candidate preferred swing against the Greens, to finish on 46.6% and 57.5% respectively. Tebbutt won the seat in a
2005 by-election after quitting the Legislative Council, and is a senior member of the party's left wing and has a strong personal following in the area.
The Liberals lost
Pittwater to independent
Alex McTaggart at a by-election called after the resignation of
John Brogden. The Liberals'
Rob Stokes
Robert Gordon Stokes (born 17 January 1975) is an Australian politician. Stokes is the New South Wales Minister for Infrastructure, the Minister for Cities, and the Minister for Active Transport in the Perrottet ministry since 21 December 20 ...
won the seat back on primaries, taking 50.5% of the vote.
Rural and regional
Independent
Dubbo MP
Dawn Fardell
Dawn Elizabeth Fardell (born 14 September 1947), a former Australian politician, was an independent politician, independent member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Electoral district of Dubbo, Dubbo between 2004 Dubbo sta ...
fought off a challenge from the Nationals to retain her seat. The Nationals lost ground slightly, but the seat remains one of the state's most marginal.
Star Liberal candidate
Pru Goward beat off a tough fight in
Goulburn
Goulburn ( ) is a regional city in the Southern Tablelands of the Australian state of New South Wales, approximately south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Canberra. It was proclaimed as Australia's first inland city through letters pate ...
with independent candidate Paul Stephenson capturing a quarter of the vote. Goward was helped by the Nationals' decision not to run in the seat but both Labor and the Coalition lost ground. Allegations surfaced during the campaign that Labor was assisting Stephenson's campaign.
Independent
Greg Piper
Gregory Michael Piper (born 31 August 1957 in Coffs Harbour, New South Wales), an Australian politician, is the independent member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Lake Macquarie since 2007. Piper also served as Mayor ...
won the safe seat of
Lake Macquarie
The City of Lake Macquarie is a local government area in Greater Newcastle and part of the Hunter Region in New South Wales, Australia. It was proclaimed a city from 7 September 1984. The area is situated adjacent to the city of Newcastle and is ...
from Labor's
Jeff Hunter. Labor and the Liberals lost 10.4% and 15.7% of their primary vote respectively.
Sitting Labor MP
Bryce Gaudry chose to stand as an independent after being disendorsed by his party in the seat of
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
. Gaudry and another independent, John Tate, both outpolled the Greens and the Liberals. Labor's
Jodi McKay
Jodi Leyanne McKay (born 16 August 1969) is a former Australian politician who was the Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament of New South Wales from June 2019 until May 2021. She previously served as a member of the New South Wales Legislat ...
suffered a 17.1% swing against her but won the seat on preferences.
Port Stephens Incumbent Labor MP
John Bartlett retired at this election. The Liberals'
Craig Baumann added 8.7% to his party's primary vote in the seat to outpoll Labor, and narrowly defeat ALP candidate Jim Arneman.
The Labor member for
Swansea,
Milton Orkopoulos
Milton Orkopoulos (born 22 July 1957) is an Australian former state politician and convicted sex offender. A member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1999 to 2006, Orkopoulos was appointed Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Mini ...
, resigned from parliament after being charged with a number of child-sex and drug offenses. An expected backlash against the ALP materialised in the form of an 11.3% swing, with independent candidate Laurie Coghlan the main beneficiary. Nonetheless, Labor candidate
Robert Coombs was able to hold the seat with a comfortable majority.
Tweed
Tweed is a rough, woollen fabric, of a soft, open, flexible texture, resembling cheviot or homespun, but more closely woven. It is usually woven with a plain weave, twill or herringbone structure. Colour effects in the yarn may be obtained ...
, Labor's most marginal seat, fell to the Nationals'
Geoff Provest
Geoffrey Keith Provest (born 29 March 1958) is an Australian politician and a National Party of Australia – NSW, Nationals member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing the Electoral district of Tweed, Tweed since 24 March ...
. Labor incumbent
Neville Newell had previously served two terms (six years) in the federal seat of
Richmond before his two terms (eight years) in the State Parliament. A swing of 7.8% meant that the seat changed from being a marginal seat for Labor to a National Party marginal.
The Liberals lost primary votes in the seat of
Wyong
Wyong () is a town in the Central Coast of New South Wales, located approximately 63 km SSW of Newcastle and 89 km NNE of Sydney. Established in 1888, it is one of the two administrative centres for the local government area.
Hist ...
, bucking the statewide swing to the party. The Liberals had disendorsed candidate Brenton Pavier after details emerged of a sex joke he had sent to friends via SMS. The Liberals' new candidate, Ben Morton, managed a 5.4% swing in two-party-preferred terms, not enough to take victory from Labor candidate
David Harris. Incumbent Labor MP
Paul Crittenden retired at the election.
High profile candidates
*
Dawn Fraser
Dawn Fraser (born 4 September 1937) is an Australian freestyle champion swimmer and former politician. She is one of only four swimmers to have won the same Olympic individual event three times – in her case the women's 100-metre freestyle. ...
, a champion swimmer, headed her own independent ticket for the Legislative Council, but was unsuccessful in getting elected.
*
Pru Goward, a former federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner, won
Goulburn
Goulburn ( ) is a regional city in the Southern Tablelands of the Australian state of New South Wales, approximately south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Canberra. It was proclaimed as Australia's first inland city through letters pate ...
for the Liberals
*
Mamdouh Habib
Mamdouh Habib (born 3 June 1955) is an Egyptian and Australian citizen with dual nationality, best known for having been held for more than three years by the United States as an enemy combatant, by both the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and ...
, a former
Guantanamo Bay detention camp inmate, ran as an independent in
Auburn
*
Phil Koperberg, the state's
Rural Fire Service chief, won
Blue Mountains for Labor
*
Jodi McKay
Jodi Leyanne McKay (born 16 August 1969) is a former Australian politician who was the Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament of New South Wales from June 2019 until May 2021. She previously served as a member of the New South Wales Legislat ...
, a former
NBN Television
NBN is an Australian television station based in Newcastle, Australia. The station was inaugurated on 4 March 1962 as the first regional commercial television station in New South Wales, and has since expanded to 39 transmitters throughout Nor ...
newsreader, won
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
for Labor
* June Dally Watkins, head of the eponymous deportment school, was a Legislative Council candidate for the Christian Democrats
Retiring
A number of MPs did not seek re-election in 2007. Liberal MPs
Andrew Tink (
Epping) and
Peta Seaton
Peta Luise Seaton (born 9 October 1959) is an archaeologist and former New South Wales politician who was a member of the state's Legislative Assembly representing the Southern Highlands for the Liberal Party from 1996 until her retirement ...
, (
Southern Highlands) retired.
Andrew Humpherson
Andrew Humpherson (born 15 August 1960) is a former Australian politician, elected as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Davidson from 1992–2007. He has since pursued a career in public affairs overseeing the Government a ...
(
Davidson) lost preselection and did not contest his seat. Nationals MP
Ian Slack-Smith
Ian Lindsay Slack-Smith MP (born 1946) is a former Australian politician, elected as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly.
Slack-Smith was born in Narrabri and educated at The King's School, Sydney
, motto_translation ...
(
Barwon) also retired.
The Labor MPs retiring at the 2007 election were
John Bartlett (
Port Stephens),
Paul Crittenden (
Wyong
Wyong () is a town in the Central Coast of New South Wales, located approximately 63 km SSW of Newcastle and 89 km NNE of Sydney. Established in 1888, it is one of the two administrative centres for the local government area.
Hist ...
),
John Mills
Sir John Mills (born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills; 22 February 190823 April 2005) was an English actor who appeared in more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades. He excelled on camera as an appealing British everyman who often portra ...
(
Wallsend
Wallsend is a town in North Tyneside, England, at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall. It has a population of 43,842 and lies east of Newcastle upon Tyne.
History Roman Wallsend
In Roman times, this was the site of the fort of Segedunum. This f ...
),
Sandra Nori (
Port Jackson
Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea ...
),
John Price (
Maitland
Maitland is an English and Scottish surname. It arrived in Britain after the Norman conquest of 1066. There are two theories about its source. It is either a nickname reference to "bad temper/disposition" (Old French, ''Maltalent''; Anglo Norm ...
) and
Kim Yeadon (
Granville).
Steven Chaytor (
Macquarie Fields) and
Milton Orkopoulos
Milton Orkopoulos (born 22 July 1957) is an Australian former state politician and convicted sex offender. A member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1999 to 2006, Orkopoulos was appointed Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Mini ...
(
Swansea), each arrested for violent crimes in late 2006, pulled out of the election.
Carl Scully
Patrick Carl Scully (born 4 April 1957), is a former Australian politician and minister in the New South Wales Government before his forced resignation on 25 October 2006 for deceit from misleading parliament.
Background and early career
Scull ...
(
Smithfield), dumped from the ministry for misleading parliament, chose not to recontest his seat. Attorney-General
Bob Debus
Robert John Debus (born 16 September 1943) is a former Australian politician who served as a member of the Australian House of Representatives and the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, representing the Labor Party. Debus has been a minist ...
(
Blue Mountains) did not seek re-election, in anticipation of a move to federal politics.
Legislative Council
The Legislative Council, elected by proportional representation, operates as a house of review in the New South Wales parliament. It is rare for parties or coalitions to secure a majority in this house.
The count was completed and results for the Legislative Council declared on 10 April.
The Liberal and National parties ran a joint Legislative Council ticket, winning 5 seats for the Liberals and 3 seats for the Nationals and bringing the parties' totals to 10 and 5 respectively.
Electoral changes made after the 1999 election, which saw seats go to so-called
microparties through elaborate preference deals, meant that both the major party groups made gains in the 2007 election. The Labor Party with 39.1% of the vote gained 1 seat, to win 9, whilst the Liberal and National Parties with 34.2% gained 1 seat each to make a combined gain of 2, thereby winning 8 seats. The effect of this outcome is that Labor now holds 19 out of 42 council seats, just 3 short of a majority, whilst the Coalition holds 15 seats.
The Greens achieved a primary vote of 9.1%, an increase from their result in the 2003 election. This has allowed them to win 2 seats (1 additional seat), bringing their total to 4 seats. This result appears to put them in a favourable position, in which they can exercise the parliamentary balance of power, and potentially provide the Labor government with the necessary majority to get legislation through the upper chamber of Parliament.
Fred Nile's Christian Democratic Party (CDP) achieved 4.4% of the vote (↑1.4%), allowing
Nile
The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest ...
to retain his seat, and keeping the CDP's representation at 2 seats. The Shooters Party won the remaining seat, on 2.8% of the vote, thereby increasing their representation to 2 seats.
The losers from the 2007 election were the Australian Democrats, Unity Party, Outdoor Recreation Party (ORP), Human Rights Party (HRP) (formerly Reform the Legal System Party) and One Nation. These five parties lost their single remaining parliamentary seat, which they had won in 1999. The Australian Democrats and Unity Party polled less than 2%, ORP and HRP polled well below 1%, whilst neither One Nation, nor their former representative-turned-Independent,
David Oldfield, contested the 2007 election.
See also
*
Candidates of the 2007 New South Wales state election
This article provides details on candidates preselected for the 2007 New South Wales state election which was held on 24 March 2007.
Retiring MPs
Labor
*John Bartlett (Australian politician), John Bartlett MLA (Electoral district of Port Stephen ...
References
{{Government of New South Wales
Elections in New South Wales
New South Wales state election
2000s in New South Wales
New South Wales state election