The 1982 Nedlands state by-election was a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

held on 13 March 1982 for the

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

n Legislative Assembly seat of Nedlands in the western suburbs of

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

. The by-election was triggered by the resignation of the Liberal member for the seat,

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

Sir

Charles Court Sir Charles Walter Michael Court (29 September 1911 – 22 December 2007) was an Australian politician who was the premier of Western Australia from 8 April 1974 to 25 January 1982. A member of the Western Australian Liberal Party, Liberal Par ...

, on 25 January 1982. Court had held the seat since the 1953 state election. Having served as a senior minister in the Brand–Watts Ministry and then as Premier since the 1974 state election, his retirement had been widely expected and was announced on 18 December, a few months after his 70th birthday. He claimed that he had delayed his retirement to carry through the battle against the federal government over funding for Western Australia. On 2 February 1982, the

Speaker of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly The Speaker of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly is the presiding officer in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, Legislative Assembly. The office has existed since the creation of the Legislative Assembly in 1890 under the ''Co ...

issued a writ for an election in the district. It was to be held concurrently with a by-election in the Labor-held seat of

Swan Swans are birds of the genus ''Cygnus'' within the family Anatidae. The swans' closest relatives include the goose, geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe (biology) ...

and a

legislative council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

by-election for South Metropolitan.Black, David; Prescott, Valerie (1997). ''Election statistics, Legislative Assembly of Western Australia, 1890–1996''. Perth: Parliamentary History Project and Western Australian Electoral Commission. . p. 245. His son, 33-year-old businessman

Richard Court Richard Fairfax Court (born 27 September 1947) is a former Australian politician and diplomat. He served as Premier of Western Australia from 1993 to 2001 and as Australian Ambassador to Japan from 2017 to 2020. A member of the Liberal Party ...

, was preselected for the Liberal Party to run for the seat. The seat of Nedlands, first established in 1929, was considered to be a safe seat for the Liberal Party, and had had just two other members since its creation—former

Attorney-General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

and leader of the Nationalist Party,

Norbert Keenan Sir Norbert Michael Keenan QC (30 January 1864 – 24 April 1954) was an Australian lawyer and politician who was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia from 1905 to 1911 and again from 1930 to 1950. He was the leader of the ...

, and the independent Liberal member

David Grayden David Grayden ( Ives; 25 May 1924 – 9 June 2003) was an Australian politician who was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia from 1950 to 1953, representing the seat of Nedlands. Grayden was born in Perth to Ethel May (n� ...

, who served for a single term from 1950 until his defeat in 1953 by Court.

Timeline

Candidates

The by-election attracted six candidates. Local businesswoman and long-standing Liberal Party member Margaret Sheen nominated as an Independent Liberal, while the Labor Party nominated lawyer

Ian Temby Ian Douglas Temby (born 5 May 1942) is an Australian barrister. He was the first Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions and the first Commissioner of the New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption. He conducted the Royal ...

QC, who had been prominent in assisting the Labor Party with court challenges to the government's electoral legislation. Temby accused local real estate agents of discriminating against him with a view to preventing him from obtaining a campaign office. The

Australian Democrats The Australian Democrats is a centrist political party in Australia. Founded in 1977 from a merger of the Australia Party and the New Liberal Movement, both of which were descended from Liberal Party splinter groups, it was Australia's lar ...

, perennial independent candidate Alf Bussell and another independent who had also stood at the 1977 and 1980 elections also nominated.

Results

As largely predicted, Richard Court retained the seat for the Liberal Party, albeit against an estimated swing of 9.1% to the ALP.Until 1987, electoral legislation only required preference distribution until one party obtained 50% or more; this happened on the third preference distribution. However,

Malcolm Mackerras Malcolm Hugh Mackerras (born 26 August 1939) is an Australian psephologist and commentator and a lecturer on Australian and American politics. Education and works Malcolm Mackerras was born at Turramurra in Sydney in August 1939, the son ...

estimated a two-party count for the election.

References

{{Reflist 1982 elections in Australia Western Australian state by-elections 1980s in Perth, Western Australia