The Unsworth ministry was the 79th ministry of the
New South Wales Government, and was led by the 36th
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 system, Westminster Parliamentary System, with a Parliament of New South Wales actin ...
,
Barrie Unsworth
Barrie John Unsworth (born 16 April 1934) is an Australian former politician, representing the Labor Party in the Parliament of New South Wales from 1978 to 1991. He served as the 36th Premier from July 1986 to March 1988. Since the death o ...
, representing the
Labor Party.
After the surprise announcement in June 1986 that
Neville Wran
Neville Kenneth Wran, (11 October 1926 – 20 April 2014) was an Australian politician who was the Premier of New South Wales from 1976 to 1986. He was the national president of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1980 to 1986 and chairman o ...
would retire as Premier,
NSW Labor Leader, and from
Parliament
In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
with effect from 4 July 1986, Unsworth, then a
Member of the New South Wales Legislative Council, was elected as the leader of the NSW Labor Party and thus became Premier. However, by parliamentary convention, Premiers are members of the
Legislative Assembly. In order for Unsworth to move from the Legislative Council to the Legislative Assembly,
Brian Bannon, the member for
Rockdale, resigned to accept a role as Chairman of the Homebush States Sport Centre Trust,
and Unsworth contested the
resulting by-election held on 2 August 1986. He narrowly won the seat, with a 17.1% decline in the primary vote and independent preferences giving him a margin of just 54 votes.
A by-election for Wran's safe Labor seat of
Bass Hill was even worse, with a 22.2 per cent decline in the primary vote delivering a 103vote victory to the Liberal candidate.
The ministry covers the period from 4 July 1986 when Unsworth was elected by Labor caucus as the NSW Labor Leader until 21 March 1988 when Labor suffered a landslide defeat at the
state election by the
Liberal National coalition
A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces.
Formation
According to ''A G ...
, led by
Nick Greiner and
Wal Murray. Unsworth did not contest the 1991 election.
Composition of ministry
Fifteen of the twenty ministers retained some or all of their portfolios from the eighth Wran ministry. There were two minor rearrangements of the ministry, in November 1986 with a new portfolio of
Forests and in November 1987, when
Laurie Brereton resigned from the ministry,
triggering a reshuffle.
Ministers are members of the
Legislative Assembly unless otherwise noted.
See also
*
Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, 1984–1988
*
Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council, 1984–1988
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Unsworth ministry (1986-1988)
New South Wales ministries
1986 establishments in Australia
1988 disestablishments in Australia
Australian Labor Party ministries in New South Wales