Elections were held in the state of New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, on Saturday 19 September 1981. The result was a second "Wranslide": a landslide victory

Landslide victory

In politics, a landslide victory is the victory of a candidate or political party by an overwhelming margin in an election...

 for the Australian Labor Party

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

 under Neville Wran

Neville Wran

Neville Kenneth Wran, AC, CNZM, QC was the Premier of New South Wales from 1976 until 1986. He was National President of the Australian Labor Party from 1980 to 1986 and Chairman of both the Lionel Murphy Foundation and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation from 1986...

, in which the government increased its already sizeable majority.

The Liberals suffered the double indignity of losing the seat contested by their leader Bruce McDonald to an independent, and of being reduced to the same number of seats in parliament as their ostensible junior coalition partner. In fact it was the second election in a row in which the sitting Liberal leader had failed to be elected to Parliament after Peter Coleman in 1978.
Both the Liberals

Liberal Party of Australia

The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...

 and National Country Party

National Party of Australia

The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...

 finished with 14 seats.

The election marked another milestone for electoral reform in New South Wales. The allocation of preferences became optional, gerrymandering was eliminated Two further reforms were proposed—and passed—in referendums put to voters on the same day.

Ted Mack

Ted Mack

Ted Mack may refer to:*Ted Mack , Edward Mack, Australian politician*Ted Mack , born William Edward Maguiness, American television host...

, a former mayor of the North Sydney Council

North Sydney Council

North Sydney Council is a Local Government Area on the North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia.- Demographics :According to the :...

, won the Electoral district of North Shore

Electoral district of North Shore

North Shore is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is represented by Jillian Skinner of the Liberal Party of Australia.-History:...

 from Opposition Leader Bruce McDonald

Bruce McDonald (Australian politician)

Bruce John McDonald, AM was a New South Wales politician, Leader of the Opposition and Leader for the Liberal Party of New South Wales. McDonald was Leader of the Opposition of New South Wales, Australia from 1 June 1981 to 12 October 1981, when he lost the election to Labor Premier, Neville Wran...

. John Hatton

John Hatton

John Edward Hatton AO is former Australian politician, and an National Trust of Australia nominated Australian Living Treasure. He was the independent member of the New South Wales State parliament "lower house" for to the seat of South Coast from 1973 to 1995...

 was re-elected unopposed in the Electoral district of South Coast

Electoral district of South Coast

South Coast is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is represented by Shelley Hancock of the Liberal Party of Australia.-Members for South Coast:-Election results:...

.

Changes to the process for setting electoral district boundaries took effect at this election: eliminating both partisan gerrymandering

Gerrymandering

In the process of setting electoral districts, gerrymandering is a practice that attempts to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating geographic boundaries to create partisan, incumbent-protected districts...

 and the routine creation of smaller rural seats to boost the share of country representatives in parliament.

Key dates

Date	Event
28 August 1981	The Legislative Assembly was dissolved, and writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election.
3 September 1981	Nominations for candidates for the election closed at noon.
19 September 1981	Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm.
2 October 1981	The fourth Wran Ministry was constituted.
23 October 1981	The writ was returned and the results formally declared.
28 October 1981	Parliament resumed for business.

Legislative Assembly

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There were 3,212,657 enrolled voters but 34,432 were enrolled in South Coast

Electoral district of South Coast

South Coast is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is represented by Shelley Hancock of the Liberal Party of Australia.-Members for South Coast:-Election results:...

 (Independent) which was uncontested at the election.

Legislative Council

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