1999 New South Wales state election


Elections to the 52nd Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday, 27 March 1999. All seats in the Legislative Assembly and half the seats in the Legislative Council were up for election. The Labor Party, led by premier Bob Carr won a second term with a 7% swing against the Liberal Party and National Party, led by Kerry Chikarovski.
The poll was the first to be held after two key changes to the electoral system. In 1997, the number of electoral districts was reduced from 99 to 93. In 1995, fixed four-year terms were introduced.

Background

Carr Government

The Labor Party's victory at the 1995 election was built on a number of specific promises, backed by a well directed marginal seat campaign. On taking office, the Carr Government faced difficulties presiding over a public sector that had fundamentally changed during the seven years of the Greiner and Fahey Governments. The major dynamic of the Carr Government's first term was to be the clash between the old fashioned promises that won the 1995 election and the new orthodoxy of public sector financial accountability.
This new orthodoxy had its genesis in the election of the Hawke Government at the 1983 Federal election. The new financial strictures applied by Canberra to deal with the nation's trade imbalance created problems that forced change on the States. While the term microeconomic reform was not yet in use when the Greiner Government was elected in 1988, New South Wales became the first State that committed itself to a fundamental examination of the role and activities of the public sector. Focussing initially on the efficiency of service delivery and drawing distinctions between commercial functions and core Government services, the process evolved into using market mechanisms to improve the efficiency of services for which the public sector had previously been the monopoly provider. Later, the Jeff Kennett government in Victoria and the Howard Government in Canberra were to take the process further with the wide scale use of privatisation and the outsourcing of services.
The Carr Government was always going to face problems because of the financial burden imposed by the building programme associated with the 2000 Olympics. The Government took the responsible course of choosing to fund the programme internally rather than through debt, resulting in the re-direction of Government expenditure. This approach created dilemmas with two key promises made by Labor to win the 1995 election.
The first was a promise by Carr and his Health Minister Andrew Refshauge to resign if they did not halve hospital waiting lists within twelve months. Devoting extra resources, persuading the majority of the medical profession to participate and improving hospital processes allowed the Government to meet the commitment. The Federal government cut of funding to hospitals that followed made the waiting list numbers rise again and increased the scepticism of the public to any claim. An attempt to redistribute health infrastructure and resources by merging St Vincent's Hospital in Darlinghurst with St George Hospital in Hurstville was one of several politically damaging attempts by the Government to live within its financial means.
The second problem was a promise to abolish the tolls on the privately operated M4 and M5 motorways. Once elected, the Government announced it could not lift the tolls given the cost and contractual obligations. This was disastrous for the Government's standing, forcing it in October 1996 to announce a toll cash-back scheme for private use in an effort to recover lost support.
Dealing with state debt, building the Olympic infrastructure and meeting the cost of normal Government functions caused Cabinet to propose a radical solution in 1997: sell the State's electricity assets. The Victorian Government had raised billions in this way, and New South Wales had already divided the generating capacity into separate corporations that made privatisation possible. The policy had the additional advantaged of removing the financial risk faced by the State since the introduction of a national electricity grid with full competition between suppliers. This was privatisation taken too far for the Labor Party, a State Conference refusing to sanction the sale. Finances remained tight but the Cabinet back-down solved a different problem. The Coalition was still committed to electricity privatisation, allowing the Carr Government to appeal to its own traditional base by warning the only alternative Government would be far harsher.
A redistribution was due before the 1999 election. Before starting the process, Labor number crunchers turned to deciding what number of Lower House seats delivered the best advantage for Labor. With an increase in Members ruled out by the Premier, the eventual strategy adopted was a cut to 93 MPs.
Finalised in July 1998, the new boundaries were a disappointment for the Government. Rather than strengthening Labor's hold on office, they removed the Government's majority, with only 46 of the 93 seats notionally held by Labor. The Coalition was still disadvantaged, given that it won more of the vote in 1995 and still needed a bigger swing than Labor to take office. However, the Coalition was relieved that the boundaries were considerably fairer than Labor had tried to arrange.
Ten seats were abolished and four created, another six seats adopting new names. A net four seats disappeared in Sydney and one in Newcastle. The far western seats of Broken Hill and Murray were abolished and fashioned into a new notionally National Party seat called Murray-Darling. Several Members were forced to move while three seats, Maitland, Strathfield and the new seat of Ryde, were to see contests between sitting MPs.
Retiring former Ministers caused five by-elections in May 1996, Labor receiving a bonus when former Federal MP Harry Woods won the North Coast seat of Clarence from the National Party, increasing the Government's majority to three.

Liberal Opposition

Peter Collins had taken over the Liberal leadership after the 1995 election. Although he had held several senior portfolios in the previous Government, he remained relatively unknown to the electorate. Despite the low profile of Collins, the Coalition remained competitive in opinion polls until the middle of 1998. Collins was deposed by a surprise coup in December 1998 and replaced by Kerry Chikarovski, the first woman to lead a major party in New South Wales. Less experienced at handling the media than Collins, especially television, Chikarovski struggled during the March 1999 campaign. The Coalition's campaign was also hampered by its unpopular proposal to sell the State's electricity assets. The task of selling it became more difficult when polls indicated that the promised cash rebates made voters even more suspicious of privatisation. As a result, Chikarovski bore much of the criticism of the Coalition's performance.

Results

Overview

In the New South Wales Legislative Assembly:
  • the Labor Party won 55 seats
  • the Liberal Party won 20 seats
  • the National Party won 13 seats
  • independent candidates won 5 seats
Elections were held for half the seats in the New South Wales Legislative Council:
LABOR SEATS ---
Marginal---
ClarenceHarry WoodsALP0.2%
South CoastWayne SmithALP0.5%
MaitlandJohn PriceALP1.0%
MirandaBarry CollierALP2.3%
TweedNeville NewellALP2.6%
MenaiAlison MegarrityALP4.2%
Murray-DarlingPeter BlackALP4.2%
Fairly safe---
Georges RiverKevin GreeneALP6.3%
RydeJohn WatkinsALP6.6%
KogarahCherie BurtonALP7.5%
KeiraDavid CampbellALP7.9% v IND
StrathfieldPaul WhelanALP8.4%
DrummoyneJohn MurrayALP9.4%
The EntranceGrant McBrideALP9.7%
Safe---
HeathcoteIan McManusALP10.4%
PeatsMarie AndrewsALP11.3%
Blue MountainsBob DebusALP11.8%
CoogeeErnie PageALP12.3%
Port StephensJohn BartlettALP12.3%
ParramattaGabrielle HarrisonALP14.5%
GranvilleKim YeadonALP14.6%
LondonderryJim AndersonALP14.9%
WentworthvillePam AllanALP15.4%
WyongPaul CrittendenALP15.5%
RockdaleGeorge ThompsonALP16.5%
SwanseaMilton OrkopoulosALP16.6%
PenrithFaye Lo Po'ALP16.7%
RiverstoneJohn AquilinaALP17.2%
MulgoaDiane BeamerALP17.6%
KiamaMatt BrownALP17.7%
BathurstGerard MartinALP17.8%
East HillsAlan AshtonALP18.3%
CabramattaReba MeagherALP18.9% v IND
Lake MacquarieJeff HunterALP19.2%
CharlestownRichard FaceALP19.3%
BlacktownPaul GibsonALP19.4%
CampbelltownMichael KnightALP19.9%
MaroubraBob CarrALP19.9%
MarrickvilleAndrew RefshaugeALP21.5% v GRN
NewcastleBryce GaudryALP22.4%
WallsendJohn MillsALP22.6%
CessnockKerry HickeyALP22.6% v ONP
IllawarraMarianne SalibaALP22.8%
SmithfieldCarl ScullyALP22.8%
Macquarie FieldsCraig KnowlesALP23.5%
AuburnPeter NagleALP24.3%
LakembaMorris IemmaALP24.7%
Port JacksonSandra NoriALP25.1%
CanterburyKevin MossALP25.2%
Mount DruittRichard AmeryALP25.8%
HeffronDeirdre GrusovinALP26.1%
FairfieldJoe TripodiALP28.3%
LiverpoolPaul LynchALP28.6%
WollongongCol MarkhamALP28.7%
BankstownTony StewartALP30.2%